My flower farm story

Growing up, I was privileged to be surrounded by amazing outdoor spaces. My parents liked to buy "doer uppers" that always had fantastic outdoor spaces, first in Bath and later, Peasedown St. John - which looked very different back then! With my siblings and the neighbour's kids, we would spend hours going on adventures in the local countryside, playing in the garden, climbing trees, making tree swings, building dens and fires and playing cop's and robbers. My Nanny lived in Hampshire, with beautiful gardens made into 'rooms', a formal rose garden, beehives in an orchard and even a maze. We were very lucky to grow up amongst such beauty, and to have such innocent freedom.

My Nanny's garden in the late 80's

When I moved out of my parent's house, with my now husband, our first rented flat together was on the London Road in Bath. It was full of mould and damp, with music pounding through the floor day and night. But, it had a tiny courtyard, which I found I could escape to, put my hands in some soil and be able to breathe, it made so much difference to my mental health.

Fast-forward several years, and we had saved up enough to be able to buy our first home, an end terrace miner's cottage in the town of Midsomer Norton, near Bath. The garden was a typical miners terrace garden, lovely and LONG, a perfect blank canvas for me to finally have a go at completely re-designing without the restrictions of landlord rules.

Over the years, borders full of shrubs, perennials and flowers were added, veggie patches, bug hotels, a seating area and of course, chickens! I immersed myself in horticultural and garden design books, YouTube videos and online courses, wanting to absorb as much as I could.

First cut flower patch

Garden redesign

Bug hotel

Rescue hens and compost heap

During this time, my husband was slightly bewildered, yet encouraging of my gardening obsession, and bought me Georgie Newbery's book, "The Flower Farmer's Year" and a little lightbulb went off. I went on to create a designated cut-flower patch in the garden, gifting bunches of flowers to friends and neighbours. I soon realised I really, really loved growing flowers.

Summer garden border

Cut flowers

Lockdown hit, and like many, we decided we wanted to try to move somewhere with more outdoor space. This is when we moved to our smallholding - despite our thorough research and surveys before buying, it unknowingly became a humungous renovation project inside and outside. But we stayed positive as we had land, (falling down) outbuildings and a granny annexe, which we could live in with the boys, whilst completing the renovations. Fast-forward just over two years, and we finally moved into the farmhouse.

New home and renovation project

Our smallholding in Somerset

New beginnings

The paddock and future flower farm

As the house renovations began to take up less time, we were able to dedicate time to start to develop areas for growing cut-flowers once again. Slowly, but surely, the seasonal blooms began to take over the garden and expanded into the paddock. I then went on to attend a floristry course at the local college to learn about and understand a bit more about professional floristry... It was finally time to start the flower farm dream.

Dahlia patch

The flower field

Sweetpeas in Summer

Taking the plunge into making the flower farm an actual bona fide business, rather than an expensive privileged hobby, has been incredibly hard but so rewarding. Flower farms are definitely a labour of love -long, unsociable hours and expensive start up costs. I have learnt a lot and am still learning every day. We have so much still to do and are so very excited to see the flower plot develop over the coming years.

Thank you for reading our flower farm story. I'd love to hear about your love for flowers or growing stories, so feel free to comment below...