In 40 years, the visitors wandering the manicured paths of Weston Park won’t know her name. They won’t know the girl who, at 10-years-old, carved a secret ‘pleasure ground’ out of the Latvian wild, or the woman who walked away from a HR degree to follow the pull of the soil. But they will know her work.
Anna Krapivina, Weston’s head gardener, understands that she is a temporary steward of a living history. From restoring the neglected grounds of Winston Churchill’s former home to managing the complex water gardens of Sussex, her career has been defined by resurrection and restoration.
Now, as she marks her second full year at the helm of the gardens on the grand estate which sits on the Shropshire/Staffordshire border, she isn’t just planting for the next season. She is joining a silent, centuries-old lineage of hands that have shaped this horizon – knowing that while her identity may eventually fade into the archives, her legacy will bloom in every bough and border she nurtures today.
Anna was born in rural Latvia and grew up on a farm surrounded by nature. She loved playing in the woods and at the age of 10 picked up a gardening magazine and created her own pleasure ground where she would experiment with different plants, shrubs and trees learning along the way. Encouraged by her parents, she studied HR at university, but the love of the garden kept pulling her back, it is where she is at her happiest.
She enrolled at Hadlow College in Kent which specialises in agriculture, horticulture and conservation management, after which her career blossomed until she found herself as Assistant Head Gardener at Templeton House in London, once the home of Winston Churchill.
But Anna had always dreamed of working in a ‘big old house’ and successfully applied to Weston Park, joining the team in April 2024 and inheriting a huge legacy following the retirement of Martin Gee after 55 years in the role.
“My first task was bringing the team together to work more closely with each other in different parts of the gardens that they may have not necessarily worked in before. My aim was to encourage and teach new skills, new practices to enable the team to look at the gardens differently.”
Anna oversees the management of 74 acres of gardens with six permanent staff, eight long-term volunteers and a very healthy supply of work experience students. In addition, she is responsible for supplying fresh flowers and houseplants to the house and holiday cottages, leading public tours and talks, and collaborating with the head chef for seasonal menu planning and planting in the Walled Kitchen Garden.
Throw in a ruby anniversary and the diversity of her role is clear: to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Weston Park Foundation, the independent charity that owns and maintains Weston Park, Anna and her team have planted a whole host of ruby coloured flowers so the park will be filled with dark red gemstones everywhere the public turns when they visit this year.
All of this while balancing the maintenance of the rolling Capability Brown landscape and public areas, and the ongoing restoration of the gardens and garden structures.
“Our gardens need to grow, flourish and give something back,” said Anna. “Just to exist for display, I think is pointless. People and gardens should work for each other.
“I like to imagine the house itself as a person and the gardens as the clothes they wear and accessories they carry. The gardens are what create that striking first impression.”
Anna’s gardening passions are centred around restoration, developing and nurturing new garden schemes and watching them come, literally, to life. She is especially keen on balancing tradition with evolution.
“We have to keep changing. Plants that were fashionable 50 years ago, may not necessarily work today and that’s fine. Regular visitors to our gardens don’t want to see the same thing again and again, they want to see innovation, creativity and change.
“But equally, they want to maintain a sense of belonging, of connection, so that they can say to their grandchildren for example: ‘see that huge tree there? I remember when it was just a sapling’.
“There are so many layers to the Weston Park estate, ancient and modern, and I’m still discovering new things every day.
“I love working in the same beds that have been worked in for generations, feeling the connection of ongoing history. I love knowing that generations of gardeners have worked here before me to create all of this, and it’s important to recognise that – even if we don’t know their names.
“A bit like me – in years to come nobody will remember my name but hopefully the legacy of the work I do will live on.”
Anna will host a series of public events to help celebrate 40 years of the Weston Park Foundation including Lunch with the Head Gardener on June 24, September 16 and November 11 for visitors interested in finding out more about Anna and her work at Weston. She will also host a Rhododendron Walk on April 30. For more details and to book tickets, visit the website at www.weston-park.com/whats-on
