Jaine Blackman meets the women who keep Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons supplied with fresh herbs and vegetables

Overseeing the possible felling of a damaged tree; supplying fresh ingredients for a two Michelin starred restaurant and making sure seven acres of grounds are “Chelsea Flower Show standard” is all in a day’s work for Anne Marie Owens at Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons.

As head gardener at celebrity chef Raymond Blanc’s luxury hotel and 50-cover restaurant in Great Milton no two days are the same and each presents a new challenge, not least the demands of her perfectionist boss.

But it’s clear she loves her job and has great loyalty and affection for the Frenchman, exacting standards and all.

“I think if Raymond hadn’t have been a chef he would have got into gardening.

“He might not be weeding or mowing the lawn but it’s all absolutely Raymond driven; he’s very hands-on,” says Anne Marie, 46, who has worked at Le Manoir for 28 years.

She describes him as “a cross between a child and a scientist”, always questioning what can be done, coming up with ideas and striving for the highest standards.

The grounds at Le Manoir are often used for filming, photo shoots, proposals and other events so have to be kept in top condition at all times; and then there is the 1.5 acre kitchen garden which supplies about 20 per cent of the restaurant’s vegetables and 80 per cent of its herbs.

Although the kitchen garden is looking bare at the moment, there is still plenty of work to be done.

Eight full-time gardeners are employed year round and numbers swell to about a dozen during the growing season.

The estate is part of a conservation area and as well as the certified organic vegetable and herb area, there is a 20 acre grass field and 5.5 acres of ornamental gardens.

Great attention is paid to making sure produce is not only to a high standard but also to a uniform taste, so that chefs’ creations remain consistent. Anne Marie gives the examples of radishes that tasted fine when grown in the spring and autumn but became too peppery in the summer.

The garden grows 72 different vegetables and a staggering 320 different varieties, which are rotated each year to inhibit the build-up of pests and diseases.

Anne Marie, along with Anna Greenland who was taken on as head vegetable gardener 18 months ago, are often charged with hunting out particular varieties (“we managed to track down a French potato called Agata this year,” she says excitedly) and then make sure they perform as well in rainy Oxfordshire as they do in the South of France.

And there is a lot to be done before a vegetable reaches a plate at Le Manoir.

“We do taste testing to find the best varieties,” says Anne Marie. “A carrot is not just a carrot!”

About 20 varieties will be grown for chefs, gardeners and Raymond to blind taste to pick the best.

Anne Marie and Anna work closely with the kitchen to find out what is needed and keep chefs informed of when produce will be ready to harvest or is coming to the end of its growing season.

And no garden produce is stored or frozen, everything is picked expressly on the day it is needed.

“It’s a living larder. The freshness possibility is the huge excitement for Raymond,” says Anne Marie.

“The difference between something that has been picked the day before or half an hour before is quite incredible.”

n Anne Marie Owens “It’s my sense of direction –– I can’t find the exit,” jokes Anne Marie Owens of her nearly three decades of tending the grounds at Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons.

Her mother was a florist for the hotel and after a year’s basic horticulture and agriculture course, Anne Marie started working there when she was 17. By the time she was 25 she was head gardener, although it wasn’t all plain sailing. Like the time the previous head gardener went on holiday and came back to find Anne Marie had mistaken the King Henry herbs he’d been carefully nurturing for weeds and uprooted the lot. “There were lots more but you learn from your mistakes,” she says with a smile. “I absolutely love gardening - that’s my qualification.”

She was promoted on a trial basis: “The manager at the time said ‘We know you have the passion and drive but we’re not sure about the experience’.

“We were meant to have a review after six months but I’m still waiting.”

n Anna Greenland “I missed home . . . and the growing seasons,” says Anna Greenland, about her return from sunny California to take the job of head vegetable gardener at Le Manoir.

Anna, 32, from Cornwall, originally trained as a journalist before her love of gardening and an inspirational talk by organic farmer Robert Hocking set her on a different path.

She started selling her own organic veg as part of a collective before going to work at The Lost Gardens of Heligan, in Cornwall, and then leaving for America to study ecological horticulture.

“For me this is the best job I could wish for,” says Anna. “To work with a restaurant of this quality and Raymond, who is at the top of his game . . . it doesn’t get better than this.”

She agrees with Anne Marie that you don’t have to be “rough and tough” to be a gardener – and it’s no longer a traditionally male role – but there’s no doubting it is hard work, you only have to look at the chillblains on her hands to see that.

But when she says: “It’s on your mind 24/7, you are always thinking about it. The plants are like your children, it’s something you have to keep alive,” you know it’s not a complaint, it’s a passion.