A day in the life of the Head Gardener at Audley End, Essex

Since 2022, the National Garden Scheme has donated a total of £375,000 to English Heritage, supporting 7 trainee gardeners per year on the charity’s Historic and Botanic Garden Training Programme (HBGTP). The HBGTP offers early-career gardeners paid, hands-on training at some of the most significant historic gardens in the country, helping preserve heritage skills and kickstarting incredible careers in horticulture.

As part of the partnership, English Heritage opens up some of the fantastic historic gardens in its care for the National Garden Scheme. In 2025, exclusive after-hours tours will be available at nine English Heritage gardens around the country. One of these gardens is Audley End near Saffron Walden in Essex, which will be hosting an open garden tour on 12 June 2025.

We asked Louise Ellis, Head Gardener at Audley End House and Gardens (pictured above), to reflect on a typical day working at this beautiful site. Louise arrived at Audley End in 2007 as a trainee on the Historic and Botanic Garden Training Programme, and is now part of the site’s management team as Head Gardener.

I start work at 7.30am each day, just like the rest of Audley End’s gardening team. Getting up and out at this early hour is a real pleasure in the summer months, when the sun has already been up for some time – I love how active the birds are, the gardens are full of colour and the flowers are all awakening. The early start can be a little more challenging for the few months of winter when it is barely light, but even that can have its advantages; I have been lucky enough to witness some glorious sunrises over the front lawn and main house.

I feel extremely fortunate to live in an 1830s cottage within the walls of the unrestored compartments of Audley End’s Kitchen Garden. My journey to work is always a pleasure – not only is it short, but it’s also cost and trouble free. I am very aware that I’m one of a long line of garden staff to have lived in the cottage, and I’m so proud to be part of the history of this magnificent house. I also get to enjoy the landscape out of hours in my leisure time – I love walking my partner’s dog through the peaceful grounds.

Audley End is a wonderful example of a Capability Brown landscape (often said to be in miniature, as it can all be seen from the front door of the house) and the gardens offer such a wide range of interest for visitors. The highlights include an elaborate 1830s Parterre to the rear of the house with year-round beds of billowing flowers and a two and a half acre Victorian Kitchen Garden, which we run to Soil Association organic standards. Filled with fruit, vegetables and cut flowers, it gives visitors a chance to appreciate heritage varieties, grown alongside more modern cultivars.

People often ask me what my favourite part of the garden is, but the truth is that I love it all and have different favourites at different times of the year. For me, the Kitchen Garden comes into its own in the early autumn when it is full of ripe fruit and abundant vegetables, and the walls radiate the warmth of the day right through to the evening. The Parterre looks particularly spectacular in late spring, when the tulips are in flower and the early herbaceous perennials are full of leaf and early colour. The landscape looks amazing at all times of year, but the recent frosts have made it even more scenic than usual, and I can never get over how green and lush it is in spring, with trees leafing up before your eyes!

The gardens are a testament to the hard work of my team of 12 staff and around 60 volunteers, all of whom are hugely passionate about what they do. As head gardener, I am responsible for making sure the garden team functions effectively and efficiently – there’s a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to make sure Audley End’s gardens are always looking beautiful, with new things to see throughout the seasons.

I started working here in 2007, when I was lucky enough to get a place on English Heritage’s Historic and Botanic Garden Training Programme – and have never left! This incredible training programme equips budding horticulturalists with the skills needed to care for a historic or botanic garden. One of my favourite parts of the job now is watching each new intake of trainees grow in skills and confidence throughout the year – it is a real privilege to be able to pass on my knowledge to the next generation. None of it would be possible without the support of the National Garden Scheme and that’s one of the many reasons why I love participating in the open days and tours for National Garden Scheme visitors each year.

I am fortunate to work alongside very skilled Garden Supervisors and Senior Gardeners, each of whom heads up their own area of responsibility such as the Kitchen Garden and Landscape. We work together on planning, budgeting and ordering, as well as staff and volunteer management. I’m also part of the wider English Heritage site management team, working collaboratively with other heads of department to ensure the whole site runs smoothly, from the gardens and stables through to the house, cafés and shop. However, my favourite part of the job is doing the actual gardening – which accounts for around 60% of my time.

This morning, I am meeting with the Garden Supervisor who looks after the ornamental gardens to plan our summer bedding display. It’s really important that we do this early enough in the year to place orders for seed and small plug plants whilst there is still good availability! We discuss historical cultivars and the colour scheme, as well as considering which plants will cope with the drier conditions found in the East of England and don’t require too much maintenance. During my trainee year at Audley End, the summer bedding was comprised mainly of marigolds and I will never forget spending most of that summer deadheading the plants, leaving very little time for anything else – it’s not something I wish to repeat!

In the afternoon, I head outside to start potting up some of our spring bedding alongside several of our dedicated volunteers. I really enjoy chatting to them and hearing the stories of what led them to Audley End. Many of them talk about how much gardening has helped them both mentally and physically, which is something I can really relate to. I love the feeling of being connected to nature and it never fails to improve my mood.

At 4.15pm I down tools.  Sometimes I will stay on to do some office work, but today I’m going to head out for a run on my regular route around the site before it gets too dark. I really ought to make some time for my own cottage garden, but that might have to wait until the weekend!

For more on the partnership with English Heritage click here

For more about Audley End click here