Sheila Das will step into the National Trust\u2019s most senior horticultural role. <\/p>
The National Trust<\/a> has announced Sheila Das as its new head of gardens and parks, the charity\u2019s top horticultural role. She\u2019ll take up her position in early January 2025, replacing Andy Jasper, who left in September after just three years<\/a> to become group chief executive officer at the Eden Project<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p> You may also like<\/strong><\/p> Sheila arrives at the National Trust from RHS Garden Wisley<\/a>, where she\u2019s been a garden manager since 2015, covering education, edibles, seeds and wellbeing. She\u2019s also overseen significant investment projects at Wisley, including its Hilltop landscape, complete with gardens centred around wildlife, food and wellbeing.\u00a0<\/p> Sheila studied at Kew Gardens<\/a> after deciding to change career in the early 2000s, and has since worked at English Heritage, at Wrest Park in Bedfordshire too.\u00a0<\/p> Andy Jasper leaves behind a range of new schemes he launched during his time with the National Trust,<\/a> including \u00a31.5 million of funding to go towards garden grants of up to \u00a335,000 each. There are also now 117 more gardeners and 23 more apprentices on 18-month programmes working there than when he started. <\/p> Sheila said: “I am so excited to be joining the National Trust as head of gardens and parks. Horticulture is in an exciting phase at present that offers so many opportunities to improve our relationship with our wider environment as well as enhancing quality of life for every one of us.\u201d<\/p> Much of Sheila’s work has focused on sustainable<\/a> design and soil<\/a> quality, with an emphasis on supporting planetary and human health. She sees the gardener as a custodian of a space, taking it from the past to the present and into the future.\u00a0<\/p> At Wisley<\/a>, Sheila played a key role in its Planet-Friendly Gardening Campaign, with the aim of boosting biodiversity and encouraging education around eco-friendly and resilient practices in horticulture.\u00a0<\/p> Tarnya Cooper, the National Trust\u2019s conservation & curation director, said:\u00a0 \u201cWe are delighted Sheila will be joining the National Trust as head of gardens and parks, the Trust\u2019s most senior horticultural role. Her background, expertise and passion will be invaluable as we put audiences at the centre of our work, build increased sustainability and climate resilience across Trust gardens, and continue to invest in our skilled horticulturists.\u201d\u00a0<\/p> The National Trust<\/a> currently manages 250,000 hectares of countryside and 500 historic properties, gardens and nature reserves, including Vita Sackville-West’s famous Sissinghurst<\/a>. They’re enjoyed by the organisation\u2019s 5.7 million members, funders and donors.\u00a0<\/p> Sheila added, \u201cI look forward to working with the team of talented gardeners in such a huge range of gardens and parks and sharing the joy of gardening through these special places.”<\/p> Read more: <\/strong><\/p> Sheila Das will step into the National Trust\u2019s most senior horticultural role. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":40823,"template":"","categories":[1,48],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/10\/national-trust-announces-new-head-of-gardens-and-parks-to-replace-andy-jasper.jpg",2560,1920,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/10\/national-trust-announces-new-head-of-gardens-and-parks-to-replace-andy-jasper-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/10\/national-trust-announces-new-head-of-gardens-and-parks-to-replace-andy-jasper-300x225.jpg",300,225,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/10\/national-trust-announces-new-head-of-gardens-and-parks-to-replace-andy-jasper-768x576.jpg",768,576,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/10\/national-trust-announces-new-head-of-gardens-and-parks-to-replace-andy-jasper-1024x768.jpg",800,600,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/10\/national-trust-announces-new-head-of-gardens-and-parks-to-replace-andy-jasper-1536x1152.jpg",1536,1152,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/10\/national-trust-announces-new-head-of-gardens-and-parks-to-replace-andy-jasper-2048x1536.jpg",2048,1536,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Sheila Das will step into the National Trust\u2019s most senior horticultural role.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/40822"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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