麻豆约拍 - Coventry and Warwickshire Culture

Report by Faye Claridge of the website team

Have you ever fantasised about living in a historic mansion? Ever wished you could look around a castle on your own, after hours?

I went to Packwood House to meet three people that can call the residence their home, to find out what living - and working - there is like.

The house has a relatively small team of full time employees, so I was able to get a real insight into the working life of a variety of different roles.

From house manager, to conservation assistant, to house steward, to gardener and propagator, I caught up with them all.

I also met Ben, who has a careership position as a gardener, so I got the chance to ask him about the scheme.

The variety of work and the striking difference in atmosphere to an office or urban job, made all these roles seem fascinating.

If any of them take your fancy, have a look at the details below of how you can get involved as a volunteer or employee of the National Trust.

At Packwood House the house manager, Hayley Gayford-Gotto, takes care of the budgets, paperwork, research and staff management.

She lives on-site and has an office adjoining her quarters, so she's living the romantic ideal of an in-house worker.

She was quick to point out there are disadvantages as well as the obvious bonuses to living on-site, though.

She said: "It's a huge privilege to live in an amazing house like this that would ordinarily be out of your reach, but it does mean you're never away from work.

"The house often has to come first, too. Even on your day off, you're always conscious of people being around and you have to be considerate, they don't want to hear your TV or your music, it would spoil their day out."

On the positive side, Hayley finds the job's diversity a real plus: "It ranges from the glamorous - doing press interviews and over-seeing film crews, for example - to the really practical side of being up scaffolding and getting on your hands and knees.

"I also really like the interaction I get with the public. We get a lot of knowledgeable visitors and we can learn from them as well as from our own research on the house."

Career moves

Hayley studied history at university and then volunteered at the National Trust for six months. After a couple of years working as an assistant house steward in a private house, she went back to the National Trust, working at Packwood.

She said the trust love to see volunteer experience on an applicant's curriculum vitae.

I spent a number of hours at Packwood House with Joy Tovey, the house steward, and Jacky Mellows, the assistant conservator.

I visited during the preparations for the new season, which is the most physically demanding time in Joy and Jacky's year.

When the house is open to the public, there is a steady routine of preparing the house, with dusting and clearing each day.

In the winter, however, the chores are more dramatic, as going up scaffolding, checking for mice and clearing up after building work become the norm. Jacky said she loved the job, but was keen to point out the reality wasn't as romantic as it seemed.

She said: "It's not very glamorous. People think we just flit around with a duster, but it's hard work. We get through two pairs of jeans each every winter, we're on our hand and knees that much, we just wear them out!"

Add to this the need to wear steel toe capped boots for protection and the requirement to go up scaffolding on a regular basis, and the job does start to sound more demanding than your regular cleaning work.

They also used the word "lugging" a lot to describe the furniture shifting they do!

Despite this, Jacky said there were a lot of reasons they were both happy working there. Flexible hours, interesting training courses and independence all rated highly in their descriptions.

Joy said the house steward job was very diverse and kept her interested. Because the team at Packwood House is relatively small and because she lives on-site along with the house manager and the gardener, she said the group were like a family.

In addition to the winter conservation work, she has a lot of contact with visitors in the summer and also supports the house manager.

The gardens and 102-acre estate at Packwood House are looked after by a head gardener, a gardener, a propagator and an apprentice gardener. They also have a core of five volunteers and a seasonal gardener to help out.

It's a demanding job but Richard White, the gardener, said he loves it.

He said: "There isn't any part of the job I don't like. I find it especially satisfying mowing the lawns and cutting the yews, we get a lot of comments on those. They take a long time, but I love seeing them finished...the trust has very high standards and here you've got time to do the job properly, which is very satisfying."

Career moves

Richard is from a mixed background of study at agricultural college and employment as a mechanical engineer, which he says has been very helpful.

He said: "You've got to be a good mechanic, if you can weld, that helps and you need a good horticultural background.

"You've got to be good at fixing things, but you've also got to be good at talking to people, as you get a lot of questions and interest from visitors."

Richard was also a full-time wardening volunteer for the National Trust for two years, before using the experience to become a private gardener and, ultimately, to become a gardener at Packwood House.

He said he'd recommend volunteering to anyone who would appreciate gaining valuable experience.

I also met Neil Johnson, the propagator at Packwood House, who provides plants for the garden borders and for sales to the public.

He said it was the best move he could have made: "I'm a keen gardener and it's something I'd always wanted to do. Really, I wish I'd done it years ago."

He said the working conditions are ideal: "Being in the fresh air and meeting people with similar interests makes it really good.

"I've got almost complete independence, although the whole team works with the same goal of preserving and conserving the landscape and the head gardener is like a mentor to me. I really do love it."

Career moves

Neil became an assistant gardener with the National Trust after completing a short course at a horticultural training unit in Solihull.

He was in the printing trade for 22 years before this, but said he always had an interest in gardening.

After six years as the assistant gardener at Packwood House, Neil was promoted to his current post of propagator.

The gardening team currently has an addition member, Ben Hensher, who is working on a three-year careership jointly with Baddesley Clinton. He heard about the scheme whilst working as a landscape gardener and has found the experience at the National Trust invaluable.

He has learnt a range of hands-on skills, including chainsaw use, machinery servicing, propagation and project planning.

For details of opportunities like this, follow the link to the National Trust website on the left.

Packwood House uses an amazing 160 volunteers and they're always looking for more. The commitment can be anything from a few days a week to a half day every fortnight and the roles are varied and interesting.

Volunteers can assist with all aspects of the house and gardens, including room stewarding, working in the gift shop, tending the kitchen garden, cleaning, gardening and odd-jobbing.

The volunteers are all ages and are from a variety of backgrounds. The youngest volunteers - in their teens - often first get involved with the house through the Duke of Edinburgh awards and many stay on as long-term casual volunteers.

Employment opportunities are shown daily on the National Trust website, linked on the left.

For volunteering, you can also call Packwood House directly on 01564 782 024.

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