Gardens supremo quits as Dartington tries seeding a new culture
The head of Dartington’s highly rated ornamental gardens is leaving as part of changes at the estate geared to cutting costs while boosting revenue.
Neville Evans – who arrived at Dartington three years ago with a starry reputation in the horticultural world – is quitting along with two other members of his gardening team. Under the plans of the Dartington Hall Trust – which runs Dartington – the job of looking after the historic 26-acre gardens will cease to be done in-house but will be left to an external agency. The departures of Evans and his two colleagues are due to take place by 15th August. They continue an exodus of staff in the gardens department triggered at least in part by cuts to their contracted hours.
The changes have been driven by a wide-ranging crisis plan set in train by in 2023 by Lord David Triesman, the charity’s chair, after he concluded the trust was running out of money and that dramatic new moves were needed to avoid bankruptcy.
All Change
On the latest of these changes, Dartington said it had concluded that “an external partner [for its gardens] rather than an employed resource is our favoured solution for achieving the …objectives of [maintaining] quality, staff retention and cost efficiency”. The trust has declined to name the outside agency for the gardens but said it was an “independent, reputable, well established specialist contractor based in south Devon”.
Dartington added that “the gardens are a very important element of the estate” and “part of the core offering to members and visitors”. It said that – under the partnership with the new agency – it expected “no reduction in the quality of the gardens”. The trust also said that “change and cultural adjustment are rarely easy” and that it did “not expect the …[gardening] developments to be immediately embraced by all”.
It stressed that all those leaving the gardens department had quit voluntarily, with no one made redundant. However a key factor has been that many staff have had their hours cut, by a maximum of 20 per cent.
Horticultural Traditions
According to Dartington’s own description, the gardens “blend a sense of natural wilderness with stunning features, beautiful vistas and impressive sculptures”. A mix of formally planted areas and parkland, they have evolved over the hundreds of years Dartington has existed as a landed estate, but with the main features added from the 1930s by renowned landscape artists including Beatrix Farrand and Percy Cane, under the guidance of Dorothy Elmhirst.
Elmhirst – who with her husband Leonard bought Dartington in 1925 and poured money into it to establish the estate as an international centre in arts and education – was a key influence on the gardens, delighting in specific sequences of plants and giving highlighted trees their own private names. She eulogised particularly one unusual vista in the estate “from which the land in the distance seems to take the form of soft green waves, silently rolling in”.
Under the UK’s system for registering historic buildings and places, Dartington’s gardens are listed as Grade II*, giving them a special degree of protection. They are also among the “partner gardens” recognised by the Royal Horticultural Society, signifying their exalted status in the gardening community.
the gardens are a very important element of the estate
An Enviable Reputation
Among enthusiasts for flowers and plants the departure of Evans in particular will widely noted, due to his glittering reputation honed through previous top jobs at Bicton Park Botanical Gardens in east Devon, the Botanic Gardens at University of Oxford and Tresco Abbey Gardens on the Isles of Scilly. In announcing Evans’s appointment as head gardener in 2022, Dartington said: “We look forward to seeing how his expertise and curatorial eye will help shape the next chapter of this centre piece of the Dartington estate.”
Evans – whose job during his Dartington tenure was later upgraded to include being “head of land and landscapes“ – did not respond to a request to comment. His imminent exit plus that of his two colleagues will mean that – unless new staff are taken on – the number of full-time people in the gardens team will have fallen from six in January to zero. Remaining in the group are two part-time people who are considering an offer to switch their contracts to the new agency.
Farming Out
Under the restructuring plans for the gardens the trust said one option that had been discussed – although not enacted- was to retain the “existing gardening team” but to transfer all these people to the new agency. This idea was dropped however after internal conversations. Expanding on what had been a potential scenario the trust said that – under this now-aborted idea – the agency had outlined ”interesting plans and options” for all the team members “with the strong potential to increase their hours”.
Looking ahead Dartington said that a cohort of volunteers – enthusiastic local people who have helped out in the gardens for years – will “continue to play an essential role, supported by a refreshed engagement scheme”.
Under the Triesman crisis plan, in the year to July 2024, staff at the trust fell from 360 to about 200. Since then Dartington has not given an update on employee numbers. Dartington has also brought in outside partners to run operations on the estate – for instance in catering and in the form of a new gym – with the goal being to attract more people spending money and with the trust taking a share of the revenue through rents and other income.
At the same time it has stirred controversy by shutting down established ventures in education and music, arguing they were too expensive.
Neville Evans has done a great job, but didn’t he look at the staffing history before he took the post? Never trust the Trust!
This is shocking news. The gardens have gone from strength to strength under the present team, and are more beautiful and more extensive now than they have ever been. What an appalling way to treat professional staff, and how sad for all of us that the gardens will now slip into an inevitable decline.
Gill T
I find this deeply depressing. As someone who has enjoyed the beautiful gardens on many visits to Dartington it feels like something very precious will be lost. I fear that external contractors will not have the same commitment and interest that the existing gardening team have shown.
Anyone who lives locally knows that the gardens at Dartington are very special. It seems the current management consultants at Dartington recognise ‘heritage’ assets in developing the Elmhirst tours and the importance of artistic activity over a century whilst being prepared to sacrifice the horticultural asset that Neville Evans and his experienced and dedicated team of gardeners have nurtured. Previously the investment in a plan to develop the gardens commissioned from Dan Pearson was disappointingly not implemented but it did at least acknowledge the central role the gardens play in attracting visitors and raising the regard in which Dartington has been held in horticultural circles.
The decision to outsource will inevitably threaten this legacy. A commercial firm, however skilled, can have no knowledge of the importance of the gardens to Dartington’s history, which like so many other aspects of its innovation in arts, education, environmental credentials and social justice have all been swept away in a damaging attempt to reduce costs. When the present dedicated volunteers walk away from projects in the gardens, will the cost of their labour have been taken into account in the tendering process? Probably not. And by then it will be too late to stop the neglect. Very disheartening but hopefully not irreversible
I would be very interested to see the figures and assumptions behind the idea that contractors will be more cost effective than the garden team. In my experience of outsourcing they will need to keep tight control of the contractors and ensure penalties are applied if they don’t keep their promises. Once you’ve gone the outsourcing route it’s very difficult to go back
I think this is a tragedy for the Dartington Gardens, an essential part of the core of the Estate. A two year project, the walled garden, has just been completed and will now presumably fall into neglect (do visit before this happens). I cannot see outside contractors having the understanding and empathy to maintain the unique character of this historic garden – or indeed being good value for money. Treating a committed and skilful team in this way – significant salary cuts, lack of recognition, repeated reductions in staffing – seems poor and short-sighted management. As a long standing volunteer I feel saddened by the undoubted deterioration we are likely to see in the gardens. Such a loss for Dartington and Totnes.
Elizabeth Cooke
Yes i see now – what an utter tragedy
As an “enthusiastic local person” who has cherished the gardens for decades, I have no intention of continuing as a volunteer. How can a contractor based elsewhere possibly manage the day to day contributions of volunteers? I’m outraged that no one from the trust has spoken to the garden volunteers about possible future plans. Deeply deeply disappointing.
As a volunteer gardener at Dartington for over 3 years, I have come to know and respect the Head Gardener Neville, the others, Mo and Willow, Richard, Mike and Steve…sadly all gone.
With no communication or explanations, so far, we volunteers are leaving in droves. Such a shame as we love the gardens as do the public. Make the most of all our hard work so far whilst the gardens deteriorate .