“It’s a fairytale setting. I love it!”

Head gardener Trevor Jones shares his experience of Alnwick

Trevor has been head gardener at Alnwick Garden for just over 13 years and manages a team of 13 other gardeners.

How did you come to be at Alnwick? I’ve worked in horticulture all my life, starting off as an apprentice. I became Principal of the School of Horticulture at Threave in Scotland, then at the age of 50 I thought I can either stay at Threave until they carry me out in a box, or I can take on a new challenge, so I came to Alnwick.

What’s the biggest challenge? Visitor numbers are the biggest headache. The garden was designed for 60,000 visitors and we now attract about 350,000 a year. The paths aren’t quite wide enough so we get lots of wear and tear on the grass. In some areas we need to replace the grass every 6-8 weeks because it just wears away.

Do you have a favourite part of the garden? I love the Roots and Shoots garden, where we do a lot of charitable work with people who have dementia or Alzheimer’s. We also work with lots of young school children, teaching them about fruit and vegetables right from the seed to harvesting, when we make vegetable soup with them. Before they come here, many of the kids don’t know carrots come out of the ground.

Which garden jobs are you doing in April? It’s a very busy time. We’re top-dressing, feeding and weeding, and doing lots of lawn maintenance. It’s all about getting the garden ready for summer. In the Roots and Shoots garden we’re sowing annuals and pricking out.

What are the spring highlights? We have more than a million spring bulbs and a fantastic cherry orchard. This area looks amazing towards the end of April/start of May depending on the weather. Blossom Watch gives live coverage of the buds, so you can track the blossom as it opens. The cherries are also underplanted with alliums, so you get these big purple globes coming out of the long grass, and we’ve also added about 30,000 small narcissi, a jonquil type with a very sweet perfume, which f lowers at the same time to create a feast for the senses.

What inspired the Poison Garden? The duchess went on lots of garden visits and nearly everywhere had a herb garden or apothecary garden. Then she went to see the Botanic Gardens in Padua, in Italy, where they had a collection of poisonous plants and she thought it would be great way to engage children. It’s become a very important educational tool in the garden.

Any future plans for the garden? We still have another phase to finish that was in the original design by the Wirtz team. It’s the area between the Pavilion and the Grand Cascade, which has been planned but not planted as yet. We’ll start as soon as funding allows.