Knebworth House Gardens have looked as good as they’ve ever looked over the last few years, and for that we have our excellent Head Gardener Kevin Hilditch to thank, together with his fine full-time team of Dan, Adam and Eliana, alongside seasonal staff Liz and the volunteers. Kevin retires this month, having joined us seven years ago from The Swiss Garden at Shuttleworth in Bedfordshire, originally as our Deputy Head, then Head Gardener.
Kevin says it is an impossible choice to choose his favourite part of the Gardens, but in the late winter it is the daffodils. “Just a couple of hours of cutting back brambles in the Wilderness Garden revealed the most amazing display of daffodils that were already there but couldn’t be seen.” For the spring he singles out the two trees, the Cornus Kousa and the Snowdrop Tree, as “just stunning”. In summer, “it really has to be the rose garden, that’s always a bit of a battle, a lot of time and effort, but the roses have been looking really good for the last few years.” Late summer into autumn, “my favourite area would be the Kitchen Garden. I think it has come on leaps and bounds, and Eliana and Liz have been amazing with everything it produces.”
“The Team are good people. They are on the quiet side, but they know what they are doing. It is the quality of their work that gives us the kudos and, when we are open, people saying how lovely the gardens are. The satisfaction, on a daily basis, is to go home knowing that you have made part of the garden look better than it did in the morning. We’ve done that day in, day out, week in, week out, and for long enough now that the place looks nearly as good as I’d like it too.”
We wish Kevin the very best for his retirement. We shall miss him. “No you won’t,” he says, “I have signed up to work part time as a House Steward. Can’t stay away from the place!”
Henry Lytton Cobbold
@HenryCobboldKH