Meet the Team
Find out more about the passionate and dedicated small team working hard to bring the Gardeners’ House to the community of West Cornwall, sharing our spaces and stories with you.
Core Project Team
Miki Ashton
Project Director
Following her early career as an artists, Miki moved to Penzance from London in 2003 and from 2004 - 2015 she set up and ran The Lime Tree Restaurant with her husband Justin.
Since 2015 Miki has been working with private clients creating interior spaces for both home and work and designing websites for local artists and small businesses.
Alongside this she freelances for the Hypatia Trust, overseeing the day-to-day running of the trust as well as being involved and contributing to the various individual projects run by a talented team of freelance contributors. Miki has been fully involved with The Gardeners' House project from the outset.
Laurel Miller
Fundraising
Laurel Miller is The Gardeners' House project fundraiser. She has worked on the project for 22 months and co-ordinated the consultant team that developed the successful application to the National Lottery Heritage Fund for £2.2million.
Her expertise is in fundraising in the heritage sector, with a background of working at The National Lottery Heritage Fund, following a 20-year career as a heritage education and outreach specialist.
With a passion for the environment and a background in archives, Laurel loves working on a project that will bring nature to the fore in the heart of Penzance.
Kate Picknett
Project Administration
Kate is responsible for co-ordinating the finances for The Gardeners House project including working with major funders, managing cash flow and paying the bills on time.
Kate has a background in finance and project management and has worked in the private, public and charity sectors in Cornwall for the last 25 years.
She is a keen advocate of the benefits to both mental and physical health of being in the outdoors.
Lauren Webb
Marketing and Communications
Lauren Webb is our freelance marketing manager. She runs a communications consultancy, Roscoe Communications, helping tourism, arts and culture organisations in the South West make an impact with their marketing.
Her client list, past and present, includes Eden Project, St Michael’s Mount, The Lost Gardens of Heligan, Hall for Cornwall, Eden Project Communities, Tate St Ives, Cornwall Museums Partnership, Lappa Valley, Geevor Tin Mine, Krowji, and Trebah Garden.
She helps The Gardeners' House project with both strategic marketing support and day-to-day delivering integrated marketing campaigns across multiple channels.
Emily Goddard
Collections Manager
Emily has a background in collections care, exhibitions and preventative conservation. She has worked with a wide range of different collections over her time working in the heritage sector.
Emily was born and bought up in Cornwall and has lived here most of her life. She finds the stories behind objects and archives fascinating.
She loves the outdoors, walking around the coast paths, beaches and moors spotting flora and fauna, and swimming in the sea.
She will be helping us to curate and manage our extensive collection of artefacts, with over 2,000 pieces in storage relating to the natural environment of West Cornwall, and the stories of its people. She will also be looking at ways we can continue to grow that archive, with your support.
Daisy Wright
Children & Youth Engagement Lead
Daisy moved to Penzance from Bristol back in 2004. Drawn by her love and curiosity for plants she went back to college to learn horticulture and field botany, ran art, craft and nature workshops and joined community projects.
This led to a position at St Ives Secondary School as the Horticultural Tutor, where she helped students from across the whole school plant, grow, pick and cook in the school greenhouse and designed and ran all sorts of horticultural and nature based projects.
She has also worked as Outdoor Learning Coordinator at Alverton Primary School in Penzance, helping children transform their outdoor spaces and filling them with plants, trees and sometimes, chickens.
Trained in Emotional First Aid and being trauma-informed, having worked with and taught by people with individual learning needs, she loves to welcome everyone into learning about nature and their place in it.
Daisy’s role at the Gardeners’ House will be working with children and young people across West Cornwall, from school visits to youth groups.
Lauren Campbell
Community Engagement Lead
Lauren’s background is community engagement and education in museums, arts and heritage. Her interests focus on how arts and heritage can improve wellbeing, reduce loneliness and help us feel more connected.
In 2023 she undertook the renowned Clore Emerging Leaders programme. In her spare time, she enjoys getting out on her bike and doing pottery.
Lauren’s role at the Gardeners’ House will see her primarily working with community groups and older adults, including our work with Pengarth Day Centre.
Hannah Roberts-Burt
Caretaker
Originally from the Midlands, Hannah moved to Cornwall in 2014 and has fully embraced everything our beautiful county has to offer.
With an extensive background in hospitality, property management and maintenance coordination, Hannah is delighted to be joining the team as Site Manager.
Hannah is passionate about collaborating with skilled professionals to bring projects to life and ensure everything runs smoothly.
She will be taking care of all things related to the management of our site.
Rachel Booth
Business Development Officer
With a career in advertising, design and latterly arts fundraising, Rachel’s professional life has taken her to Amsterdam, Berlin, London ….and then back home to Cornwall in 2020.
Alongside her role as co-founder and workshop facilitator at Newlyn Fermentary, Rachel will be joining the Gardeners’ House as Business Development Officer.
Rachel co-founded the Fermentary (in 2021). With her professional background it wasn’t the obvious next step but with a rural upbringing on a small holding in southern Ireland, collecting eggs and eating flowers, earning a living from fermenting local produce came naturally. Working with local growers to develop seasonal ferments that support gut health and sharing this fermentation knowledge has been a driving force.
Since childhood, Rachel has had a meaningful relationship with the natural world – and a developing respect and understanding of the inter-connectivity between human and planetary health.
Rachel is a member of the Fermenters Guild and has contributed to ‘Where The Leaves Fall’ a magazine exploring humankind’s connection with nature. She has also contributed to the journal for OmVed Gardens; a green-scape and learning hub in North London.
Rachel’s work covers income generation for the Gardeners’ House, – from venue hire to membership opportunities – and will see her exploring avenues for business development across the organisation.
Board of Trustees
Doreen Pinfold
Co-Chair of the Board of Trustees
Formerly a university librarian, Doreen has worked in the education sector for most of her career.
She has an interest and expertise in library collections and archives, both heritage and contemporary.
Doreen has been involved in the project from an early stage and is looking forward to bringing the building back to life .
She is also a trustee of The Hypatia Trust.
Sue Hill
Board of Trustees
Theatre-maker, gardener, writer, storyteller, curator, maker of giants/goddesses/creatures out of mud, sticks and plants, Cornishwoman.
Sue has travelled the world, making theatre in unlikely places with Kneehigh and WildWorks, from the Green Line in Nicosia to Kensington Palace, via Soweto and Scilly. With her brother, Pete Hill, she has made many large scale earth sculptures including the Mud Maid and Giant at Heligan and Eve at Eden.
She was Artistic Director of the Eden Project for seven years and she now works on the new Eden Projects that are being developed . She is a Fellow of Falmouth University.
Catrina Saunders
Board of Trustees
After an earlier career as a field archaeologist, Cat has worked for the National Trust for 20 years - as Head Gardener/Garden Manager at The Courts in Wiltshire, Overbeck’s in south Devon, and currently at Trengwainton and Godolphin in Cornwall.
She qualified as M.Hort in 2017, with a dissertation on the early twentieth century Japanese gardens in Britain.
Special interests include garden management and garden conservation.
She has written three conservation and management plans for the gardens she's been involved in.
Paul Brett
Board of Trustees
After graduating in Agricultural Science and completing postgraduate research on animal nutrition, Paul worked for several years as a nutritionist for an agricultural supply company.
During this time he became aware of the potential for information systems in business, and moved initially into IT support and then management of applications software.
He has been actively involved in volunteer groups for many years, mostly working on
conservation of the natural environment. Since retiring in 2016 Paul has worked as a
volunteer in Morrab Gardens, with the Penzance Flora Group and with the Penwith Landscape Partnership.
Jane Forsyth
Board of Trustees
Jane is Cornish and spent her childhood in Marazion. She studied economics and geography at Exeter University and town planning at PCL.
After eight years of working in local government, she joined a national economic development and regeneration consultancy in London, and in 1994 returned to Cornwall and set up a branch in Truro and then Exeter.
She worked on a wide range of projects including feasibility, funding and appraisal projects. In her spare time she chaired her local gardening club; was treasurer of a community arts building in Lerryn and of the West Cornwall Arts Society and is now treasurer of the Gardeners House project.
Gill Mulholland
Board of Trustees
Teacher, outdoor educator, trauma-informed school practitioner and passionate champion of nature-connected learning, Gill joined the Eden Project in 1998 to establish the early education programme for schools and build the education team.
She now leads Eden’s work with schools to develop nature-connected, outdoor learning and play. Gill is interested in the science of nature connection and the powerful blend of stories and creativity to help children connect, explore and express their relationship with the natural world.
In her spare time, you will often find her gardening or rummaging around in wild places making things out of natural finds.
The transformation of the building would not have been possible without support from:
Neil Wall
Architect
Neil is a design focused Architect with a particular interest in the meeting of old and new and in making energy efficient low carbon emitting buildings.
Neil is Conservation Accredited and is Director of Studio West Architects in which he practices. He has been a registered and chartered Architect for 15+ years.
Prior to forming Studio West Architects Neil worked as a Project Architect for Niall Phillips Architects (Latterly Purcell) on numerous HLF/Arts Council funded projects which were exclusively Listed Buildings and with
modern/contemporary interventions.
Trevor Humphreys
Project Manager and Quantity Surveyor
Trevor is an experienced Project Manager and Chartered Quantity Surveyor with a wealth of projects in heritage, arts
and the natural world.
For many years Trevor has had direct experience and success in grant aided work such as the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Arts Council, Historic England, Architectural Heritage Fund and ERDF programmes.
Past clients include Bristol Zoo Gardens, Avon Wildlife Trust, Devon Wildlife Trust, Cornwall Council and Clevedon Pier. Previous projects include Porthmeor Studios, Porthcurno Telegraph Museum, King Edward Mine and CAST Studios in Helston.
Vital support comes from:
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
Richard Gowan Consulting Limited
SERVICES ENGINEER
Stephen Hird
SENSORY GARDEN DESIGN TEAM –
SENSORY TRUST
Helen Rosevear
Jane Stoneman
Katie Jenning
ACTIVITY PLAN CONSULTANT – CONNECT THE DOTS
Jenifer Macindoe
Alice Imbert
BUSINESS PLAN CONSULTANT
Samantha Jackman
Discover what is on offer at The Gardeners’ House
