I started my working life as an insurance broker in the city but redundancy in the early nineties gave me the opportunity to follow my true passion of horticulture. I gained the formal qualifications I needed then started my own gardening business from my base, which was then in Croydon.

Serendipity played a big part in bringing me to Hever in Kent. I’d heard about the fantastic and somewhat unorthodox garden created by William Waldorf Astor and wanted to have a look for myself.

I took a tour through the Italian Garden and had a chance meeting with the head gardener.

We got to chatting about the garden and he said that there was an opening at the Castle: I grabbed it with both hands. I began working with the team in 2002 and moved my way through the ranks to become head gardener in 2006.

Gardening is in my blood - I started early at the age of five when my parents gave me a small patch and a potato plant!

I was fascinated by exotic plants from quite early on too. As a child I remember thinking that the strelitzia (Bird of Paradise) had the most fascinating seed - it looked like a big black coffee bean with orange fluff on it. I enjoyed trying to germinate it in my Mum’s airing cupboard!

I’m well-known for my large annual bedding displays. At Hever we plant out 7,000 bedding plants twice a year - so it’s quite a big undertaking. I’ve also got a soft spot for roses including all 4,000 that I look after in the Hever Rose Garden!

I like the big, blowsy, vibrant, in-you- face ‘Buxom Beauty’ rose.

I’m attracted to unusual plants and have enjoyed my plant adventures in North Korea - a place that’s definitely off the beaten track horticulturally.

I have had a few plant-based adventures too: a particular journey traipsing for hours through the jungle in Borneo sticks in my mind.

We were on the hunt for the rare, parasitic, rootless and leafless plant Rafflesia arnoldii. To see it (and smell it!) growing in the wild was mind blowing.

Gardening is full of challenges and adventures, whether you do it in Kent or in Borneo! It’s a fascinating career and I’m lucky enough to work with a varied team of gardeners at Hever ranging from trainees to experienced professionals.

It’s a fantastic career and a million miles away from my former career working in the City.

I’m a passionate supporter of the gardening charity Perennial and made the ultimate sacrifice of stripping off for their ‘naked gardener’s calendar’ in 2015!

I love meeting and talking to other gardeners be they keen amateurs or professionals. I’m lucky enough to be invited to speak at gardening groups in Kent and there’s nothing better than sharing the enthusiasm and horticultural knowledge.

I'm looking forward to sharing my gardening tips and stories with the KentOnline readers.