Sylvia Travers

Sylvia has worked in horticulture for nearly 20 years, having studied at the Botanic Gardens in Dublin and at Reading University. She also took a detour to Denmark to complete a PhD in plant science. Sylvia has specialised in fruit and vegetable horticulture throughout and ran the productive gardens at The Lost Gardens of Heligan before setting up and running kitchen gardens for Michelin starred restaurants. She previously worked for the RHS overseeing the construction and planting of the Paradise and Kitchen gardens at Bridgewater near Manchester. These days she consults on all aspects of walled kitchen garden restoration and management. 

Describe your approach to teaching

My approach is practical and hands on but also explains in simple terms why we employ particular gardening techniques when pruning and training fruit and growing edible crops.

What inspires your own work? 

I enjoy understanding the science behind growing edible crops and ways it can help improve how we garden. No-dig gardening and encouraging biodiversity are also central to what I do.