STAFF at a stately home in south Cumbria are celebrating after scooping a top BBC award.

 Holker Hall has been named Garden of the Year in the prestigious BBC Countryfile magazine award.

 Holker’s head gardener Glyn Mr Sherratt, 41, and his team were shortlisted for the award by the BBC Gardener’s World magazine and then won a public vote to be crowned champions of gardening. 

Mr Sherratt, 41, moved to Cumbria last year to take up the role at Holker.

He

 has been working as a gardener for 20 years and studied a botanical gardening diploma at Kew Gardens (the Royal Botanic Gardens) in Richmond, London. He travelled abroad to Australia and New Zealand for work but then returned to study a masters in ethno botany. 

Mr Sherratt said: "I was ecstatic when I heard we had won the award. I was really shocked because it's very prestigious, but the team have worked so hard and I am really proud of them.

"I am incredibly passionate about my job. I love working so closely with nature, each day is different and things are constantly surprising me."

Originally from Bury in Lancashire, Mr Sherratt explained how delighted he was to move back to the north of England after such a long spell of working abroad and in the south.

 He said: "I just love hearing the northern accents every day and I have admired the gardens at Holker for some time now."

When it comes down to winning awards, Mr Sherratt said that in his opinion the best gardens are the ones that are the most personal and have the most character. 

He said: "I love all kinds of gardens, botanical gardens, wild gardens, there is something for everyone and they are all beautiful in their own way.

"What makes the gardens here at Holker so individual and so beautiful is the way they reflect the Cavendish family. Lord Cavendish is full of knowledge when it comes to the trees and plants in these gardens. A tree is something that can be a link to the past but also something to be planted for the next generation."