Julian Davies, the driving force behind a family landscaping and tree service business on the Suffolk Coast, started life as a ‘scruffy oik’ (1925 Dict. abbreviated form of ‘oickman’ ..labourer) but, through a unique and inspirational journey, metamorphed into a successful company chief executive, a title that he prefers not to use.
As an unqualified, apathetic but gutsy sixteen year old in the 1980s who was passionate about trees and mesmerised by their architecture “which only God can create”, Julian set about making his passion his career. Through sheer determination (and a lot of personal letters to people who owned large quantities of trees) he found himself following Lord Parker’s butler to meet with the gentleman of Strutt and Parker fame, and landed himself a position on the estate with a salary of £50 per week.
Feeling the need for some qualifications Julian headed to Writtle Agricultural College where he enjoyed learning about beer, life’s other pleasures and the odd bit of arboriculture! Having got the bug for student life, he moved on to the University of Wales, graduating with a degree in Arboriculture Management and, perhaps the more valuable asset, a long term girlfriend who later became his wife and business partner.
A university degree certainly opened doors and the graduate gained valuable experience working for a huge global forestry company, and based in Derbyshire, rapidly worked his way up the ladder to a six figure salary, company car, luxurious office with, an antique desk which was the closest thing to the magnificent trees which had fired his passion, and 34 years of routine ahead of him.
On a beautiful sunny day at Marloe’s Beach in Pembrokeshire, with wife Jackie peacefully asleep in the sun, Julian’s hobby as a free climber was to break the monotony of corporate life and a few bones along the way. His curiosity took him on a stroll along the vast expanse of sand, over an out crop of rock and up some sheer cliffs to admire the view of ships at Milford Haven. Keen to share the panorama with his unsuspecting wife he stepped back to take a photo and fell; crashing downwards through the jagged rocks landing, upside down, battered, bruised and broken, in a deep hollow some 80 feet far below. “The salary and the car were not the things that flashed through my mind as I fell, it was the things that we all too often take for granted that did!” A wave crashing into the rocky hollow over his potential grave brought Julian to his senses in more ways than one.
The path back to Jackie; with the aid of some good Samaritan Motor-bikers who saw his plight; made him realise what he could have lost, and the plan to start a new life and to carve a new path in charge of his own destiny was borne.
It wasn’t an easy journey. Julian’s first job was to chop down a cherry tree and, armed with a basic chainsaw which cost him £240 he did a good job and was paid a
fair remuneration of £80 and some recommendations which proved to be worth much more.
Looking around Julian’s yard in Suffolk now you’ll see some serious investment in ‘boy’s toys’. The company owns a vast array of machinery ranging from cherry pickers to diggers, a fleet of liveried vehicles, and a fine collection of tools which any man would envy!
To some Julian is a Gardener, a Tree Surgeon, Landscaper, Builder, Agricultural Contractor, Haulier, Gritter and Snow Clearer; but ask him what he thinks of his life now and the answer will be “Ironically I go to work and sit behind a desk but at least now I own the desk. YES, I think to myself as I watch my employees scurrying around in the morning loading the van and lorries; the designing, the marketing, the professional memberships, the challenges and excitement – I did that, I am the Chief Executive of Julian Barclay Ltd – I may not be up the trees as much as I’d like but I’m firmly in control at the bottom”.
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