A Flower Shop in the Making

Kate is counting down. It is 3 days to go until her flower shop, Rustic Rose, opens in the Dorset market town of Sturminster Newton. Stock is starting to arrive and the carpenter has just finished fitting her shelves and counters.

I don't think I have ever seen anyone so excited.

Even in its bare state I can sense this is going to be a colourful, quirky, country flower shop. You only have to look at the lining of Kate's jacket and her bright pink jumper to know that this is a flower shop that will get noticed.

I first met Kate when she was working at Ted Martin Flowers. And I am not the only friend she made along the way, Jennifer is over helping Kate with much of the planning and preparation. As I am taking photos of the shop, Jennifer is busy making aprons. Kate says she did think about having plain aprons but once she got into Hansons (a fantastic Aladdin's cave of a fabric warehouse in town) she saw so many colourful materials she decided to mix them all together for her aprons. I can't wait to see them.

Where possible Kate is buying products locally (such as these twisted willow baskets, heart and flowers), and as her family have farmed in this area for many years there are not many people she does not know.

Kate tells me that she was a little worried about telling the local greengrocer, who also sells flowers, about her shop. But when they stopped her in the street and asked her, 'Is that going to be your shop?' they appeared delighted and said, 'we are so glad it is you Kate.'

Kate also tracked down another friend, Donald, the funeral director to ask him if she could have a chat about flowers he might need. As Kate was having coffee with him it became obvious that she is not the only friend Donald has gathered in his life. First the district nurse appeared and joined in the coffee and chat, then the local ambulance driver arrived. By the end Kate tells me her 'business chat' turned into several friends and family around the kitchen table!

But for now, behind the shrouded windows, it is back to work.

A Cut Above

When Emma and Hazel of Patricia Knowles Florist in Farnham decide to hold a book signing, they know they will need more space than they have in their shop, so they nip across the road to the nice boys at Headcase barbers. They had lent the girls the use of the shop before and are happy to do so again.

As I arrive the girls are setting up the flowers and drinks, but the lights and activity are still attracting one or two hopeful customers looking for a haircut. I am almost tempted to pick up a pair of floristry scissors and wave them towards a chair!

Since I visited last, Hazel and Emma have been very busy. One of their great sucesses is their flower school, which they hold in the workshop above the shop.

Hazel explains that many of the women she meets tell her they love it because it means they get to spend time in a flower shop. And what a great flower shop to be able to spend some time in!

Tonight the air is bitingly clean and cold with the promise of a hard frost. The front of the shop looks warm and inviting as I walk across the narrow cobbled lane that seperates the flower shop from the barbers.

As I wander around the shop I begin to think that this is the perfect place for my friend Louise to spend some time.

Louise has recently lost her mum and with all the confusion, grief and upheaval that this brings she has begun to think about a change of direction in her life. Louise is a talented artist who also earns her living as a gardener. However as she was helping to prepare the flowers for her mother's funeral she was struck by the thought that she would really like to be a florist.

Louise tells me the moment was a bit of an epithany.

But where to start?

This I decide would be the perfect place. The girls run a starter day for £80 for which someone can spend a day with them to get a feel for whether they really would like the life of a florist

(early start, cold feet, hard work .... as well as bundles of glorious flowers to play with)

After that, you can sign up for a course aimed at people who really do want to look at floristry commercially. This course costs £750 (a bargain compared to the price some London florists are charging).

Walking around this shop, that is so lovingly cared for, I think this would be a very soothing place for Louise to be right now. I also feel sure that with an artistic background and her knowledge of gardens that she would make a great florist.

But most of all I know for certain that Hazel, Emma and their team would welcome Louise and really look after her.

www.patriciaknowles.co.uk

Greetings from a Happy Blogger

When I see my books on the shelves of a book shop I am so pleased that I have a tendency to stroke them. When I spy them piled on someone's coffee table I want to laugh, I am so delighted (I try and avoid doing this if at all possible). So you will understand my excitement when I was approached by a card company who wanted to create a range of greetings cards under the 'Sally Page' name.

The new cards, which are being launched at the NEC Gift Fair in January have just arrived. And as you can see I am rather proud of them!

The photos for the range mainly come from my first book, The Flower Shop, which is based on a year in the life of an English country flower shop - Ted Martin Flowers in Tisbury, Wiltshire.

Although there are a few of flowers photographed in other spots - including one which has two glasses of rose wine which was photographed in my friend Gay's garden. I imagine she might be buying a few of those!

Getting the range together (amongst other more boring things) has kept me away from my camera for a while, and consequently, away from my blog. So I apologize for that. But I have lots of lovely flower shop hunting coming up, so will have much to photograph and tell you about in the coming weeks.

First I shall be heading to Farnham to see the lovely ladies at Patricia Knowles Flowers, then I shall be calling into visit Kate Howard's Hedge Rose shop that she has recently moved to the centre of Marlborough. And on Monday I am in Leicester with Knighton Flowers. Whilst this is going on I will take time to pop in and see my friend Katy who is busily painting and decorating her new flower shop which opens on 2nd December. More of that later.

My new cards will be available for shops to order from www.blossomsandbows.co.uk soon.

Each card is blank and comes with a useful 'flower shop secret' on the back.

Town Mouse, Country Mouse

This autumn seems to be a season of slanting sunshine and juicy colours.

I am in North London with my daughter Libby and we are discovering the joys of Stoke Newington. There are tempting book shops, quirky markets, vintage cafes and, to make my day complete, a shabby chic flower shop called Flowers N16.

At the back of the shop is a paved garden about to settle into winter, at the front, a wooden floored open space - slightly battered - but with great sploshes of colour.

Normally I like to see flowers come and go with the seasons, but here I can't help enjoying the muddled mix of end-of-season sunflowers and inappropriate tulips.

But for all the pleasure I gained from a foray into the city - home is where the heart is.

I am back at Pythouse Walled Garden, and in my opinion, nothing could be better.

It is the most perfect, warm autumn day and as I wander around with my camera, waiting for a friend to join me for lunch, I fall into conversation with a lady who has been drinking coffee in the sunshine. We both agree this is a very special place.

At Pythouse they are gathering in the pumpkins.

Some will go in the pumpkin and ginger soup.

Amanda, today's chef, emerges from the kitchen in search of another specimen, hair fetchingly tied up in a green and white stripey tea-towel bow.

The rest are ready for a pumpkin carving evening Mitch, the owner, has planned for young families at Halloween.

I am beginning to feel sorry that my girls are grown up and I become quite wistful watching the younger customers running up and down between the rows of herbs and vegetables.

Still, it won't be long before my girls will be back for the weekend and I can bring them over for coffee or lunch. There will be no noses to wipe, laces to tie, or endless questions to answer; so I suppose getting older does have its compensations.

Amazing in the Autumn

Town and County Flowers on Wandsworth Bridge Road in London is celebrating autumn in style.

I often used to drive past this shop when I had my own flower shop, The Lemon Tree, in Battersea many, many years ago.

It is good to see that they are keeping up the tradition (which I remember well) of having glorious displays of colour in and outside the shop.

How can you not feel cheered by the splashes of tangarine orange and lipstick pinks?

I call in to say hello and find that the shop is still run by the same people who owned it when I used to live around here. As I chat with florist Georgina and ask after owner, Elaine, we discover we have florists friends in common. Not surprising, perhaps, but nice none the less.

I know only too well that running a successful flower shop for twenty years is no mean achievement - and I take my hat off to them.

And of course if you live in South London and you need flowers, these are the ladies to go to. Believe me, there is nothing they will not have come across in twenty years!

www.townandcountyflowers.co.uk

Talk, Talk, Talking in Tynemouth

I had been invited by the fabulous ladies of the Tynemouth Flower Club to head to the north and talk flowers with them. I say 'fabulous' with every good reason; firstly I was contacted by Julie from the club, who by the time I met her felt like an old friend. Then another member, Sue (in the midst of a mad week putting the final touches to her new flower shop) found time to go to market and buy the flowers that I needed for the demonstration. Added to all of this kindness, I was greeted by a wonderful afternoon tea and sent home with presents, wine and chocolate.

Fabulous.

Well they asked me to talk flowers, and boy, can I talk flowers!

Once I start I can't stop ... this is the one about the bouquet that got away...

As I talked my daughter Alex snapped away. She has just come back from Uganda and if she thought I was going to let her out of my sight after missing her for 11 weeks she was wrong! She was coming to Tynemouth too. Alex had been in Africa studying and photographing Chimpanzees and she seemed to think I was another interesting study.

Afterwards she did tell me that in a couple of the shots I looked like a meerkat, but she kindly decided to delete those.

To be honest Alex didn't put up much of a fight when I said we were going away for a few days. We were staying with my best friend Pip who lives nearby in Durham (to whom my latest book is dedicated) and she is a much loved godmother.

Although I did make the two of them work really hard as we sold and signed books on the evening.

Overall, a wonderful trip and I shall definitely be back soon to see Sue's new shop.