Having previously studied a degree in forestry, Rafal applied for The Royal Parks’ horticultural apprenticeship at The Regent’s Park when she was 40, and was instead offered a job as a freelance gardener at Queen Mary’s Gardens in the park. Six years later, she became one of the park’s two new head gardeners in summer 2024.
What inspired you to get into horticulture?
I’m a forester by education. I did a degree in forestry in Poland before coming here to the UK. I’ve always been interested in nature, plants and gardening. I was especially fascinated by flowers or ornamental plants, when I had my own garden.
What was your career journey before joining The Royal Parks as head gardener?
I did various things here in the UK before applying for the horticultural apprenticeship at The Regent’s Park. The team here decided that with the experience I had, I could just start working instead of doing an apprenticeship.
I’ve now been working in The Regent’s Park for six years. I was a freelance gardener at Queen Mary’s Gardens, and I was gradually given more and more responsibilities, and achieved my ‘Supervisor in Hort Level 3’ qualification. After three years, I was promoted to team leader, overseeing a team of ten people.
What do you like about working in The Regent’s Park?
It was quite random that I ended up choosing this park – I had been to Queen Mary’s Gardens before, but I didn’t specifically plan to work there, it just happened to be the apprenticeship I found first.
Queen Mary’s Gardens is the most ornamental part of the park – it’s always changing. It is my favourite but it’s so busy, it’s a big challenge, and very intensive. I’m challenged a lot, but I love the craziness.
People in the area are very connected to the park. I think it’s the variety of having a little bit of everything here – you can find open space, wilder parts and colourful gardens.
What projects have you worked on so far at The Regent’s Park and which have you liked the most?
The work that I am most proud of is having transformed quite a few neglected areas of Queen Mary’s Gardens. I worked on the transformation of the waterfall, which is one of the most photographed areas of the garden, but previously, nothing was growing there. So, we had a huge job to change the soil completely. It was a massive challenge – we had to take buckets and dig all the soil up. It was crazy. We did it with our volunteers, and it’s one of the projects that I think really marked the transformation of the garden.
The gardening volunteers in Queen Mary’s Gardens are a big part of our project – some of them have been around for years.
I liked being able to transform it and bring in a variety of plants. By introducing more interesting plants, there is a greater scope for the horticultural students at Capel Manor College to develop their knowledge.
Also, by making things visually attractive for the public, you encourage them to have a connection with nature. Living in a large city means there are limited opportunities to do that otherwise.
My personal interest is simply that I like plants. I like to propagate. I like the creative part. I can design things, that’s what I find most interesting. And this project allowed me to do that.
What’s the importance of green spaces to you?
The importance of green spaces hit us the most during the Covid pandemic. We realised how valuable these spaces are. We were a lifeline to people. During the first lockdown, the park was empty. When people started coming back, they were so grateful that they could come and spend time in nature – away from the craziness.
We didn’t stop working for one day during the pandemic, and it was clear how much people’s mental health benefited from the time they could spend in the parks. The importance is huge, especially in the city. London has amazing parks – in other countries, we don’t necessarily spend a day in a park just to be in the sun and in nature, like we do here.
People tell you every day they’ve been visiting the park since they were a child. It’s part of a lot of people’s daily routines. They have strong memories. They’re so grateful for what we do.
There are ecological aspects including cleaner air, but the mental health aspect, and how much impact the park has on people’s lives, is important to me.
