My first plan was to become a self-employed gardener, moving seamlessly from airbags and seatbelts to photosynthesis and creating outlandish topiary. So I enrolled on an Introduction to Horticulture as an evening course (remember those!). In 2007 I took voluntary redundancy and moved to Shrewsbury, continuing my studies one day a week and gaining Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) level 2 & 3 qualifications.
We were tested weekly on identifying pests and diseases, weeds, shrubs and trees etc. Our lecturer often included the history of some of the plants. I thought ‘wait, plants have histories?’ This was my first taste of history within gardens. My lecturer pulled a few strings and I was allowed to drop into a 6-week garden history module at Pershore College. I was hooked!!
