MANOR FARM COTTAGE FLOWERS
flower farm & floristry
Beginnings...
It is that same love, commitment and passion that I bring to the growing and arranging of flowers here at Manor Farm Cottage. Our growing journey began six years ago in 2012.
A career in teaching Special Needs and supporting adults with Learning Difficulties through horticulture, coupled with a move to the countryside and a brave risk to leap into a life of smallholding saw the Universe conspire to let that growing seedling begin to germinate.
What we do...
On our modestly sized patch we produce a generous bounty of seasonal blooms, growing an inspiring variety of scented and hard-to-get-your-hands-on annual cut flowers, alongside perennials, shrubs and foliage plants.
We grow using natural methods, without chemicals (as far as possible) . We believe that healthy soil is the key to healthy flowers, and we use a No-Dig approach to develop and maintain our growing spaces. Our flowers are produced sustainably and ethically, with zero air miles.
Harvested at just the right stage, and not having to withstand the rigours of international airfreight, we grow blooms of outstanding quality, that are fresh, fragrant, delicate, and simply put, exceptional. Straight from our field to your vase!
Hello, I'm Lara...
...I sow, grow, plant, harvest and arrange the gorgeous seasonal blooms we grow on our almost-acre of Somerset clay. Flowers are my passion. Here on our smallholding, at the foot of the exquisite Mendip Hills, I do more than simply grow them, I nurture and love them into life. I've been known to affectionately refer to the flowers as 'My Girls', a habit which pretty much guarantees an eye roll from the rest of the family. What can I say, it's a kind of beautiful madness this business of growing flowers.
My love affair with growing things started at an early age. One of my most vivid childhood memories is of the 5 year-old me helping my grandfather water his beloved roses. We'd stand in the garden for an age holding the hose pipe, his hand patiently guiding mine. (Gramps' garden was a lovingly tended sandy strip of a border, outside his ground floor flat. It was chock-full of unapologetically bright Dahlias, sweetly perfumed Roses, Amarylis and of course ,Gladioli.
It was his pride and joy). As we watered his little piece of heaven, we'd excitedly count the ready-to-burst rose buds. In those magical moments, somewhere deep inside of me, a tiny seed was sown.
These days, as I walk through the roses in the flower field, washed in scent and the buzz of life and sunshine and green, I can feel my grandfather walking right there beside me. We still count the buds together, and I'm just as excited as I was all those years ago.
