Denis White stared working in the gardens here at Burncoose in 1960 when he was just aged 18. Burncoose was then owned by my great uncle, PM Williams, and Arnold Dance was the longstanding head gardener.
In 1972, after the death of PM Williams, Denis moved to work for David Knuckey at Southdown Nurseries in Redruth. Southdown Nurseries purchased plants grown at Burncoose and Caerhays Castle Gardens as well as using cut flowers from both gardens at their Chelsea and other flower show exhibits. In March 1984 Denis moved back to Burncoose to work for the new Burncoose Nurseries; a partnership between Charles and David Williams and David and Philip Knuckey.
Denis White celebrates 40 consecutive years working at Burncoose (around 65 years in total) in March of this year as do Burncoose Nurseries themselves.
Denis still works a couple of days a week in the nursery and is our last contact with a totally different era of life and work in the countryside. You can now hear a little of this in Denis’s own words.