Gavin Chapman

After attending the Recruitment Open Day in 2022, I secured a role in the Visitor Team where I have been for the past three years. No two days are ever the same in the Visitor Reception. The role is wonderfully varied and every day goes by in a happy blur.

As a member of the Visitor Experience Team, the number one priority is to look after our visitors. Our role involves meeting and greeting, dealing with phone and email enquiries, selling entry tickets and generally making sure everyone is having a great time whilst here. We are also on hand to support other teams where necessary.

My day to day work in the forestry department can vary from carrying out thinning and clear-fell work with chainsaws, to using some of our machines to assist the others foresters with felling. During the winter we are focussing on planting which comprises many steps such as staking, making holes, tree selection, planting and tubing which you may have spotted throughout the estate.

I joined the Holkham team in March 2010, working in the Stables Cafe which is now the Courtyard Cafe.

I have worked in many of the Holkham cafes over the years, including the Rose Garden which is now Ancient House – accommodation at The Victoria.

Whilst the Stables Cafe was being refurbished, I worked in the pop up cafe which was situated by the front of the Hall in a marquee.

Now, I am mainly based at the Courtyard Cafe, but I do occasionally work at The Lookout and the Beach Cafe.

I started my job at Holkham as a general cafe assistant before being promoted to cafe supervisor in 2012.

I am a Holiday Sales Adviser at Pinewoods, and I have been I my current role since 2016 where I began as a trainee. After two years, I qualified in my current role.

I have worked at Holkham since July 2022. I was a trainee for just over a year and have been a qualified forester since then.

I was a regular visitor to Holkham after moving to Norfolk in 2012, attending many events and thoroughly enjoying the amazing variety of experiences that Holkham Hall has to offer visitors. Christmas was then and of course still is, a highlight, my two young grandsons had certainly never been serenaded in a car park by elves before. We left that day with fond memories and with me starting to think that this might just be the ideal place to work a few days per week in my impending retirement.

I have been with Holkham since 2021 but have worked in a few different roles during my time including with the car park team, in visitor reception and in the gift shop.

I’ve been a Wells Beach Bus Conductor since March 2023.

My day as a conductor starts with getting to the depot in the morning to meet my fellow colleague who will drive the bus that day. From then, we discuss the day’s plan and the weather conditions to enable us to prioritise tasks such as cleaning the buses and getting them looking pristine for the day ahead. I also help the driver with some of their daily checks too.

Once I get down to Beach Road, I open up the bus stops and make sure everything is in order and ready to welcome our brilliant passengers!

Throughout the day, I am always in communication with the driver and our car park team to make sure the day runs smoothly, along with welcoming passengers and answering any questions about Wells and Holkham that they may have.

I started working at Holkham by applying online through a local advert over three years ago. A typical day at the Courtyard Cafe begins with greeting the team and finding out if any functions around the estate will involve us that day. We then start to prepare for the day by putting away the deliveries, turning on the machines, ovens and dishwasher. Hot food then needs to be cooked, and we begin to prepare the fresh sandwiches and salads for the day. Throughout the cafe opening hours, we all work together to ensure all aspects of the role are covered in producing the food, drink and welcome to the customers.