RETIREMENT seemed to come as a surprise to Norman Bleese, whose tendency to "take each day as it comes" stopped him from looking forward to the day when he would bid farewell to the working world.

As the youngest of nine children and the only one to reach retirement age, he admits he never really thought about life beyond 65, or what he would do.

But today (Friday) marks the final day of 30 years at Holehird Gardens in Windermere for the estate manager, and his wife of 39 years is confident he will be "pursuing his hobbies full-time".

"I haven't given it much thought really," he said.

"It's a strange situation to be in because I have been so involved in my work, when people ask me if I am looking forward to retirement I can't say.

"I'll do a bit of gardening and fishing, but I certainly won't work out in bad weather," he added, explaining that he was often up early clearing snow from the drive in winter to enable staff to get to work.

"I think I have had enough bad weather - I started work on January 1 1951 and it was snowing that day."

The 64-year-old, who raised his children Julie and Karl on the estate where he lives with his wife June, said he has thoroughly enjoyed his work.

"There's never been a dull moment and the only thing they haven't asked me to do is brain surgery!" he said.

Whenever anything needed fixing, Norman was the man - that is when he was not gardening, creating the perfect setting for outdoor civic functions or mending faulty water supplies.

Norman added that he and June could not have coped so well with all the work, especially in the early days, without the help of Ted and Sally Bragg, who ran a farm on the estate and lent a helping hand with their children when necessary.

Recalling his mother's flower-filled front room, known as the Garden of Eden, during his childhood in war-torn Salford, Norman said he thought gardening was in his blood.

He added: "My dad was a builder, but so engrossed in his allotments.

In war time I used to have to push a hand cart on a Sunday, when all my mates were playing football, with all the vegetables he had grown - then my mother gave them to the neighbours.

"I hated it at the time but my father was a great fellow and gave me a good foundation."

After his first job as a laundry boy and then a cabin boy at Salford Cemetery, when his main task was to keep a cast iron kettle boiling for tea breaks, Norman went on to become a gardener for the Bishop of Salford.

He then joined Swinton and Pendlebury Corporation Park's Department, before moving to Windermere more than 30 years ago.

To commemorate his retirement, Norman planted a Copper Beach tree in a field near his Patterdale Road home in honour of his four grandchildren.

"I wanted to do that so that when they grow to my age they can walk past the tree and say I remember planting that with my granddad."