Vicky Cody - Senior Gardener
Vicky Cody
Senior Gardener - Hidcote Manor Garden, Gloucestershire
"It all started because of a train. Well, a tube to be exact. I guess that needs a little explanation. After doing Social Sciences at University I took a job in London, merchandising for a high street jeweller. It sounded so glamorous. But spending three hours on the tube every day, the spangles soon started to tarnish. Breathing all that grimy air made me dream of a healthier way to live, especially as I found I just didn't enjoy the job.
The one thing that kept me going was coming home to my garden. Being outside in the fresh air nurturing my plants, watching them grow and change as the seasons passed. well, it felt like a real escape.
It was a friend of mine who noticed the advert for Careership, which seemed like the perfect way to combine my hobby with a new way of life. I was absolutely beside myself with excitement when I was accepted; it wasn't too late to do something I'd really enjoy with my day. My placement was based at Antony (opens in a new window) - an 18th century house with Repton landscaped gardens near Torpoint in Cornwall. Instead of getting frustrated with commuting, I found myself caring for 100 acres of formal and woodland gardens. Every day meant planting borders, pruning roses, composting and chopping wood. And in my breaks, I could eat my sandwiches in a grove of Magnolia, Rhododendron and Camellias!
It was all a real breath of fresh air. but I'm not saying it was easy. There was a surprising amount of mechanical skills I had to pick up at college and on the job. From taking rotavators apart to understand how they worked, to routine maintenance for ride-on lawn mowers, I discovered a whole range of technical know-how I would never have imagined mastering. It wasn't all learning techniques and practical skills though. My favourite lesson was plant anatomy. We memorised 'plant idents' - the Latin names for hundreds of plants. You could soon see the plant families growing from their Latin roots. It was really fascinating, like learning a new language.
Three years passed quickly and I found myself in my final year, but I was able to secure a permanent job at Hidcote Manor (opens in a new window) in Gloucestershire before the course even finished. It was an intimidating, exciting prospect: a world famous Arts and Crafts masterpiece of a garden, with seriously high expectations. I had a whole new set of plant idents to learn, spectacular herbaceous borders to maintain and thousands of visitors to welcome. I loved it, another change and another challenge, just like my Careership.
After graduating, I've been working hard here at Hidcote. I've since been promoted to Senior Gardener and am enjoying different aspects of the job that come with more responsibility: I'm in charge of budgets, stocking the garden with new plants and supervising another gardener. Best of all though, it never ceases to surprise me that I've made a career doing what I love most. On wet, windy days my mum thinks I'm as mad as a hatter for giving up a nice warm office job. but I wouldn't change back, even if it rained every day."
