I chose this career because I was passionate about the countryside, countryside management and in particular estate management. At 16 years of age I started volunteering for the National Trust in Essex. My career started with short-term placements with the National Trust and the RSPB (The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds). I moved on to work as a Ranger for Lee Valley Park Authority, and subsequently I progressed to become Head Ranger at Coombe Country Park.

During my career, I have completed a horticultural management course to HND Level, an internal company course linked to company training as a Ranger and manager. I have also undertaken a range of short vocational courses. These have been designed to meet specific work based requirements including: Chainsaws use, ATV driving, Fisheries Management with Institute of Fisheries Management, and Grassland management.

My current role involves the management of Coombe Park, a historic 500-acre country estate park in Warwickshire, which includes a fishery and a 4 star hotel. The Park has 500,000 visitors a year. I have a team of 28 people and the majority of my time is spent managing this team and developing the Country Park, rather than the hands-on outside Ranger work.

Career development might include moving into different areas of countryside management. Different areas include consultancy and development of new estates. One of my greatest passions is taking an estate that is run down and turning it around as I did with Coombe Park. I am particularly interested in the professional development of people working in this industry and the continuation of the work that I have been doing with organisations such as Lantra.

It is an interesting and demanding vocation for someone who is passionate about the countryside and people. A lot of what I do involves future planning that does not achieve immediate results, but will have results in 30 to 40 year’s time. The job often involves juggling the demands of historical landscape conservation, nature conservation, recreation, and farming - often all together. Diplomacy and understanding the different aspects of our diverse countryside is vital.