The boots of only the 11th head gardener to have tended and curated a topiary garden that is now 332 years old, need to be filled this year, as the current incumbent hangs up his clippers and topiary shears after 40 years in the job.
Levens Hall and Gardens, home to the unique and oldest topiary garden in the world, is searching for its next passionate custodian. Current head gardener, Chris Crowder, is due to retire in September, creating a phenomenal opportunity for a talented, ambitious and dedicated gardener to literally shape the garden’s history in the years to come.
This is probably one of the most prestigious head gardener jobs in the world, let alone the UK, with the Gardens having attained global renown and having no equal. Its style of topiary design is very distinguishable from that in both France and Japan, which favour parterre designs and cloud formations respectively. While other world gardens, such as Longwood in the USA, have some themed shapes within their topiary, the fact Levens has over 100 historic pieces to admire is truly remarkable.
All of these trees, whether shaped as a toppling wedding cake, Queen Elizabeth I and her maids of honour, a top hat or a more contemporary tiered display need to be carefully trimmed and maintained.
However, the Topiary Garden is just one part of the garden that the 12th Levens head gardener needs to focus upon. The 10-acre gardens also include a Fountain Garden, a rose garden brimming with David Austin English roses, a herb garden, an Orchard, herbaceous borders, England’s oldest example of a ha-ha and a Bowling Green. In the midst of all this lies the Beech Circle, surrounded by the massive Beech Hedge.
To keep the beds full of colour and contrast, the gardening team grow 30,000 bedding plants on-site. Distinct colour schemes are adhered to in the quartered design, originally laid out by the first head gardener, the enigma that is Monsieur Guillaume Beaumont. He was employed by Colonel James Grahme, who bought Levens Hall in February 1689, having been Keeper of the Privy Purse and then Keeper of the King’s Harthounds and Buckhounds for James II and needing to escape the political limelight in the south when the Stuart monarchy fell.
What the new head gardener will gain as a perk of the job is the opportunity to live in the charming original cottage that was Beaumont’s abode. Beaumont’s Cottage is located right next to the Topiary Garden, fittingly carrying a sun dial that could be construed to convey the message that today’s garden only exists thanks to the patience, over time, exhibited by its 11 custodians to date.
Who will be clipping the 10-metre-high Levens Hall and Gardens Great Umbrella tree this year is yet to be determined but it is certainly a gardening job like no other. Someone out there in the gardening world will probably sense that taking this prestigious job is their destiny – just as seems to have been the case with many of the previous head gardeners who have not just filled the role for a few years but actually performed the duties asked of them for decades.
Anyone who believes they could be the all-important number 12 at Levens Hall and Gardens can contact Mark Bibby at: mark@levenshall.co.uk
