Hewitt turns over a new leaf ... as gardener on £4k a year
AFTER decades of mixing in high society, he must have seen his fair share of beautiful estates and exquisitely manicured lawns.
And now James Hewitt is trying his own hand at groundskeeping, having taken a job as a gardener for £4,000 a year.
Hewitt – the former lover of Princess Diana – was seen digging, driving a lawnmower and raking leaves outside the £350,000 two-bedroom flat he shares with his mother Shirley, 92.
the once- debonair ex- cavalry officer was spotted in a crumpled khaki jumper and trousers, a mauve shirt, flat cap and sunglasses.
the 62-year- old is paid by a residents’ association to maintain the grounds at the flats – based in a 17th century manor house in farringdon, Devon. the only sign of Hewitt’s former playboy lifestyle is his Porsche that he parks next to the main house, allowing him to use his official parking space for his gardening tools.
the estate stretches across six acres and includes two ponds.
However, it has also emerged that the former Army captain and Gulf War veteran has fallen foul of some of his neighbours since taking up his new role.
Pauline and Barry Presswell, who have lived in the building for three years, said he made a ‘dog’s dinner’ of trimming a century-old yew tree.
Mr Presswell, 76, a retired company director, said: ‘Hewitt said he wanted it to look, “regal and shaped like a wine glass” and brought a tree surgeon in which cost the residents £1,500.’
But Mrs Presswell, 71, said the tree had been chopped from 18ft to 10ft, adding: ‘It looks like an octopus. It is dreadful. Hewitt did say sorry... but we are extremely upset about this.’
Hewitt, a keen polo player in his youth, had a five-year affair with Diana from 1986 after he was asked to give her horseriding lessons.