Find your place in the field of good food

Our goal is to connect good people with good food. We advertise sustainable food jobs and training opportunities to help jobseekers and employers find each other.

Roots to Work is a project of Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming.

Job description

Hampton Estate is very excited to be expanding its team. We are looking for an enthusiastic, practical, competent individual to support the Hampton forestry team and lead on engagement and education on the estate’s publicly accessed priority habitats. This is a hands-on role, with two areas of responsibility, requiring both practical and personal skills.  

Key Details 

• Contract type: Permanent 

• Hours: Full-time 

• Salary: Competitive, depending on experience - £28,000–£33,000 per annum

• Location: Hampton Estate, Seale, Farnham, Surrey, GU10 1HL 

• Start date: Early 2027 

• Weekend work: There may be a requirement to work weekends, particularly during the bird nesting season and peak visitor periods 

Responsibilities:  

The role will be seasonal, i.e. at certain times of the year the focus will be entirely on woodland management, whereas at other times of the year more time will be spent on public engagement and ecology. There may be a requirement to work on the weekend with this role. 

• Forest Craftsperson - work with our forester to provide additional capacity to the estate’s woodland operations and habitat management. The majority of this work will take place during the autumn/winter. 

• Seasonal forestry operations (thinning, felling, tractor/digger driving) - formal chainsaw certification (e.g. CS30/CS31) and other relevant machinery tickets are desirable but not essential — we will support training where there are gaps in skills or experience. 

• Mulching, bracken cutting 

• Tree and hedge planting 

• Log and kindling making  

• Ditch clearing, fencing  

 

• Hampton's Ranger   

• Responsible for education and engagement across Hampton’s publicly accessed habitats 

• A particular focus on dog walker engagement on Puttenham Common during the bird nesting season 

• Involvement with Hampton’s ecological data collection and existing connections with local recorders and citizen science  

• Involvement in wider Hampton and landscape-scale projects, particularly through the Wealden Heaths National Nature Reserve 

Working Conditions: this is a physically active, outdoor role involving manual labour in all weather conditions, use of machinery and hand tools, and regular lone working across the estate. Appropriate PPE will be provided.  

Requirements: 

We are looking for someone who has: 

• Competency working outdoors with machinery – some experience of forestry machinery, tractor driving, digger operation and chainsaw competency would be beneficial 

• Passion for nature – experience of lowland heathland, chalk downland, acid grassland and woodland would be beneficial 

• Initiative - an appetite to work hard, taking responsibility, manage your own time and work alone 

• Excellent people skills – the ability to communicate effectively and passionately 

• Teamworking skills – able to be flexible and adaptable, enthusiastic and supportive  

• A practical can-do attitude and positive mentality 

• Basic IT skills  

• A clean driving licence 

We appreciate that you may not have experience of all of the above, but please don’t be put off – if you are interested in this role, please apply outlining the relevant experience you have. We are open to training where there are skills and experience gaps.  

Benefits:

• Being part of a small, close-knit team working on impactful conservation and land management projects  

• Pension scheme 

• 27 days of holiday allowance plus bank holidays 

• Ongoing training and support towards relevant certifications (e.g. chainsaw, machinery tickets) 

Application information

Please email your CV and either a 2-minute video or a cover letter explaining why you would like this job and outlining your experience to recruitment@hamptonestate.co.uk  . Visit www.hamptonestate.co.uk/vacancies for the full Job Description. We will be assessing applications on a rolling basis, the deadline for applications is Friday 30th October 2026. 

Please mention Roots to Work when applying for these jobs