After studying history at Bristol I retrained in horticulture. With new certificates I spent a year at the Garden Museum as their Horticultural Trainee then went to work for an oligarch. Next up was Chiswick House, a garden with serious priors, and under its influence I resolved to formally study garden history.
However, my wife is a diplomat which makes straight-line planning hard. We were posted to Bogotá for three years. On our return I told every potential job I would only work four days a week so that I might study. A private garden took me as Head Gardener and gave me Thursdays off, and I spent them in the University of London’s School of Advanced Studies, taking a Master’s in Garden and Landscape History.
