Island Life Magazine Ltd February/March 2018 | Page 47

K
Interview
Chris’s own
Garden of Eden
He describes the garden at his home in Newport as a mere
“square of grass with an apple tree” - so it’s ironic that as Curator
of Ventnor Botanic Garden, Chris Kidd has helped to shape and
develop a stunning 27 acres, at what is widely accepted to be one
of the greatest gardens in Britain. Here he tells us how he ended
up in his dream job, despite the odds being stacked against him.
There was never any doubt
that gardening was in Chris
Kidd’s genes – it was right there
staring at him from both sides
of the family.
His mother Pam, who hails from East
Wight, was descended from a market
gardener in Lake, while his father Brian
was not only an enthusiastic allotment
holder and competitive grower - but
carved a successful career in horticulture,
eventually becoming the Director of Parks
for Portsmouth City Council.
Chris clearly recalls spending hours on
the allotment with his dad, from pretty
much as soon as he could walk, so it was
always an environment in which he felt
at home.
School was a different matter, though:
he never enjoyed it and was keen to leave
the classroom as soon as he could.
And as a school leaver at 16, he came
up against the harsh reality of 1980s
unemployment, with many of his friends
opting to sign up for the Army to avoid
the dole queue, though that was never
going to be a route for him.
One careers advisor suggested he
should try gardening and he’s under no
illusions about why.
“Horticulture was seen as a kind of
dumping ground if you couldn’t get
anything else” he says.
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