Antrim postman David Love Cameron had been green fingered for as long as he could remember, and set up his own modest gardening business in 2011. Little did he know then that it was a career move that would see him working in the gardens of Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Raymond Blanc’s hotel and restaurant in Oxfordshire, and also Richard Corrigan’s Park Hotel in Virginia, where the 100-acre estate is producing vegetables for the chef’s London restaurants.
Last year, Love Cameron won a scholarship which allowed him to join the team designing a heritage garden at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, one of Britain’s most prestigious venues where Blanc, the renowned French-born chef, has been running a hotel and two-Michelin-starred restaurant for 30 years.
“I had only been working as a gardener for a year when I spotted an advert for a competition to win a year-long gardening scholarship at Le Manoir,” he says. “Obviously I was hugely interested but had no expectations of winning. So I was really surprised to be called for an interview and even more so when I got offered the place.”
Having given up his job as a postman, the 39-year-old had devoted all his energies into organic gardening and utilising recycled materials – this, he believes, is what put him in the running for the scholarship at the world-famous hotel.
“After getting a foundation degree [in horticulture], I became a ‘man with a van’ collecting compost, cutting hedges and doing other odd jobs for people,” he says.
“But my intention had always been to grow organically, so I got involved with some like-minded people in a group called Root and Branch Organic. We developed a balcony garden at the Mac Centre in Belfast, combining organic vegetables with old materials like tyres and crates.”
He spent a year working on similar projects around the country with youth groups, mental health organisations and even the Lit Fest in Ballymaloe House. Then, having been chosen from 200 applicants for the scholarship at Le Manoir, he relocated to Oxford for his year-long apprenticeship.
“I joined at the final design stage of the garden and got to work sourcing heritage plants which, if approved by Raymond Blanc , would appear on the menu at the restaurant,” he says.
“I spent a very interesting time researching the most unusual and tasty varieties. My favourite was a pea called Carruther’s Purple Potted, which is an heirloom pea from Co Down. It took me a long time to track it down but after a radio appeal, an elderly gentleman contacted me to say he had some on the top of a wardrobe.
“I then planted them in the garden and Raymond included them in his taste trials. I was delighted that he approved them because as well as tasting great, they also look really pretty. ”
As well as restoring a wealth of nearly extinct vegetable varieties, the Antrim man brought his recycling design skills to the seven-acre hotel garden and also got to spend some time in the kitchen of the restaurant which has had two Michelin stars for three decades.
“Working on the garden was an incredible experience,” he says. “We used only natural materials, created a wall from champagne bottles, wildlife ponds in reclaimed whiskey barrels and compost bins out of pallets. I also worked on dry-stone walls and did some willow work which was fantastic. The garden is now complete and is a really wonderful sight.
“It was amazing to work with Raymond Blanc and I spent a week in the kitchen cross-training with the chefs who also worked in the garden – this is to ensure that we all have an in-depth knowledge of the produce from field to plate.”
Love Cameron has come a long way from his postal round, and when his scholarship ends in November, he will be returning to Ireland where he will put his newly-acquired skills to use for another famous chef.
“I never imagined things would turn out the way they did, and in November I will be going back home to take up a job with Richard Corrigan,” he says.
“I have learned so much over the past year and I would advise any budding gardeners to just get out there and start looking for opportunities – take a horticultural course and spend time on allotments. Be brave; because you never know where it will take you.”
See belmond.com/le-manoir-aux-quat- saisons-oxfordshire and lemanoirheritagegarden.blogspot.ie
