Industry News

From the palace of the King and Queen of Jordan to the foothills of a Caribbean mountain-side mansion, Raby Castle’s new head gardener has had a career which spans near three decades and has taken him all over the world.

But since joining Raby Estates recently, Tim Marshall says he feels like he’s returned home, as he leads the transformation of the walled garden and the grounds to the north of the castle in the project known as The Rising – working with other high profile garden designers as well as his home team.

“I was brought up in West Yorkshire so being back in familiar terrain is absolutely brilliant,” says Tim. “Not only a familiar landscape but weather that I absolutely love – rain suits me down to the ground after being in tropical and middle eastern heat for several years. I must admit that I’ve missed it.”

Tim is no stranger to working on the estates of historic houses, having spent many years working for Scampston Hall in North Yorkshire, the Daylesford Estate in Oxfordshire and Holkham Estate in North Norfolk where he was landscape and forestry manager.

Tim’s new role at Raby, working closely with Lord and Lady Barnard will see him managing the two-year project to transform the area to the north of the castle, outside the paywall, to encompass landscaping around the new and renovated buildings as well as the complete redesign of the historic Walled Gardens – working with world-class garden designers Luciano Giubbilei and Richmond-based consultant Alistair Baldwin.

Tim will have a prominent position in the ongoing establishment and enrichment of a beautiful and complex garden scheme, which will welcome thousands of visitors each year.

“Getting stuck into the exciting new developments and seeing the site transform into an inspirational tourist attraction for County Durham and the North East is what I’m looking forward to most about this new role.

“I am a self-confessed plantaholic so working with such inspirational garden designers as Luciano and Alistair as well as bringing some of my own passion and knowledge of planting to the Estate is going to be a fantastic project for me,” said Tim.

“Tim has had a glittering career as a head gardener which has taken him to far flung places, working in all sorts of terrains. His knowledge of plants is just incredible, and we know Tim will do a fantastic job as we begin our important renovation scheme at Raby Castle,” said Lady Barnard who as creative director at the castle, is leading the landscaping of The Rising project and the walled garden redesign.

Tim’s first job is to recruit a new team to work with him at Raby Castle including an assistant gardener and an under gardener and is already overseeing the rest of his team of gardeners, in all aspects of the horticulturally diverse and developing garden and wider landscape areas.