TWO students who have been earning their stripes at The Garden House in Buckland Monachorum are to leave to continue their final year of training.

Ed Carter and Bob Burstow are students of The Professional Guild of Gardeners. They train for three years at some of Britain’s finest gardens, living on site and learning from the head gardeners, who will all have different styles and skills to share.

For 12 months they have been at The Garden House, living above the shop and learning how to develop and maintain the ten acre garden.

The garden is a high maintenance one and Ed and Bob have worked hard, lifting the crowns of dozens of established trees, planting, weeding, mulching and pruning. The skills they have learnt here will help them move on to their new garden challenges.

Ed is off to The Savill Garden in Windsor, while Bob goes North West, where he will be gardening at The National Botanic Garden of Wales.

Head gardener at The Garden House Nick Haworth said; ‘We have worked them hard for 12 months and we simply couldn’t achieve what we have done without them. They are both going on to wonderful gardens with great reputations. It’s a pleasure to have been part of their training.’