A member of the Gee family has worked on the grounds at Weston Park in Staffordshire since 1803. I’ll be the last one, though, because I don’t have a son to take over and my daughter isn’t green-fingered at all. When I retire in a few years, it will be the end of a family tradition that stretches back more than 200 years.

从1803年起，吉家族(Gee)就开始打理斯塔福德郡韦斯顿公园(Weston Park)的园林。然而到我这儿将是最后一代，因为我既没有儿子来子承父业，我女儿也完全不擅长园艺。过几年等我退休了，这份延续了两百多年的家族事业就将宣告终结。

I’ll be very sad when I put down my spade for good because I’ve loved being a head gardener. I officially started working here when I left school at 15, more than 45 years ago. In those days, it was taken for granted that you would follow in your father’s footsteps.

当我要永远地放下我的铁铲那一刻，我会非常伤心，因为我热爱园丁主管这份工作。我从15岁离开学校后就正式开始在这儿工作，至今已超过45年。那会儿人们认为子从父业理所当然。

My dad, William, encouraged me to get into gardening, probably like his grandfather did with him. I helped Dad around the estate when I was a child and he taught me everything he knew. I had a toolkit and a little garden of my own to grow radishes and lettuce. Mum was the daughter of the head gamekeeper and she gardened too, so this was my world when I was a boy.

我父亲威廉(William)鼓励我进入园艺行业，可能他的祖父就是这样鼓励他的。我从小就帮爸爸打理这片园子，他把自己知道的一切都教给了我。我有自己的工具包，还有一个属于我的小花园，我在里面种了萝卜和莴苣。我妈妈是猎场看守主管的女儿，她也是名园丁，所以从我还是小男孩时起，园艺就已经是我的全部世界了。

There was never any question that I would take over from Dad, although at one point I did think about being a fireman. I told Mum what I was planning and she probably confided in him. It must have upset him but he never said a word. Fortunately, I changed my mind.

没人怀疑我会接替爸爸的工作，虽然曾经有段时间我想当一名消防员。我将自己的想法告诉了妈妈，她可能也透露给了我父亲，他肯定为此烦恼过，但他从没说过一个字。幸运的是，我改变了主意。

Weston Park house is set in more than 1,000 acres of parkland. Most of the tourists come here to see the pleasure grounds, which were landscaped by Capability Brown in the 18th century. Like Capability Brown, my first job was gardener’s boy. That meant doing all the duties nobody else wanted to do, such as cleaning flowerpots, weeding and sweeping up leaves. Then I did a spell in the glasshouses before taking charge of the walled kitchen gardens, growing all the vegetables and fruit.

韦斯顿公园的园林占地超过1000多英亩。大多数游客来这儿是为了参观游乐场，这是在18世纪由著名园艺师“能人布朗”(Capability Brown)设计的。像布朗一样，我的第一份工作也是园丁助手。这意味着所有没人愿意干的杂活都要我来做，比如清洁花盆、除草、清扫落叶等等。后来我去温室工作了一段时间，然后开始负责菜园，种植各种蔬菜水果。

It was my great-great-great-grandfather, John Gee, who first worked the land here. He was a champion ploughman and kept Suffolk Punch horses in the stables. There’s a painting of him at a ploughing match in the main house that I see from time to time.

我高祖约翰吉(John Gee)是第一个开始在这儿工作的吉家人。他是一流的农夫，他还在马厩里饲养萨福克矮马。大屋里有张画，画的是他参加一场耕作比赛的情景，我时不时会去看看这张画。

He spent all his life here and was buried in the Weston Park churchyard. John had a son called William, who in turn had a son called George. His son was called Arthur, who was my granddad.

他在这儿度过了一生，过世后被安葬在韦斯顿公园墓地。约翰有个儿子叫威廉，威廉有个儿子叫乔治(George)。乔治给自己的儿子取名亚瑟(Arthur)，这就是我的祖父。

Of course, things have changed a lot since I first started. Man landed on the moon in 1969 but we were still using garden clippers to trim the edges of the formal gardens and leaf blowers with engines were unheard of.

当然，从我踏入这一行至今，世事有了很大变化。1969年人类就登上了月球，可当时我们仍在使用园艺剪，至于电动吹叶机则听都没听过。

I still work with many of the spades and forks I used back then but the most useful piece of new machinery is the grass strimmer. It allows us to get to places where we used to have to hand cut with shears. The formal gardens take a couple of hours with a strimmer, instead of two days.

我现在做很多活时仍用的是以前的铁铲和叉子，新式机器里最有用的是电动割草机。有了它，我们可以够到以前只能用大剪刀去修剪的地方。电动割草机两个小时就能修剪完整个园林，以前需要两天。

Over the years I’ve had to prepare the gardens for several major events. We hosted leaders from the G8 summit in 1998, including Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and Boris Yeltsin. That summer they drank Pimm’s and lemonade on one of my pristine lawns. The estate is also the venue for the annual V Festival.

这些年里，我曾为一些重大场合布置园林。我们在1998年招待过出席八国集团首脑会议的领导人，其中包括比尔克林顿(Bill Clinton)、托尼布莱尔(Tony Blair)和鲍里斯叶利钦(Boris Yeltsin)。那个夏天，他们就站在我新修剪的一片草坪上，喝着Pimm's鸡尾酒和柠檬水。这个公园也是每年V音乐节的演出场所。

I’m 61 years old now and naturally I’ve discussed what will happen when I retire with my wife, Suzanne. We live in the same estate house we’ve had since we were married 35 years ago. The property comes with the job and I have mixed emotions about leaving it when the time comes. I still feel fit and healthy and want to continue but it’s only sensible to plan for the future. Sometimes I think I will carry on until I drop.

我今年61岁了，自然而然地，我会跟妻子苏珊妮(Suzanne)讨论退休后会怎么样。我们从35年前结婚后就一直住在公园的一处房产里，我们的住所是这份工作提供的，等我退休时我们就要告别这所房子，对此我心中百感交集。我觉得自己的身子骨依然硬朗，也想继续工作，但为未来打算才是明智的。有时候我不禁会想，我要一直工作下去，直到倒下的那一天。

Our daughter, Felicity, has a career in textiles and I’m very proud of her. I can understand why she doesn’t want to work in the gardens.

我们的女儿费莉西蒂(Felicity)从事纺织业工作，我为她自豪。我能理解她为什么不愿意从事园艺工作。

So I’ll be the sixth and last generation of the family to work here. I’ll miss seeing the seasons change but I won’t miss cutting all the lawns.

所以，我将是第六代，也是最后一代在这儿工作的吉家人。我会怀念这里四季变化的景色，但我不会怀念修剪这么多草坪。