Great West Way Travel Magazine | Issue 08

MY GREAT
WEST WAY
Having looked after royal gardens for over 40 years,
Graham Dillamore, deputy head of gardens and estates at
Historic Royal Palaces, is now responsible for some of the
most magnificent palace gardens in the country
Please start by telling us about your journey
in becoming head gardener of the worldfamous
gardens at Hampton Court Palace?
I knew I had to be outdoors no matter what.
Gardening seemed to be something I was
good at and I was happy, relaxed and always
comfortable to be in a Garden. People talk about
Gardens having profound effects on people
and its true. So, when I was 16 years old and at
the very earliest opportunity, I began looking
for a job in gardening where I could also gain
some training. I got rejected a few times but I
kept going and eventually began working as an
apprentice in London’s Royal Parks. Later on in
1985, I became head gardener at Kensington
Palace before going to work for The Royal
Household, where I took on the responsibility of
tending to the then-Prince Charles and Diana,
Princess of Wales’ private garden. Around 5 years
later I made the exciting move to Hampton
Court Palace as the ‘Foreman’ now there’s a
word you don’t hear anymore! My job title
changed a few times and I was given different
roles from time to time but I stayed at Hampton
Court and now here I am, still gardening.
What does your role involve, and what is a
typical day like for you?
My role involves coordinating and overseeing
everything that goes on in the gardens not only
on a day-to-day basis, but also week-to-week,
month-to-month, and year-to-year. I work
closely with a few team leaders and we usually
get to together to talk about what we need to
do that week, what is coming up next and how
we can make things better for our visitors. I
sometimes take the dogs with me - we might
chase off a few geese before our visitors arrive
and it’s time for a cup of tea. We like a lot of
cake with our tea at Hampton Court and that
suits me fine. Its then on to the keyboard and
like any other manager in any other business I
have emails, meetings, invoices and planning to
work on.
Do you work with a wider team and what
achievements are you most proud of?
I head up the Gardens team and our
responsibility is to take care of the formal
gardens around the Palace here at Hampton
Court and at Kensington. We try to create a
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