It's a calm morning in mid February and Jim Stribling stands motionless in the gardens of Aberglasney, staring out across the Tywi Valley.

"Sometimes I have to ask myself whether this is really happening to me," he says in that gentle Florida lilt. 

"Aberglasney isn't a house that has a garden.  It's a garden that has a house, and this is what I realised the very first day I visited in late fall of last year.  When I walked in, I immediately felt its peace."

Four weeks ago Jim Stribling was appointed as new director of Aberglasney and, after a lifetime of being emmersed in the world of horticulture, there's little doubt that he's found his perfect role.

Born in Miami, Jim grew up in a family that relished the great outdoors.  Days were spent fishing, exploring the woodlands and foraging, weekends were spent in the waters around Florida Keys and the vast majority of his childhod was spent helping his parents tend their large garden filled with tropical vines that he could swing from and a plethora of tropical fruits, vegetables and flowers.

"I can't pinpoint the moment when I knew I was going to study horticulture, as gardening and the outdoors had always been such a great part of family life," he continues. 

"When I was 12 years old I started cutting people's grass, trimming, spreading mulch and planting, and I guess it all evolved from there."

Following a degree in Agricultural Operations Management - "It was a fantastically broad-based degree where the training was not to know the answer to everything but to know where to find it" -  Jim and his sister set up their own venture, 'Miami Agra-Starts', specialising in tropical plants. 

Their initial 10-acre site soon extended to 30-acres and the business became hugely successful with partnerships in Holland, Mexico and Costa Rico.  "Yes, it did well but it reached the point where it had grown in the same way that the value of real estate had grown."  And so in 2005 Jim and his sister decided to sell.

After a few years of landscaping, Jim was appointed head grower in  Pine Island Nursery, which specialises in nurturing thousands of tropical fruit trees on its 50-acre site.  Five years later he was appointed manager of The Redland Fruit and Spice Park, a 40-acre estate on the southernmost tip of Florida which grows fruit, nut and spice trees from all around the tropics.

But then in 2020, Jim and his wife made a decision that would effect them for the rest of their lives.

"My wife is English, born in Sussex, and we met many years ago in Miami after she'd set off on her journey around the world.  But Miami was as far as she got.  We married and I ruined her life.

"It was always on the cards to come back to the UK as she'd told me that she wasn't going to grow old in Florida.  And after both our children moved to Britain to study, we knew it was time to make the move."

In September 2020, as the world was reeling from the Covid pandemic, Jim and his wife arrived in Britain to begin their new lives.

"The ship had sailed and there was no bringing it back.  But the debate was now:  'Should it be house first then job, or job first then house?'  We landed in Sussex where the family are based and began searching all around the UK - north south, east and west - but we kept coming back to Wales as it reminded us of north Carolina."

Eventually the couple discovered their perfect property in St Clears and then, last autumn, Jim was told about the vacancy at Aberglasney.  Needless to say, once he'd visited, there was no turning back.

"There's been a garden here in one form or another for a thousand years, and the vision of transorming it and bringing it back whilst retaining its incredible peace and tranquility lies at the core.  And this is what convinced me to take the job.

"We're not purists in the sense that we only plant things that would have historically been planted here over the centuries.  Gardeners throughout the ages would have done exactly what we're doing today if they'd had the opportunity as there've been some great eras of plant exploration, particularly during Victorian years. 

"My previous gardens were developed by searching all over the world for things that could be grown there, and Joseph Atkin, our head gardener here at Aberglasney, is exceptionially good at doing this very same thing.  Naturally our location here in west Wales has a unique, rather wet climate, so we have to take care over what we plant."

Walking around the garden with Jim, it's obvious that every single plant in his sight captures his attention and total appreciation.

"Every day is a school day for me," he concludes.  "I'm learning all the time, following the light as it changes, following the seasons.

"Having found this position at Aberglasney means a great deal to me as it's a place where I can do everything I can to preserve it.  I like to think of myself as a steward and my goal is to perpetuate the gardens for the future. 

"People come and go and I will pass through like so many others.  But hopefully Aberglasney will be a better place after we've all gone.  You don't plant a tree for yourself - you plant it for your children."