Gardener - High-End Private Estate (Live-Out) - Oxfordshire

A third position has become available for an exceptional opportunity as a hands-on Gardener / Groundsperson to join a small, professional team maintaining the horticultural features of a private estate near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. This is a full-time, permanent gardening role offering the chance to work within a diverse, well-established private estate garden with high standards of horticultural care.

The 550-acre private estate is primarily grazed land, with approximately 50 acres surrounding the main house dedicated to formal gardens and landscaped pleasure grounds, including a formal terrace with parterres, extensive lawns, and mature specimen trees such as copper beech, oak, yew, and cedar. The estate also features ornamental shrubs, woodland areas, fishponds, water features, a swimming pool, and a tennis court. There is also a traditional walled kitchen garden (currently ornamental but with scope for productive restoration) and two greenhouses used for plant propagation and vegetable growing.

• Maintain gardens to a consistently high professional standard and support seasonal planting programmes to ensure year round colour and interest.
• Assist with planning and delivery of annual garden maintenance schedules for borders, trees, and lawns across the estate.
• Assist with planting schemes and maintain herbaceous borders through pruning, staking, feeding, and plant care; monitor overall plant health and presentation.
• Carry out comprehensive lawn care including irrigation, reseeding, fertilising, and scarifying.
• Perform practical gardening tasks such as weeding, digging, mulching, watering, edging, hedge cutting, pruning, and bed preparation.
• Use horticultural tools and machinery (mowers, strimmers, hedge cutters, chainsaws, leaf blowers) safely and effectively.
• Support wider estate duties, particularly during the winter months, and maintain tools and equipment in good order, reporting faults promptly.

• Strong understanding of Health and Safety at Work regulations; able to identify and report hazards or security risks across the estate.
• Desirable qualifications such as PA1 / PA6 spraying certificates and chainsaw certification; training can be provided for the right candidate.
• Full UK driving licence is essential due to the rural location of the estate.

Salary: Up to £35,000 DOE

Location: Near Chipping Norton

Job No: EC72638