Averil has been involved in Horticulture for over 34 years in various roles but most of her time has been at the helm looking after historic gardens and their visitors.

After college, she took a role as propagator at Hillsborough Castle for 7 years in the tough years in Northern Ireland, the garden wasn’t open to the public at that time due to the unrest so she moved to the National Trust as Assistant Head Gardener to the lovely gardens at Mount Stewart.  Here, Averil developed a keen interest in herbaceous perennials and with the climate and such unusual plants she felt she was always learning! After 10 years Averil moved on down the coast to Rowallane as Head Gardener where she stayed for 17 years within the  natural flows of the ericaceous collection there until recently when she decided to have a  change of tack and go self-employed!

Averil’s interests within horticulture are varied, she loves to explore herbal medicine and the traditional healing benefits of plants, especially those native weeds we so despise. She also has a desire to grow flowers to sell locally (‘grown not flown’) and in addition, this year branched out into vegetable growing using the ‘no dig’ methodology. Averil is a regular contributor to ‘Gardener’s Corner’ on Radio Ulster Saturday morning broadcast and also makes herbal soaps using botanical infusions so, as she describes herself, ‘a full mix of herbal medicine, horticulture and creative spirits!’

Nowadays, Averil feels as if she has gone full circle and has come back to her roots – from a student gaining experience, to gardener supervisor, then into garden management and encouraging people to come into horticulture – and now it’s time to come back to the soil to grow what she loves…