It’s a Gardener’s World

How often do we come full circle in life? Sometimes it’s interesting to reflect upon how we ended up where we are! This is a brief account of my journey to a dream job that I never knew I wanted, via a world of places I’d never been to before!

First things first however. I’m Eamon McNamara, from Portaferry on the Ards Peninsula. Some years ago I decided to study horticulture at CAFRE’s Greenmount Campus in Antrim, with an interest in garden design. Through our studies at Greenmount I became aware of the many career and entrepreneurial possibilities available within the horticulture sector – from plant production and garden retailing, through landscape construction and maintenance, to sportsturf management, horticultural therapy, and many others.

Work experience is an integral part of all horticulture courses at Greenmount, and those, like myself, on a Higher Education programme, spend six months in a chosen sector of the Horticulture Industry. I spent my placement period at the National Trust for Scotland’s ‘School of Gardening’ at Threave – a very challenging, though fantastic experience. During my final year, an opportunity arose to work in the tropical Abbey Gardens at Tresco, in the Scilly Isles, for a further six weeks, under the tutelage of curator Mike Nelham. This was a life changing experience, and upon my return I knew where I was headed – to be Head Gardener of a large garden. Immediately after graduation, I was awarded the Elizabeth Hess scholarship, and returned to Tresco for a further year, one of the highlights being a study tour of private gardens in the south of France. The following year was spent at Longwood Gardens, Philadelphia, as part of an international programme, working alongside other horticulturists from Israel, Argentina, Japan, China and Romania – dizzy heights for a guy from Kircubbin! To further develop my knowledge of tropical gardening, I volunteered for a two month horticulture project in Costa Rica, partly funded by the Royal Horticultural Society. Now, that was an eye opener! Upon my return to the UK, I spent nearly a year as a Head Gardener in the south of England, before finally landing my dream job to date, as Head Gardener at Quentin Castle in Portaferry – just down the road from home!

Full circle indeed. I love my job, and have no intension of moving on in the foreseeable future. However, I’m young, and I know there’s a big world of opportunities out there. Would I do it all over again? You bet. If you’re interested in horticulture, and you’re willing to commit, then there’s only one place here to open the door upon a world of possibilities, and that’s Greenmount.