AMATEUR gardeners are being invited to help preserve the magnificent gardens at a historic Wirral estate.

The Grade II listed Thornton Manor, home to three generations of Leverhulmes, boasts more than 60 acres of grounds and parkland.

The gardens were created a century ago by Thomas Mawson – the principal English landscape architect of his day. William Lever, founder of the Port Sunlight soap empire had moved into Thornton Manor and was Mawson’s most important client.

Dave Milner, one of the late Lord Leverhulme’s gardeners who has spent more than 40 years tending the vast landscape of the estate, is leading the call for volunteers.

Today there are only three gardeners at Thornton Manor which, although sold after the death of the third Viscount Leverhulme in 2000, remains a private manor home and is virtually unaltered.

Dave, 59, went to work for Lord Leverhulme straight from school in 1969 and was once one of 20 gardeners employed to look after the estate.

He said: “I’m working outside on my own much of the time – and 60 acres is a lot of garden. Having volunteers would mean I could concentrate on more detailed work.

“The gardens at Thornton Manor are at their best in spring – the azaleas, magnolias and rhododendrons are just beginning to bloom and will soon be a blaze of colour. There’s no place in Wirral quite like this.”