Richard Claxton spent 23 years as a GP. Now he leads the National Garden Scheme

My career began in medicine, although if I'm honest the roots probably go back much further. I grew up fascinated by people, nature and how things work. I wanted to care for people in their communities. Medicine gave me a way of combine all of that.

I became a GP and spent more than two decades in general practice. What I loved about being a GP was the privilege of getting to know people over time. You weren't just treating illnesses; you were helping people navigate life's ups and downs. It was endlessly interesting and deeply rewarding.

Gardens ran alongside that throughout my life. They were where I relaxed, thought and recharged. Over time I became increasingly interested in the evidence that gardens and nature can improve health and wellbeing. Eventually those interests stopped running in parallel and started to converge, which is what ultimately led me to the National Garden Scheme.

I don't think there was a single dramatic moment. It was more a gradual realisation.

As a GP, I spent a lot of time helping people whose health was shaped by loneliness, stress, inactivity, poor mental health and a lack of connection with nature. Increasingly I found myself interested in healthier lifestyles and illness prevention rather than simply treatment.

The more I became involved in work around gardens and health, the more convinced I became that gardens are places that can support physical health, mental wellbeing, community and recovery.

When the opportunity to lead the National Garden Scheme came along, it felt unexpectedly right. It brought together two things I cared deeply about: improving people's lives and celebrating the power of gardens.

The short answer is that no two days are ever the same.

One day I might be talking to trustees about our future strategy; the next I could be discussing biodiversity with a garden owner, meeting a potential funder or speaking at an event.

I spend a lot of time thinking about how we can grow our impact, support our volunteers and garden owners, and raise more money for the charities we help.

What surprises people is how small the central organisation is compared with what it achieves. The National Garden Scheme relies on thousands of volunteers and garden owners across the country. A huge part of my role is creating the conditions that allow those extraordinary people to succeed.

In many ways my role now is still about people. That's one thing that hasn't changed from my days as a GP.

People often assume the most important skills in careers like mine are technical ones, but I think the biggest difference has been made by learning how to listen.

As a GP, people would come into my consulting room and tell me things they hadn't told anyone else. If you listen carefully enough, you often discover that the problem someone presents with isn't actually the main issue at all. The same is true in this role; in leading a charity.

Communication has been hugely important, as has empathy. I think curiosity matters too. I've never lost the habit of asking questions and wanting to understand how things work.

I've also learned that relationships matter far more than you realise when you're younger. Most opportunities in my career have come through people, conversations and collaborations rather than carefully designed career plans.

And finally, resilience. Every worthwhile role involves setbacks, mistakes and occasional disappointments. Learning not to be derailed by them is invaluable.

I've learned that the gardening world is one of the most generous communities you'll find.

People share knowledge, plants, seeds, advice and encouragement in a way that's quite unusual. There is often a strong sense that we are all custodians of something larger than ourselves.

I've also learned that success in this sector has surprisingly little to do with being the most knowledgeable gardener in the room. Gardens matter to people for reasons that go far beyond horticulture. They are places of memory, creativity, recovery and connection. Understanding that is probably more important than knowing the Latin name of every plant.

The Covid pandemic, without question.

For those of us working in healthcare it was a period of uncertainty, pressure and sadness that is difficult to describe to someone who didn't experience it first hand. Every day brought new challenges. The rules changed, the information changed and people's lives were being turned upside down.

What I learned was the importance of kindness. Not just professionally, but personally. During difficult times people often remember less about the decisions you made and more about how you made them feel.

It's a lesson I try to carry into my role today.

A regular Monday starts with a coffee and an inbox that has usually become rather full over the weekend.

I work from the office some days and travel on others, so there isn't really a standard routine. Mornings are often spent catching up with colleagues and dealing with whatever has surfaced since Friday. That could be anything from a fundraising opportunity to a PR issue, a website project, a board paper or a county volunteer needing support.

What I enjoy most is the variety. One hour I can be discussing governance and budgets, and the next talking to someone who has spent 40 years creating a remarkable garden and wants to share it with others.

The common theme is that I'm constantly reminded how generous people are. That generosity is what keeps the National Garden Scheme going.

The National Garden Scheme is one of those organisations that sounds almost impossible when you try to explain it.

Every year thousands of garden owners decide to open their private gardens to the public. Thousands more volunteers help organise those openings. Visitors come to enjoy remarkable places and, in doing so, raise money for some wonderful charities.

Last year that amounted to over £3.9M, which is incredible. Over the last 100 years the charity has raised over £80M, and has become the major charitable donor to many hugely important national charities doing amazing work in community healthcare and nursing.

On paper it sounds quite simple. In reality, it is a huge network of people, relationships and goodwill. There are county teams finding and supporting gardens, volunteers producing local programmes, gardeners preparing for openings, trustees providing oversight and a small central team helping everything work together.

What I love most is that nobody has to do it. People choose to be involved. They choose to share their gardens, their time and their energy. That's a very powerful thing to be part of.

Quite a lot.

There is always more to learn and more to do.

Professionally, I'd like to see gardens become more widely recognised as part of the nation's health infrastructure rather than something separate from it. We know they help with physical health, mental wellbeing and social connection, yet we still tend to treat them as an optional extra.

For the National Garden Scheme, I want us to enter our second century with confidence. We have an extraordinary history, but I don't want us simply to celebrate our past. I want us to reach new audiences, support biodiversity, embrace digital opportunities and raise more money for our beneficiaries than ever before.

I think the really exciting opportunities are happening where gardening meets other disciplines.

The relationship between gardens and health is one example. Food production, biodiversity and climate resilience are others. We're increasingly understanding that gardens are not simply decorative spaces. They can support wildlife, improve wellbeing, strengthen communities and help people connect with the natural world.

Technology will undoubtedly play a role too, although I hope it never replaces the simple pleasure of getting your hands dirty.

For younger people entering the sector, I think there is enormous scope to create careers that didn't exist even ten years ago. The boundaries between horticulture, environmental science, public health, education and communications are becoming much more fluid.

I'd tell them to spend as much time as possible with people who are already doing it.

Volunteer somewhere. Visit gardens. Join societies. Attend talks. Ask questions. Offer help. Most people in horticulture are incredibly generous with their time and knowledge.

I would also encourage them not to worry too much about finding the perfect route in. Careers are rarely as linear as they look when you examine them afterwards.

Looking back, many of the opportunities that shaped my own career were completely unforeseen. The important thing was being interested, engaged and willing to say yes when they appeared.

People sometimes assume I abandoned medicine for horticulture, but that's never how I've seen it.

The motivations are actually very similar. As a GP I wanted to improve people's lives. As Chief Executive of the National Garden Scheme, I still do.

The difference is that I'm now working at a different scale. Instead of helping patients one consultation at a time, I'm part of an organisation that raises millions of pounds for nursing and health charities while encouraging people to experience the benefits of gardens and nature.

It felt less like leaving one career behind and more like carrying its values into a new chapter.

More than anything, I've learned not to take people for granted.

Every volunteer has other commitments, responsibilities and interests. They choose to spend some of their precious free time helping us. That's a privilege, not something we're entitled to.

I've also learned that leadership in a volunteer organisation is often less about directing people and more about supporting them. You need to create a shared sense of purpose, provide clarity and remove obstacles, but you also need to trust people and allow them to do things in their own way.

One of the joys of my role is seeing what volunteers achieve, and thanking them for all they do. Time and again I visit counties and meet people who have been involved for decades, quietly giving their energy because they believe in what we're trying to do. Their commitment is genuinely inspiring.

The thing we absolutely must protect is the spirit of generosity at the heart of the organisation.

At its essence, the National Garden Scheme is a very simple idea: people opening their gardens for the benefit of complete strangers and raising money to help others. That's a beautiful thing, and I hope we never lose sight of it.

What needs to change is our reach. We need to engage younger audiences, become more accessible and representative, embrace new technology and respond to environmental challenges in ways our founding garden owners could never have imagined 100 years ago.

The challenge for any organisation approaching its centenary is not preserving it exactly as it is. It's preserving the values while allowing the organisation to evolve and grow. If we get that balance right, I think our second hundred years could be even more exciting than our first.