Parveen Torrans

My name is Parveen Torrans. I am a Managing Director at Living Windows, a business based in London that offers custom garden services to homes and businesses. 

My journey at CAFRE started with the Level 3 Diploma in Horticulture. As part of the course, I studied garden design and I was able to gain a work placement with an award winning garden designer. This helped me to understand fundamental design principles and helped to see where I wanted to take my career in horticulture. I really enjoyed the Level 3 course and I wanted to deepen my knowledge and skills so I enrolled to study on the Foundation Degree course at Greenmount. 

The Degree covers a range of horticulture subjects from propagation to design with a mix of practical and academic learning. Greenmount campus has a fantastic range of modern facilities that Horticulture students use as part of their programme and the landscaped grounds are a wonderful environment to get inspiration.  The staff took a real interest in me and identified skills I had that were not obvious to me at the time. They helped me to develop my strengths and allowed me to gain confidence in my own abilities. I was able to develop my design skills and put these into practice, working within public and private gardens including the private garden at the Bushmills Inn.  

After graduating I worked as a garden designer in Northern Ireland for a number of years which I really enjoyed before starting my role as a Managing Director. This position allows me to apply so much of what I learnt on my degree course at CAFRE.  I have since completed a top up BSc Degree in Horticulture Science and Management and am considering continuing with my studies at Master’s level.  There are so many careers available to horticulture graduates that suit all kinds of people; from those interested in design, to science and business and everything in between. I would say to any new graduate to get as much and as broad an experience as possible and who knows where it might take you!