Janet Baraclough wrote:
The message .com
from "Sacha" contains these words:


I was looking at the Abbey Gardens site yesterday and saw that while
Mike Nelhams who is the Curator of the garden does many lecture tours,
as we knew, so does the Head Gardener *and* the Propagator does cruise
lectures. Obviously, these can be jobs with both more interest and
more lucrative interest than many of us had realised!

Hm.. they can certainly involve some interesting travel, (one I know
advises to China's botanical gardens, and cruise tours come to him and
his gardens - but according to him there's little money in it; he does
it for the love and is glad to break even. True, they get tied houses,
(usually in a beautiful place but invariably somewhat decrepit and
expensive to heat), but it means their home is hostage to employer,
health, and eventually, retirement. Unless they bought property before
the 80's price boom, there is little hope that the savings from such
modest wages will buy a place of their own on retirement; and highly
qualified undergardeners earning 12K have little chance of raising a
useful mortgage.

Obviously, I can't go into detail but I will say that of those I know
who do this as a 'sideline', I know that not only were they wise enough
to invest in their own property at the right time and let it, the tied
houses are really lovely in themselves.
Talking of the Tresco estate, it really is very well run and I think
it's fair to say that those employed there are extremely well treated
and have been given the opportunity to take part in the forward
planning, in the sense that they have been able to say whether they
want to stay on the island or leave it when they retire. If they opt
to stay, they're housed, even if they have to move out of the house
they occupied while working. Whether they do or don't pay rent, I
don't know.
In the case of another totally different location, the head gardener
and his wife who was housekeeper, were left the house they live in for
their lifetime, rent-free. After that, it reverts to the owners of the
main property.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon