Overview
Gardener – Homestead Park, York
Salary: £30,217.20 per annum
Permanent, Full Time (39 hours per week)
Homestead Park has been cherished by communities for 120 years since it was gifted to the people of York by social reformer Seebohm Rowntree (son of Joseph Rowntree) so that all individuals, regardless of class or income, could enjoy time in nature.
At JRF, we’re honouring this heritage and turning the leaves of a new chapter in the story of the Homestead Park. Seebohm’s gift represents a tradition of giving back to the community and ensuring that public spaces remain accessible to all. We want to uphold this tradition and not only preserve a piece of history but also reaffirm our dedication to creating a park and pavilion community space that serves the needs and interests of the people it belongs to.
You will be part of the transformation of Homestead Park as it strives to become a radically inclusive place. Your work will help to connect people with nature and create an environment for strengthening connections and community resilience.
About the role
As our Gardener at Homestead Park, you will maintain and care for this beautiful place as a gift to all the people of York. You will carry outa wide range of horticultural tasks including the maintenance of herbaceous borders and ornamental planting, lawns and wilder areas of wood-meadow and the care of hedgerows and small trees. There will be opportunities to develop new areas of planting including edible plants and community gardening resources.
You will carry out your role in ways which support the biodiversity of the Park and the wider environment. Supporting general assistants, apprentices and volunteers in their roles, you will occasionally be involved in public events or activities to support people’s wellbeing and connection with nature. You will be part of a team, working together to make the park a welcoming, safe and restorative place for everyone who visits.
About you
Our ideal candidate will…
- Have practical experience of all aspects of gardening.
- Have good botanical and ecological knowledge.
- Have experience with a wide range of horticultural machinery.
- Have an understanding of health and safety legislation and practices relevant to horticulture.
- Hold a formal horticultural qualification to minimum of NVQ level 2 certificate/diploma.
- Have at least 2 years’ experience in horticulture.
- Be able to engage with the public in a friendly, helpful and welcoming way.
Applications are strongly encouraged from those who have had limited access to green space.
How to apply
If you share our passion and this role sounds like you, then we’re looking forward to hearing from you.
Please submit your CV and supporting information via our online application platform.
The closing date for applications is 27th October 2025.
Interviews will take place on 10th & 11th November 2025.
We reserve the right to bring the closing date forward should enough quality applications be received prior to the current closing date.
Additional Information
Applications are welcome from all, regardless of age, disability, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, religion or belief, race, sex, sexual orientation, trans status or socioeconomic background.
We positively encourage applications from people from marginalised backgrounds, including but not limited to those with experience of living in poverty.
We are committed to being an anti-racist organisation and operate an anonymised recruitment process so that bias is eliminated from the shortlisting process.
In support of our approach to flexible working, we are happy to receive applications from those seeking full-time employment, as well as those who may want to share the role on a part-time basis. When making your application, please state whether you want to be considered for either full or part-time work and, if part-time, the number of hours per week you would be looking for.
At JRF we’re at our best when we’re continually building on trust, showing we care and making a difference – and hope others will do the same. So, for those roles which allow it, we’re developing a more blended approach to how and where you work. This means you can expect to work flexibly between the office and home (with an expectation of two days a week in your home office).
We encourage you to read our EVP, which is located here: https://jrf-jrht-brand.frontify.com/share/7C1kD2FusMtEVnje2ijA
We are a Disability Confident Employer. This means that we are committed to the recruitment, progression and retention of disabled individuals. We shall also offer interviews to disabled candidates who meet the minimum criteria for the job. If you have a disability, please tell us if you would like to be considered for an interview under the Disability Confident Scheme.
If you have any additional needs and need reasonable adjustments to be made to the interview process, please let us know.
IMPORTANT: Before applying for this role, please make sure you have the right to work in the country where the role is based. Unless it clearly stipulates within in the job advert above that the hiring company is looking to or able to sponsor applicants it is deemed that the hiring employer will only consider applications from those able to comply with and work in the country where the role is based.
