Hello, I'm Andy Heslop

Growing up on a crop farm it the South Island of New Zealand the seasons were never far from daily life.  Moving irrigation or getting the harvest in before the rain came.  I also vowed never to be reliant on farming!  How life changes.  My mother could always cut a beautiful bunch of flowers to gift or for the house from the garden, buying flowers wasn’t ever considered.  I was lucky enough to have my own piece of the garden to experiment with from an early age. 

 

Many years, lots of travels and life changes later, I moved to Chobham in Surrey with a bit more land than I fancied just mowing.  Growing seasonal flowers in as sustainable way possible seemed like a natural path.  When I first thought about it, all the information I could find was from the US or purely for major horticultural outfits.  Then I came across the wonderful Flowers from the Farm organisation.  The rest they say is history.

 

I’m trying to contain my growing space to about 1/8 of an acre because I think this is all I can manage by myself (watch this space though!)  I look after the soil health, working with nature, no dig beds, without nasty chemicals or single use plastic.  Toads in the compost, lady birds and bees. Keeping the miles travelled to a minimum supplying local retail and wholesale customers.

 

I get immense pleasure out of growing and nurturing a delicious seasonal range of flowers, seed heads, greenery and twiggy bits.  Creating beautiful arrangements or supplying beautiful selections to other talented people to create their own.  English country garden flowers, grown right here in Chobham, Surrey.