Sally Rollinson

I trained on the job in my last role, starting on a YTS straight from school, I’ve now been here for 11 years. The lads I work with are brilliant, a good team is so important in our job. If you’re outside and its freezing cold, life isn’t fun if you’re miserable too. It’s a beautiful place to work, I love to see the seasons through here and we love working towards Yorkshire in bloom. If we’ve had works done, we tidy it all up so it looks fantastic afterwards. 

It’s a very supportive place to work. You’re part of the team and you’re expected to do the job. There’s no differentiation between gender, no ‘that’s your job’ that I’ve found in other places, here that just doesn’t happen. You’re just part of the team, I’ve never ever felt that I’m on the outside looking in.

I’ve never really thought that I’m a role model. Years ago when I first started, there were hardly any women in this job and I really was pointed out as people walked past. Even now though I sometimes get second looks when I’m pushing a lawn mower or something, you can see visitors doing a double take. You get used to it.

My first boss, said as long as you’re interested and committed, you can pass that on to other people. So I’ve always tried to do that, especially our job, a lot of it is learnt through experience. You can read so much about plants in a book, but until you’ve actually seen that plant and dealt with that plant, you don’t know the ins and the outs of it.