Student Profile

Sue Bradley - Student

Royal Horticultural Society Level 2 Diploma

 My great-great grandfather had a begonia nursery, my great grandfather gardened for a lord, my grandmother kept herself self sufficient in vegetables and my mother has always propagated anything she can get her hands on.

For many years, however, it seemed that the horticultural gene had passed me by: after leaving school I spent my days chasing fire engines and shouting “hold the front page!” during two decades as a newspaper journalist.

My transition to the garden side began after I had children and, keen to feed them nutritious fresh vegetables and fruit, began keeping an allotment.

Shortly afterwards a chance encounter with a photographer literally led me down the garden path and sparked a whole new career writing about people’s passions for plants for national gardening magazines.

I enrolled on the RHS Level 2 diploma course at Hartpury College after deciding that it would be a good to underpin my garden writing work with some sound horticultural knowledge.

Since then Wednesdays have become a day of learning, under the enthusiastic and knowledgeable direction of our lecturer Chrissy Ching, as well as a welcome break from days spent in front of the computer.

The two-year course gives me the opportunity to meet with a friendly group of people from a variety of backgrounds, all linked by their love for gardening.

It’s also very therapeutic to spend time working within the glorious setting of Hartpury’s walled garden and to wander its beautiful grounds learning the names of various trees and plants.

Clive Thomas – Student

C&G level 1 Diploma in Practical Horticultural Skills

I am a mature family man who, following an accident, gave up a career in driving to start a small business in general garden maintenance.  This change was very satisfying and I realised how much I enjoyed the outdoor life and very much wanted it to continue as my chosen profession. 

Whilst looking in the job centre one day, I was directed to Hartpury College Horticulture courses and decided to sign on for a City and Guilds course “Beds and borders”, which I really enjoyed.

Having successfully completed the course, I was hungry for more and, in October 2011, I started the C&G Level 1 Diploma in Practical Horticultural Skills.  I wanted to develop my knowledge and practical skills and this is definitely the course for me. 

The course has a mixture of theory and practical but the emphasis is definitely on practical skills.  I am gaining lots of experience and have made many new friends.  I have also grown in confidence. 

I am sure that this course will help me with my future plans, which is to continue working with the landscape and learning more along the way.  Eventually, I am hoping to grow flowers for supply to local outlets.

Jo Mullarkey – Student

BTEC Level 3 Certificate in Horticulture (Garden Design)

Since my husband and I bought our first house in 1997, we have moved several times and each project has brought new challenges, and new skills have been learnt.  However, the layout of a house is a much more functional and static design, whereas a garden is in constant change, and herein lies the challenge.

With my third child due to start school in September 2012, I thought it was about time to adopt a more professional approach to my designs and learn the correct way to survey, design and plant a garden, with a view to making it my profession once the children are all at school.

Enrolling on the BTEC Level 3 Certificate in Horticulture (Garden Design) course at Hartpury is giving me a great insight into the professional world of garden design.  I am learning a new skill each week as well as developing my horticultural knowledge.  Also having a background in graphic design, although not essential, has helped a great deal, with a lot of transferable skills.

One day a week is perfect as I can fit it in around the children without too much disruption, but come September I hope to put my newly developed skills to good use, and maybe there is a career after children!

Photos taken of gardens in our previous houses that I have designed

Debbie Ravenhill

I am like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde… but not as glam. By day I am an IT Consultant but at night (and Fridays) I transform into some horticultural monster.

This descent into horticultural horror began in 2009 when I decided there was more to life than ‘eat –> sleep –> commute –> work’ on constant repeat play. I went along to the Hartpury Open Day and, after speaking to ‘those in the know’, selected RHS Level 2 as the right course for me. A fantastic bunch of people turned up to study at the same time and my life was forever changed. .. a new interest and great bunch of new friends.

Being unsure on which direction to take in this new pursuit, I secured some National Trust volunteer work at Westbury Court Gardens which helped no end to consolidate all the classroom based activity and gave me valuable experience of a real working environment. 

Feeling a tremendous sense of loss at the end of RHS Level 2, the natural step forward was into RHS Level 3 so I signed up for the next course. Again, a great bunch of people turned up and yet more new friendships were formed. A big bonus of these courses is meeting like-minded people; everyone has their own story of how they stumbled into horticulture - career changers, spare time available, improve knowledge – we were all there.

The element of RHS3 I chose was mostly garden design based, so again I looked for something to back up the ample classroom activities. Quite by chance I stumbled upon the ‘Birmingham Borders’ section at BBC Gardeners World Live. It’s aimed at horticultural students and enthusiastic amateurs so seemed the perfect challenge. Not expecting to have any success at all, I was amazed when my design was accepted by the RHS and found myself desperately trying to source plant material to meet my brief.

After six months of planning and some furious hard work by those friends I’d met on the course, we found ourselves awarded an RHS Silver Gilt medal. All of this from the smallest desire in 2009 to change my nine-to-five. If I’m honest, back then I’d have laughed at you if you’d told me any of this was possible but be brave… horticulture certainly has many rewards if you work hard at it.

Read news story here:

Hartpury College Horticultural Students success at BBC Gardeners World Live