F LOWERS
can just sit and have a cup of tea, maybe make our shop more formal… we’ve also got a few people who are going to start volunteering with us – it’s exciting!” In the end, it all comes back to that eye-catching little posy. “It’s just so simple,” Anna says. “I really think there’s a tide turning: the interest in cut flowers is a bit of a revolution that I think aligns with the growing interest in craft, and being sustainable. Getting a factory to grow a flower, fly it in and then for us to put it on our table – the whole thing just feels wrong, in the same way that we now think about food. If you grow something really lovely, and cut it and enjoy it in the house, and then get to see another flower come up, it’s so rewarding and so simple – and you’re going to sit at that table anyway, so you might as well make it beautiful. You’re doing a little bit for wildlife, for the environment, and you get that little bit of pleasure – it’s win- win. And totally attainable.” annasflowerfarm.com
pace. Several of her trademark creative, collaborative events are already planned for later in the year, extending her focus on ephemerality to one-night-only experiences, such as August’s ‘Dine Among The Flowers’ dinners in the walled garden. This saw her team up with local chefs, chocolatiers and ceramicists, and couldn’t be replicated if they wanted to. “We made special vessels, plates and bowls just for the night, which people could then buy at the event, so rather than us wash them up you could just take them away with you,” Anna explains. Anna is also planning to trial a membership offering in the autumn, where fans of the farm can attend exclusive events, get first dibs on booking workshops and choose to receive regular posies – or the necessary blooms to enable people to make their own posies. “I just want more people to know about us: to come here, see the farm and hang out,” Anna says. “We’re also going to trial opening up one day a week while we’re working, so people
65
C A M B S E D I T I O N . C O . U K
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9
Powered by FlippingBook