Queen Elizabeth's top gardener

29-08-2008 14:00

A teenager says he feels like "Tom Cruise in 'Top Gun'" after getting the chance to work as Britain's Queen Elizabeth's gardener.

Carl Donnelly from Hightown, near Crosby, beat hundreds of other applicants to win a year-long contract at Windsor Great Park, the 5,000 acre grounds of the queen's Berkshire home.

Carl said: "I am so pleased. This is the job I have always wanted to do.

"I feel like Tom Cruise in 'Top Gun', because working in the royal family's garden is the Top Gun of landscape gardening.

I am so pleased. This is the job I have always wanted to do.

"I was shocked when I opened the letter after my interview.

"I have been interested in fine gardening since I was young. There is so much to it - art, graphic design and having lots of ideas.

"You have to translate what is in your head into the garden."