Become a friend or volunteer

Volunteers wanted!

We work with:

• Kitchen garden volunteers (Thursdays 09.00-12.30) 
• Garden and landscape volunteers (Tuesdays 09.00-12.30)
• Volunteers as hosts for the open Thursdays and Fridays 
• Volunteers for the annual plant market, last weekend of September

De Wiersse is a non-profit organisation dedicated to the conservation of the estate and gardens in the public interest. Maintaining the gardens and welcoming visitors is demanding work, and we can always use extra volunteers. As a volunteer, you become part of a small community and an enthusiastic team in a beautiful working environment, and you help safeguard this special heritage. You of course receive free access to the gardens on all open days, and an annual volunteer gathering. The enthusiasm and enjoyment the volunteers bring to their work has added something genuinely valuable to daily life at De Wiersse — for residents, staff and visitors alike. If you are interested, please email Mary Gatacre at info@dewiersse.com info@dewiersse.com

Below is a description of the various volunteering opportunities.

Volunteer in the historic kitchen garden (Thursdays 09.00-12.30): The vegetable garden at De Wiersse requires more work and time than our current team of garden staff, volunteers and students can handle. Therefore, we are looking for enthusiastic volunteers to assist us in the kitchen garden, on Thursday mornings (from 09.00 to 12.30). Over the centuries, the character of the kitchen garden at de Wiersse has remained the same - loving, old-fashioned and small-scale. Its practical purposes, the production of vegetables, fruit and cut flowers, are much appreciated by visitors and those involved. Perennials are also grown here, which are later planted out in the garden. Weeding, sowing, planting, laying, lifting, picking, harvesting and turning compost are common tasks. Experience and fondness for working in a garden or kitchen garden is desirable, but enthusiasm and willingness to acquire new knowledge is more important.

Garden and landscape volunteer (Tuesdays 09.00-12.30): Since 2016 a team of volunteers has devoted itself on Tuesday mornings to the upkeep of the garden and park in the broadest sense. The work they carry out varies by season and by week, under the guidance of the gardener.

Host/Hostess (Thursdays and Fridays during the garden season, schedule to be agreed): There will be a small café in the coach house during the opening on Thursday and Friday where coffee, tea and homemade cake will be available. De Wiersse is still looking for volunteers to act as hosts during this opening. As a volunteer, you will open the gate and welcome guests on the forecourt. You will also check and sell tickets, serve coffee and tea and perform supportive tasks to make the whole place look tidy, clean and hospitable. The schedule will be made up by mutual agreement. Most hostess volunteers come one or two Thursdays or Fridays per month, between the end of April and the end of September.

Volunteer at the annual Plant Market last weekend of September
At the annual plant market, we can always use extra help! Our regular volunteers usually also help at the plant market. In addition, we have many people from the area who help out on this day as volunteers for all kinds of support with parking, ticket control, café & bar, preparation and decoration and so on. As a volunteer, you will be part of a friendly and enthusiastic team during this exciting non-profit market, you will be provided with coffee, tea, cake and lunch and of course you will have free access!

Get in touch if you want to contribute!

Internship

De Wiersse is a recognised internship company, where students come every year to gain experience while making a useful contribution to maintaining the gardens. Wowing to its active programme of innovation and ondertenance, as well as its variety, is the Wiersse particularly suitable for gaining experience. De Wiersse offers students the opportunity to experience at first hand the maintenance of a historic garden that is open to the public, to get to know plants and to understand the structure of the landscape. Students from the Netherlands, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, among others, and from a range of disciplines (landscape architecture, horticulture and forestry) have benefited from this.

Students interested in gaining at least six weeks of work experience can contact us via our Contact form or mail to info@dewiersse.com

Global Gardening Trust

For decades, garden students from all over the world have been coming to De Wiersse every year to expand their knowledge here. Besides being keen to help train good gardeners and landscapers, the exchange of knowledge also plays an important role in the development of horticulture. This is why the Global Gardening Trust was created in Australia. This foundation sees gardening as infrastructure for a climate-resilient future. The Global Gardening Trust supports young Australian gardeners to get part of their training and experience in the gardens of de Wiersse to broaden and improve their knowledge and further exchange.