Andrew's happy to mull over options in perfect job

Andrew Hatfield Photo / Annette Taylor

As gardener/handyman/go-to-man, Andrew Hatfield does anything needing doing on the Zealong Tea Estate in Gordonton.

"A bit of sweeping here, a bit of tidying there - this morning I glued down that bronze statue to make him safe," Andrew says.

He believes he has found the perfect job, or close to it.

"I think about what I'll do when I'm not here, how to develop certain areas, should I use bark or some different mulch, there's a lot to mull over. And whatever I do everyone here is utterly supportive."

All told, he's in charge of about three acres. "The actual formal garden is not particularly big, but very detailed. I start most days blowing all the leaves off the paths, and check everything is tidy and as it should be."

Arriving at Zealong has been a bit of a journey for the Yorkshire-born man.

He came to New Zealand as a teacher 17 years ago.

"My then wife and I were looking for a change in atmosphere, it was very difficult in the UK in those years."

Andrew has three degrees under his belt - mechanical engineering, social anthropology, both from Edinburgh University, and a Master of Horticulture, from Royal Horticulture Society.

He was a horticulture lecturer for 11 years in the UK, and in New Zealand has taught at secondary school, kept an eye on horticulture apprentices throughout the country, gardened, worked for an irrigation company and supervised periodic detention work gangs.

More recently he was a ground's instructor at Spring Hill Corrections Facility.

The last few years have been interesting times - "Which is said to be a Chinese curse, you know."

Then he spotted an ad on TradeMe for a gardener at Zealong, applied and landed the position last February.

Now that he's been at the estate almost a year, he is just beginning to have a feel for what the garden is about.

"You have to spend time in a garden to get a proper understanding of it through the seasons. It will take me at least three years to get it into the shape I want it to be."

He'd only been in the position a matter of weeks when he learned that 100 cherry trees had been ordered.

"The question was where to plant them, to maximise the effect. Now we have cherry trees in an avenue down the main drive, which leads to the main car park, which then leads down below the tea room, which leads you further along to a double row out front of the veranda. Give them a couple of years and they will be phenomenal."

The garden dates back to 1986 and was a classic Kiwi country garden. Now it has taken on international flavours and is evolving its own multi-cultural style.

"A strong Asian influence has been introduced, which works with the existing backbone, all set on a stunning Gordonton dairy farm. I'm working with the owners to bring all this together, to get the vision right."

Now he's musing over exactly what kind of daffodils to plant under the cherry trees.

"I've got to figure out how to do it for New Zealand conditions. The best daffodils to get, how to plant them, whether to put bark down there's a lot to ponder."

These drifts of daffodils, of course, won't really get going for about 12 years. "Mustn't rush these things. Plants need time. Years."

Which is the reason Andrew enjoys being part of Zealong.

"They have visions for the company, looking 15 or 20 years ahead, which gives me the opportunity to have vision for the garden.

"And I suppose, after a professional lifetime in horticulture, to be given that opportunity is quite something."

Number 8 Network is a community website for rural areas north-east of Hamilton.