Jacques Hennequin, 71, loves his job – and is convinced he is the only person in France to do it.

He makes model gardens for a living and has recreated in miniature  many of France’s finest gardens, including the Grand Trianon at Versailles and Villandry. He has recently donated many of his models to the Nuage Vert museum at Argentat-sur-Dordogne, Corrèze and they will be on display for an exhibition of his work from May 31 to June 30.

What made you take this unusual career route?

I have loved making models since I was a boy, but for 25 years I worked as an audio-visual engineer in television.

When I was 48, I was made redundant and then had to find some way of earning money.

So I tried to think of something I both knew I could do and enjoyed doing – and decided to have a go at making garden models for a living.

I started by making and sending one part of the ...