Spring is yet to sprinkle its charm upon the landscape in which The Celtic Manor Resort is set, some 2,000 acres in the beautiful Usk Valley, and yet one
can already envision how it will look once the better weather comes.
The trees might be bare right now, but there are so many of them that when the leaves start to reappear it will be a glorious canopy. It is the responsibility of Jim McKenzie to oversee not only the forest areas of the grounds, but the golf courses and all of the ornamental areas that add colour for visitors to gaze upon as they dine in the restaurants, lounge by the pool or pass through to the terraces.
The hotel also has a roof garden where families, the hotel’s target market outside of its core offer of hosting corporate conferences and golf breaks, can indulge in barbecues during the summer months.
At the moment though, this area is looking fairly ragged following the winter season when an ice rink was temporarily placed there.
“It was a roaring success,” says McKenzie, who controls an annual £1.2 million budget and is responsible for 45 full-time grounds staff, rising to 57 when seasonal workers sign on for the summer.
“But not for the grass unfortunately. It’s one of the many areas that we are looking to improve.”
The areas that McKenzie would like to revitalise include vast tracts of ornamental bushes that were
put in during the 1980s and although perfectly acceptable, are not particularly exciting.
“We have already started to re-design areas outside the hotel, mainly the one that the Terry M restaurant overlooks. That has a far more contemporary feel to it, which reflects the aesthetics of the restaurant,”
adds McKenzie. “It’s about making areas really work as an attraction for guests, something that we’re doing with the woodland trails.”
In contrast to the acres of manicured golf courses that dominate the immediate scenery, the hotel was the venue for the 2010 Ryder Cup, is an area of woodland that winds through the estate, delivering surprises such as a small Victorian ice house in the deepest part of the woods.
Working with the hotel’s marketing department, McKenzie’s woodland team is busy identifying the trees and wild flora that fill the area in order to create information trails for guests to follow.
It is yet another way that the resort hopes to use its natural surroundings to provide entertainment for its guests; it has already installed
a tree-top adventure park called Forest Jump. All of this scenery requires, as one would imagine, constant maintenance, not just for the horticulture but the equipment required to get the job done. There are four full-time mechanics and a special projects team that keeps on top of aspects such as irrigation and drainage.
McKenzie, with his soft Scottish accent and easy-going personality, appears to take all of this responsibility in his stride. His calmness the result of 20 years at the helm, previously he worked for The Belfry in the West Midlands, for which he was awarded an MBE in 2011 for his services to the greenkeeping industry.
“There is always a challenge, the weather is often a force to battle with, but it means that you are constantly learning to work with nature,”
he says.
“What is exciting is developing ideas with the hotel, the latest of which is the potential for a kitchen garden to supply the chefs with fresh produce. Already we have worked with them to provide ingredients for dishes, such as elderberries with which they made jam.”
The hotel is organising its own food festival this summer and is very supportive of local produce, sourcing the majority of its groceries from Welsh producers. It is the same when it comes to estate supplies, with McKenzie preferring to use Welsh horticultural suppliers where he can.
With so many projects on the horizons, McKenzie has a busy few years ahead of him as the resort continues to develop and reinvent itself. “It is a beautiful part of the world to work in,” he says.
And even on a grey day, one cannot help but agree with him. —
