The Aldingbourne Country Centre is located on the edge of the South Downs National Park - we grow and sell a range of bedding plants to members of the public at our established visitor attraction that draws over 60,000 visitors a year. The Aldingbourne Centre provides vocational training for people with learning disabilities (our clients) across a range of activities including working in our gardens and greenhouses.

We are looking for a person with experience in growing and selling plants in a commercial setting to carry out the following duties:

• Grow bedding plants in green houses
• Buy plugs and grow them on to bed plant stage
• Display the plants in attractive ways for customers to view and buy
• Talk to customers about the plants
• Supervise clients' working and assisting in the greenhouses and gardens
• Maintain Aldingbourne's grounds, including planting our own plants in the beds around the site and trimming hedges, cutting back trees occasionally etc

The ideal candidate will have:

• Commercial experience of growing and selling plants (perhaps you will have worked in a garden centre or horticultural business)
• Have an understanding of financials regarding buying, growing on and selling of plants
• Be happy speaking to customers
• Have a kind and understanding nature in supporting our clients. You do not need to have experience in a care role - provided you have a kind nature and are willing to be guided in working alongside our clients we will provide training in this aspect of the role.

The role will have some staff supervision responsibilities as you will manage our gardener/horticultural support staff member. 

You will be required to develop excellent working relationships with Country Centre staff, volunteers, the people we support and visitors to the Country Centre. You will be supported by the Senior Support with responsibility for Horticulture, Events, Farm and Retail and the Country Centre team.

Due to the nature of this role, some weekend working is required including public holidays.
Rotas will be agreed on a monthly rolling basis.

The contractual hours for this post are 37.5 hours per week based on working 5 days from 7 (dependent on rotas), including some weekend and public holidays.