Horticulture

Hampton Court Palace

I spent a day training under the East Front topiary team at Hampton Court Palace. This quality time practising improved my confidence and precision while using an electric hedgetrimmer and specialist Stihl topiary trimmer. The key is to imagine the finished result, keep calm and maintain focus.

The team kindly gave me a tour of the extensive grounds. I enjoyed learning how the nursery team work: Martin showed me a lime tree he grafted from an older specimen planted in the 1600s. In the ‘wilderness’ is an area where apprentices had plots to experiment with combinations; this made me want to apply for traineeships.