Welcome to Rustic Rose

The next morning it is still bitterly cold, but I eventually make it over to see Kate's new shop. The windows are steamy from the icy air but I can see flashes of colour through the gloom, and Kate's blonde head busily bent over an order. Encouragingly I can also see what looks remarkably like Bucks Fizz on the counter - so it seems I am not too late to celebrate.

I knew this would be a wonderfully cheerful shop. Everywhere you look you are welcomed by great splashes of colour.

What a difference a day makes! Not a broom or a duster in sight.

I am touched to see my books on prominent display and Kate tells me she will shortly be framing the £10 'Hansel' that my partner Billy gave her to hang on the wall.

In Ireland it is traditional to give a new business the gift of money, known as a Hansel. This money can never be spent and it means that your business will have luck because as long as you have your Hansel you will never be short of money.

This of course is delightfully Irish. It reminds me of the Whiskey that Billy once won in a rugby club raffle in Limerick. Later in the evening as he headed for the door with the bottle in his hand, someone reached out and twitched it out of his grasp. He was told 'The winner always gives the Whiskey back."

But I am getting side tracked. Back to the Shop. And back to those aprons. Kate was right, so much better than plain ones.

Oh, I seem to have finished my drink already.

It really is a lovely shop and Kate should be very proud. As should Holly and Jennifer who I know have been by her side for the past days preparing for the opening.

Everywhere you look there are great touches; like teacups planted with pansies, an old trunk filled with baskets and teapots filled with bulbs.

So if you are anywhere near Sturminster Newton I strongly recommend that you call in and say hello. Although you will probably find that when you arrive I have drunk all the Bucks Fizz.

Snow Sad

It's the day of the launch of Rustic Rose. I call in first thing with some of my framed photos that Kate would like to sell and some extra vases and containers as she needs a few more for her flower order. Her best friend Holly is in helping, as is Jennifer who has been staying down in Sturminster since the snow started.

There are arrangements ready to be priced, parcels to unpack, surfaces to polish and floors to sweep. The doors are to open at 4pm with a launch for local people.

Kate's family will all be in attendance - including her Dad who found fame a year or so ago when he decided to train as a jockey having turned 40. He made his debut (and he decided, his final race) at Wincanton Races. None of his friends thought he stood a chance so were busy drinking in the bar. But as he rode past on his way to the winning line you can see him waving wildly to them and a great roar goes up from the bar. His televised victory was soon shown around the world and Kate's Dad found himself being interviewed by CBS News!

I am planning to return to the shop at around 6pm when I have finished my other work. But fate, or rather snow, takes a hand. As I am driving down the Dorset roads to Kate's shop later that day I can feel it is getting icier and icier. In the end I pull over to turn the car around and give Kate a call. In the background I can hear the sound of laughter and the clink of drinks.

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