Gardener let go by National Trust property ‘because he needed qualifications to mow the lawn’

‘A gardener who had worked on a property for decades was let go when it was taken over by the National Trust because he did not have the necessary qualifications.
The gardener worked for the previous occupants of Shute Barton, a house in Devon which has been owned by the Trust since the 1950s, for around 30 years, until 2009.
The medieval house is the ancestral home of the Pole family, and was last home to former newspaper executive Christopher Pole-Carew and his wife Gillian.
But when the couple, who are now in their 80s, gave up their right to live there in 2009, the gardener, who did not want to be named, lost his job.
His friend Ann Heath said: “He was doing it for a long, long time before it went over to the National Trust and as soon as they took over they said he couldn’t do it because he didn’t have any degrees or anything.’
Read more: Gardener let go by National Trust property ‘because he needed qualifications to mow the lawn’