The current head gardener, of Osborne House in East Cowes, Debs Goodenough,  is reported to soon be moving on by further royal appointment to the Prince of Wales Highgrove Estate in Gloucestershire. 

Debs was born and brought up in Canada and her husband, Simon, is head of Ventnor Botanic Garden.  She trained at Kew and took over the running of the 350 or so acres of Osborne gardens and surrounding estate almost 12 yrs ago. 

She was unable to comment fully on her new royal appointment when she spoke to the IWCP but said:

I am delighted to have been offered such a great opportunity and I am very much looking forward to taking on the role of head gardener at Highgrove.

Of Osborne Gardens, Debs feels an enormous sense of responsibility for what became a national shrine after Victoria’s death in 1901.

The garden at Highgrove embodies The Prince’s environmental philosophy: that it is better to work with Nature than against it.  When he bought the Highgrove estate in 1980, The Prince was adamant that it should be an entirely organic garden and farm.

The Prince is proud of his garden and has regularly invited various groups to visit.  Unfortunately the private grounds are only occasionally open, and only to organised groups of visitors, there is a waiting list of up to two years.  Anyone interested in a visit must apply in writing to:

The Garden Tours Administrator
Highgrove House
Doughton
Tetbury
Gloucestershire
GL8 8TN

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Isle of Wight Community News @Island Pulse.