WORKING IN NATURE …

As work patterns change and employment opportunities become more elusive, now is a good time to reappraise what exactly you’d like to be doing and maybe consider a new career path.

There is a whole range of career opportunities in the area of horticulture for school leavers and adults alike, including the retail sector, working in garden centres, plant nurseries, landscape materials suppliers and farm shops. You may not know that garden and landscape contractors are always looking for employees and there is a long-standing skills shortage in the industry as a whole, which means there are excellent job opportunities available for qualified applicants with some work experience.

Garden and landscape design are expanding areas of the industry in which there is considerable scope for employment in small and larger companies and for the self-employed. More and more people are realising the benefits of working outside in a natural environment, including improved health, fitness and the job satisfaction of designing/creating landscapes which can enrich the lives of people and wildlife and play a part in restoring valuable habitat.

Suffolk Rural (Suffolk New College at Otley campus) are offering several fantastic courses for garden design, garden and landscaping and horticulture (including RHS courses), as well as arboriculture, agriculture and other land-based courses. So what are you waiting for? Go to, suffolk.ac.uk l Visitors to Suffolk Rural are enjoying this brand new garden funded by the Cedric Morris Foundation, which was officially opened earlier in summer. Designed by lecturer Nick Nicholson and built and planted over two years by his talented students on the landscape, garden design and horticulture courses, it has completely transformed the look of the front of the college. An Eastern Redbud tree was planted and dedicated to the memory of much-loved late principal, Viv Gillespie, who was very supportive of horticulture at the college.