Earlier this year we invited Mattie O’Callaghan to come to Hillside for a few days to work in the garden. We first met them at the 2024 Beth Chatto Symposium, where we learnt that they were about to start working as the new Horticultural Trainee at the Garden Museum following completion of their MLA studies in Landscape Architecture at Greenwich University. With prior further education qualifications in geography and contemporary art curation, Mattie’s interests are broad, encompassing art, ecology, environment, community connection, climate justice and queer ecologies. During their time at the Garden Museum, Mattie carried out a residency at Derek Jarman’s Prospect Cottage in Dungeness, awarded by Creative Folkstone, where they explored queer garden histories and the creation of gardens in inhospitable environments. Earlier this year they were highlighted in Gardens Illustrated’s Ones To Watch feature.

Although originally intended to take place during their traineeship, Mattie’s time at Hillside fell in August just after it had finished. Here Mattie writes about what rose out of their time at Hillside, in the space between their time at the museum and a new opportunity as a trainee gardener at the Beth Chatto Gardens, a role that they took up in September.