"je71" wrote in message
s.com...
Hi,

I have recently been looking at at acourse offered by he The Insitute
of Gardening. Their web address is http://www.inst.org/garden/index.htm
they offer a course which follows the RHS general eaxam and it seems to
be well suited for what I need, however.


Have you checked if local colleges offer suitable courses? Although in
decline I expect most counties still have an agricultural/horticultural
college.

I am trying to make sure I buy the right course. I am interested in
developing a career in amenity horticulture and would ideally like to
work in a Park or National Trust type of enviroment. The problem is I
have NO relavent experience and this will require a huge carer change
for me.

At what level do you wish to be employed? Are you looking to gain
employment with such organisations close to you or are you planning to
move? Are you expecting the job to come with accommodation - increasingly
this is less common, even with the National Trust.

The notion of acquiring experience through study is an odd one though - has
it worked for you before? Have you spoken to the gardeners at local
properties and asked how they got started?


What I am most concerned about is sending quite a large sum of money to
an organisation that I hadn't really heard of before, have a fairly
basic website with no actual examples of the type of courseware that
you will receive. But do manage to give enough information to make the
course sound attractive.


If it were me I'd be more concerned with their success in getting people
into the type of work you're looking for. Though I guess it depends on how
important you consider getting work to be.

Can people who may have purchased this course or others, please respond
giving some feedback as to the quality of courseware (ie is it all
photocopied, as I have paid large sums for in the past!) is it sturdily
bound, informative, simple to use as reference and detailed enough to
actually make a sitting the RHS General Examination Certificate without
having to buy tons of supplemental reading?


Although the NT and other gardeners I know are pretty good on book
knowledge, the ability to repair lawnmowers, double dig at a decent rate,
work outdoors in all weather, do their turn at weekend watering, and in one
case be able to handle finding the cremated remains of past visitors (some
folks that love a certain garden ask their relatives to scatter their
remains there when the die - which sometimes means just pouring them into a
flower bed when nobody is looking), etc. are at least as important.

PHEW !!! Thanks for sticking with this post hopefully I and other
potential students will find the responses useful in the future.
--
je71
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posted via www.GardenBanter.co.uk


Michael Saunby