This talk and all our lectures are FREE for Friends of the Botanical Gardens to attend. Members of the public are also welcome to join us on payment of £5 at the door on the day. Live talks are held in the Education Centre in the grounds of the Botanical Gardens - easily accessed via the Thompson Road Entrance.

When Ed Watchorn last gave a talk to the Friends of the Botanical Gardens in 2019, he was an apprentice at Chatsworth House gardens. Now he is Senior Gardener at Brodsworth Hall, near Doncaster and will share details of his journey from Chatsworth to Brodsworth.

After training and excelling at Myerscough College in Arboriculture from the age of 16, Ed worked as an arborist for 14 years in the UK and Canada. He then pursued a childhood dream of becoming a professional gardener in an historic setting, gaining a place on the Historic and Botanic Gardens Training Program for a year at Chatsworth.

This was a year of intense learning of a wide variety of subjects, and it led him to success in achieving a gardener role with English Heritage at Brodsworth Hall and Gardens. This was then followed with a promotion after six month to Senior Gardener, where he now oversees the machinery aspects of the garden work.

Ed is very proud of the part he plays in the many continuing projects projects at Brodsworth, including restoring the site to its original Victorian splendour, as well as maintaining the garden throughout the year.

Brodsworth Hall Website

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HBG Training Programme