Simon Hibbert has been the Head of Gardens and Grounds at Sherborne Girls since 2018. With over 38 years of experience in Horticulture, Simon works incredibly hard with the rest of the garden team to keep the School grounds looking immaculate.
“It all started with sweet peas… I have been gardening since I can remember. My grandad was the Head Gardener at Manchester University, and my great grandad was also a passionate gardener. As a youngster I would go and spend time with him on campus helping (or perhaps hindering). I suppose this is where my interest started – you could say, ‘the seed was planted!’. One of the first plants I grew were sweet peas. I can still remember walking down long lines of them at the university grounds, cutting and tying them back. My grandad was an old school gardener and would always be sure to point out the errors of my ways, although always happy to share his knowledge with me.
After leaving school I applied for a gardening position at Sherborne School and was fortunate to get the job. They supported me attending college alongside working with the team. This provided me with a wonderful opportunity to gain knowledge and skills in both gardening and grounds. One of my proudest achievements in this role was the re-training/pruning of a climbing rose at Abbeylands. I had asked my grandad to pop in and cast his professional eye over it. I had expected that he would find fault in my work; however, his response was that I had done a good job. This felt like high praise indeed.
When the position of Head Gardener at Sherborne Girls became available, I happily jumped at the chance. Thankfully I was successful in my application, and this has given me the opportunity to take a decisive role in designing and shaping the gardens and grounds here. I wanted to change the design of the flower beds around the school from mainly shrub plants, into a colourful, varied, and managed garden. With my team I believe that we are beginning to achieve this. The flower beds that we first worked on are now maturing and blooming, full of colour with a wonderful variety of plants. My hope is that when I ‘hang up my gardening gloves’ – not for a while yet – that I will be able to hand over gardens full of contemporary and vibrant floral displays”.
