Jack Stooks Biography

Few people are better placed to write about life as a gardener at Highgrove than Jack, who spent 21 years helping to care for and develop the 15-acre organic garden in Gloucestershire curated by King Charles.

His route there began on a farm in Zimbabwe, where a childhood surrounded by fruit trees, vegetable gardens and open countryside first sparked his fascination with horticulture.

After attending schools in his homeland, where that interest was nurtured yet further, Jack came to Britain to study Garden Design and Horticulture at Bicton College in Devon, gaining experience at celebrated Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) gardens, namely the 65-acre public display garden Rosemoor, in North Devon, and Wisley, the RHS’s 240-acre flagship creation in Surrey. Jack also spent time at Tresco Abbey Garden, the renowned sub-tropical and Mediterranean botanical estate in the Isles of Scilly. He also travelled through southwest China on a plant-hunting expedition in search of quercus before working at Barnsdale, the late BBC TV Gardeners' World presenter Geoff Hamilton's legacy show garden in Rutland in the East Midlands.

A chance encounter with the then Prince of Wales during a visit to Herefordshire eventually led Jack to write to him and apply for a position at Highgrove. He was offered the job and spent the next 21 years working in the gardens.

Jack now works in the media and appears on television programmes like ITV’s This Morning, continuing to share his knowledge and passion for gardens and horticulture.