Phil supervises the stocking up and sales at this local family run nursery. Everything is sold through the 'on site' garden centre shop. Brother Stephen is in charge of the growing and sister Christine the cut flowers. Mother Anne remains an active partner. The business was started up in 1937 by his grandparents who passed it on to his father Jim who died in 2001. Jim is survived by his wife Anne. The third generation are now in charge. They have three acres of intensive protective cropping. The Business began as an outlet for vegetables grown on the farm Now only tomatoes are grown and picked on the day for sale in the shop. The trade has changed.The plants produced are seasonal and during the summer bedding plants and plants for hanging baskets dominate sales.Herbaceous plants are part of their winter trade. They have also diversified into a range of garden sundries. There is now a significant customer base of time short, enthusiastic, week end only gardeners. Some of whom come in asking for plants that were featured on TV the night before. These are, more often than not, not yet generally available.
Phil was born and bred on the premises. He went to school in the village and onto the Grove school in Market Drayton. Like his brother and sister, he went off to college to study a branch of the business. He qualified in Garden Centre Management. He feels very positive about the work and likes the fact that he spends much of his time outdoors in all weathers. The nursery supports local efforts to brighten the streetscape with hanging baskets, window boxes and tubs. He was surprised when plans were announced to close the village school because of the low numbers of children. Families that moved in some years ago have now grown up and the parents remain and do not want to move away. New build houses have now brought in children and hopefully reduced the threat to to the school.The Nursery featured on a Gardening Programme on TV when it was chosen to represent the experience of shopping in small local nurseries contrasted with the experience offered by large DIY centres with gardening sections and the large Garden Centres that provided facilities for a family outing. Phil was very comfortable with the relatively small but personal scale of their own activities. |
