Volunteer garden meet and greeter at Hillier Gardens

About the opportunity

Sir Harold Hillier Gardens have a world-renowned botanical collection within 180 acres situated near Romsey and is a registered charity. Originally the private garden of Sir Harold Hillier and his family they were given in trust to Hampshire County Council in 1977. Our Volunteer Scheme has been in place for over 20 years.

Tasks and duties

• Provide a welcoming, hospitable environment and rewarding learning experience to garden visitors. We are looking for you to support Visitor Services welcoming visitors at our kiosk. The kiosk is currently positioned under the canopy as you enter the Gardens from the roundabout.

Activity involves:

• Welcoming visitors, checking membership cards are in date, ticking off any guest passes and recording visitor admission numbers using the clickers provided: member, guest, child, carer
• Providing wayfinding information, advising non-members to go into the Visitor Pavilion ticket desk to pay for entry and advising visitors on ticket prices
• Advising visitors on the benefits of membership
• Communicating with the visitor services team to answer a wide range of visitor enquiries
• Informing visitors/members of any events or changes in the Gardens
• Monitoring access to the Gardens via the bridge

The Visitor Services team welcome volunteer support with ensuring all visitors entering the Gardens from within the Visitor Pavillion and the Courtyard Café have a valid admission ticket. This involves checking the validity of tickets purchased for both members and non-members at our ticket validation desk.

As a meet and greet volunteer, you will support visitor services with promoting the exclusive benefits and privileges of becoming a member, assisting with general membership queries and providing guidance on how join.

Helping to inform our visitors about daily activities taking place, such as trails and family activities and where/how to purchase these through our Visitor Services team.

A full induction programme will be given by Visitor Services. Additional training sessions are available throughout the year, by arrangement and include volunteer seasonal walks provided by our Horticulture team.

Commitment

Days and times are flexible, but we are ideally looking for regular volunteering (weekly) or three hours per visit. We have a lovely team of meet and greet volunteers who work either am or pm session.  

You will

• have previous experience of working in a public facing environment
• be friendly, enthusiastic, energetic, and fun
• be happy to work in a team as well as independently
• be comfortable speaking to groups of people of all ages
• professionally assist a variety of visitors under a variety of circumstances
• proactively keep informed about changes in the Gardens.

Although training will be provided, it would be helpful if you have:

• recent first aid training,
• a good knowledge of the Gardens

Other information 

Further information on what a volunteer can expect and also what Sir Harold Hillier Gardens expects from our volunteers is set out in the volunteer handbook.