The gardener

Дата добавления: 2014-10-22; просмотров: 828

Hugo Grantchester, 26, has been a gardener and a tree surgeon for four years. He went to Oxford University to study archaeology, but he dropped out after just one term. His father, Hector, is a surveyor and his mother, Geraldine, is an interior designer. Hugo and his mother talk about his choice of career.

Hugo

When I was 11 we moved to a large Tudor house in East Anglia which had three acres of garden. We had a gardener who lived in a little cottage at the end of our drive. I used to spend hours watching him work and talking to him. I think I picked up a lot about gardening without realizing it. because one summer, when I was still at school. I took a job at a garden centre and I knew all the names of the plants, and I could give people advice.

Then I went to university and it was a disaster. After a term I told my parents that I was going to give it up and go back to work in the garden centre. They were furious, we had a terrible row, and they didn't speak to me for months. But I knew it was a waste of time to carry on studying archaeology, and the moment I started gardening again, I knew I'd made the right decision. We enjoyed every moment or the last four years and my parents have learnt to accept what I do, not only because they can see how happy I am but also because a lot of my university friends have found it difficult to find good jobs or have been made redundant. Sometimes people are quite taken aback when they find out that their gardener when to university, but I think it makes them respect my opinion more when I'm helping them to plan their gardens.

Hugo's mother His father and I were so delighted when he went to Oxford, but when he gave it up so soon we were very, very angry. We thought manual labour was not the career for our only son. We fell out for months. Hector refused to allow Hugo into the house, and we all felt thoroughly miserable. But our daughter told us not to worry because Hugo would be a millionaire by the time he was forty. Anyway, we've made it up now we can see how happy he is, even though he hasn’t become a millionaire yet!

Times have changed and all kinds of people do all kinds of work, and I think the world's a better place for it!