Owen Clutton Web Site

I have a job which I enjoy and which I created myself and carved out of nothing- i.e. the business which I have built up over a number of years. When I hear so many people saying they hate what they do but that they have to do it for the necessary money, I think I am very lucky. I may not earn a fortune, but job satisfaction (and therefore a contented life) is more important I feel.

My career began with practical farm work in East Sussex then agricultural buildings surveying then back to farm work in West Sussex and agricultural college, from which I obtained a national diploma in agriculture. I went on to working farm management in the West Country, then returned to Sussex which always has been and remains my home county.

Here, I continued with contract and relief work and then some computer work, as I was becoming concerned (rightly as it turned out) about the viability of a longer term future in farming. During this time I was also earning money through freelance writing, mainly factual articles about agriculture and the countryside and my work has appeared in both National and local publications.

I decided to turn a hobby into a job and began with garden maintenance. Like many people in practical jobs, my knowledge and skills are based on extensive experience and enthusiasm for the work, assisted by books and an ongoing desire to continue to learn as well as picking others' brains as necessary and the fact that I still spend much time studying plants- a particular hobby of mine.

I have found that all of my previous work has been of use in the garden work, from writing specifications, carrying out surveys and drawing plans for farm buildings twenty-five years ago to computer studies much more recently to learning to touch-type in between. My training and time in agriculture has been invaluable as well.

Currently my aim is to expand and broaden the scope and amount of work that we do; I use the term 'we' as I have a full time colleague who is extremely good and I utilise the services of others occasionally as necessary. I have a 'hands-on' approach to work and prefer to do the design and paperwork side 'out of hours' so I can concentrate on practical work during the day.

I enjoy and I am interested in walking with my dog, photography, writing, reading, singing (tenor), chatting and drinking with friends in pubs, most aspects of agriculture and horticulture, the rural life, doing my own garden and plant collection, and the peacefulness of nature and the seaside.

I am a Christian. Many years ago, I remember a friend who was a farmer and a Christian saying how he could not see how anybody who worked outdoors, as he and I did and who saw the constant round of nature, could seriously believe that it all 'just happened'. I agreed with him then and now.