Five hundred years ago King Henry VIII began a tradition of royal gardening at his riverside residence of Hampton Court Palace. However, Henry VIII's gardens were a far cry from the Hampton Court Palace gardens of today which were developed through the centuries under the watchful eye of subsequent reigning sovereigns, determined to have the most fashionable and elegant gardens of their era.
Today, Hampton Court Palace Estates consists of 60 acres of formal gardens, (ranging from the early 17th century to the 20th century), containing many wonderful features including: a maze, a formal baroque garden, a rose garden, a wilderness, sunken Dutch gardens, the grape vine, fountains, Lime avenues, floral bedding displays, an arboretum and the longest herbaceous border in UK.
Home Park, which borders the gardens on the east side, has a golf club and is home to the deer herd that was first introduced by Henry VIII.
With such a large and diverse Estate, there were many areas that needed bespoke solutions: hedges, climbing wall plants and topiary being the main ones. Each of these provided the gardening staff with its own unique problem, particularly with regard to access.
Graham Dillamore, Gardens and Estates Operations Manager said, 'We wanted something that was transportable, adjustable and user friendly so a Wheeled Henchman 55 with Height Extender was acquired in 2002.' He adds, 'It has made things a lot safer and following risk assessments, it has reduced the risk of accidents. It has also enabled us to complete some tasks with less bulky and dangerous scaffolds and ladders.'
To work alongside the Wheeled Henchman, A Henchman Hi-step Professional Senior(designed specifically for the professional gardener, contractor or groundsman) has recently been ordered to help tackle hedges, topiary, arbours, pleached trees, wall shrubs and climbers. |
