THE man responsible for the upkeep of Capability Brown's 'final masterpiece' for more than four decades has spoken about his experience.

Nick Winney was just 15 when he took up the post of assistant gardener at Berrington Hall, near Leominster, where the gardens are the culmination of a lifetime's work for the most important landscape architect of the 18th-century.

Mr Winney this year marks 45 years in post, many of which have been as head gardener at the National Trust-owned property.

Mr Winney recalled: "I wasn't 100 per cent sure what I wanted to do. I looked at going to art college and thought I would look at other things and went to interviews.

"Someone said about this job going at Berrington for a garden assistant, working for the National Trust under the supervision of the head gardener for the Cawley family.

"I went along and it was like going into a different world. I went through a big drive, a double gate archway – it was something I wasn't used to. I thought 'I like this already'."

Though just 15, he already had a strong work ethic, having grown up as one of six children with an understanding of the need to 'make a few quid' where possible.

"Because I was still young, there were other people I worked with and a team of about five or six people so a mixture of age groups and I quickly learnt if you wanted to learn something you had to respect the head gardener. It was more Victorian values of life," he said.

When the head gardener finally looked to retire at around the age of 80, Mr Winney asked for the chance to take over the position.

He clearly impressed and was given the head gardener title while still in his 20s.

Berrington Hall is particularly well-known as the parkland was the last to be designed by Lance 'Capability' Brown.

Mr Winney, who is now 60, has carried out his own research and discovered that Brown spent the last year of his life at Berrington.

He himself lived there for several years after marrying his wife, Lorraine, who was catering manager at the site for around five years, along with their children, Paul and Amy.

Although still working he now takes more of a supervision role and plans to continue doing so.

"I have got a lot of motivation and drive and I like a challenge. I won't give up on something if there's a problem I will try to resolve it one way or another," he added.