Business & professional
A blossoming business
F
ROM small beginnings,
green shoots may branch
out and, given time and the
right conditions, blossom – this is
precisely what has happened to
Claire Hartnell’s business venture,
one which she set up on leaving
the corporate world of banking.
Claire’s pursued a life-long
passion for gardening. And it
really is life-long. Aged four, she
was fascinated by how tiny pansy
seeds grew into beautiful flowers
in a relatively short space of time.
Gardening with parents, as she
did, is a somewhat lost pastime in
the modern world, yet it stayed
with her.
She left her banking career to
set up CJ Garden Services with
her husband, Lee, in 2001, and
from their first job – clearing an
overgrown site – the business
has grown organically, year on
year. From one-off jobs, she now
employs a team of eight, aged 17
to 58 years, who tackle regular
garden maintenance.
A growing area of work is
commercial properties and
regular contracts with property
36 Resident
BUSINESS ROUND UP Resident Aug-Sep.indd 36
developers such as Alfred Homes,
which is behind the impressive
William Place development in
Winchester city centre.
Claire’s team stick to what
they do best – forget ponds, tree
surgery and large-scale sports
ground maintenance (they don’t
use ride-ons nor tractors). The
travel to work radius is 30 minutes’
drive time or around 15 miles.
“That is deliberate, because
it fits in with our environmental
ethos and sense of responsibility,”
says Claire. “Green waste is
recycled; we pay for that and it is
used as compost. If we keep travel
to a minimum and work ‘smarter’,
perhaps tackling several sites
which may be further away but
nearby on the ground, then it is
better for the environment.”
The team has excellent common
plant and shrub knowledge. All
are what Claire describes as ‘very
good gardeners’. Claire studied
City & Guilds Garden Design in
2002, when Ground Force was
at its peak, and this allows her to
assist and advise clients getting to
grips with design.
“Everyone has grand designs,
but they may not have a grand
budget! We appreciate that basic
control once a month makes a
big difference, but we really love
to get stuck in with communal
gardens and are receiving a
lot of enquiries in and around
Winchester city centre.
“A shared space is great to work
on and people do enjoy a naturally
neat, gorgeously green and
caringly cultivated open space.”
cjgardenservices.com
www.residentmagazine.co.uk
15/07/2016 11:55