The Great Outdoors inside

IT was really interesting to talk to Pamela Smith on BBC CWR, who is the Gardens and Parks Consultant for National Trust in the Midlands.

Pam, 54, has worked in horticulture all her life and fell in love with working outside after growing up on a coastal farm in Anglesey.

She went on to study horticulture in York before starting her career at the parks department in the North East and eventually moving to the Midlands as Director of University of Birmingham Winterbourne House & Garden, where she worked for nine years.

Pam joined the National Trust, who are celebrating their 125th birthday this year, in 2011 and supports their gardens in the Midlands.

It is a lot of responsibility but Pam absolutely loves her job because every day is different. Her role requires lots of driving which can be hard, but once she arrives, it makes it all worthwhile.

After only speaking to Pam for a few minutes it was clear to see she is passionate about the work she does. It is the people she works with that make her job so enjoyable, which includes over a hundred gardeners and a few thousand volunteers.

Like many people, Pam is now working from home awaiting Government advice as to when they can start to make plans to reopen, in whatever form that may take.

Whilst it was more straightforward to close National Trust cafes and houses, gardens are different because each site needs to maintain a level of essential staffing.

They have had to make some tough decisions, asking garden teams to do essential work and minimal maintenance only, without the assistance of the army of volunteers. This has meant reducing or stopping any seasonal planting.

In the meantime we can see online glimpses of the many stunning gardens on their website and there are plans in place for gardening tips and weekend challenges for social media.

So, it may not quite be the same, but for the moment you can have the National Trust gardens in your house and not have to worry about doing any weeding.