SOUP TALK: SIMONE DAYE

Simone Daye is the Head Gardener at Brantwood, the former home of John Ruskin and will discuss the past present and future of these magical historical gardens. Simone is part of a small gardens team and will illustrate the challenges of gardening and working on an historical estate that ranges from the lakeside of Coniston Water to the top of the fell at Crag Head that has an elevation of 149 metres. John Ruskin had an immense influence on the Arts and Crafts movement and the gardens still retain this style and essence today and was a trailblazer for sustainability and wild gardening.  Brantwood is now home to a dispersed Plant Heritage National Collection of species and cultivars of Wisteria. Simone will explore how working at Brantwood is not just a job but also a lifestyle.

Australian born Simone was bought up with a love of nature and heavily influenced by her mother’s family interest in botanical art and the English cottage garden. In 2020 she decided to pursue horticulture as a profession and enrolled as a WRAGS Trainee with the WFGA (Working for Gardeners Association)  in North Yorkshire based at both Ness and Arden Halls and eventually moving to Cumbria. In the last year she has appeared in Cumbria: Lakes and Coast on Channel 5 featuring as ‘an Australian who has made Cumbria their home’.