Fran Bailey ’s love life of flowers and floristry stem from a childhood spent with parents who ran a Yorkshire greenhouse and garden centre . After go to London as a freelancer more than 30 years ago , her life history and company has evolved , and Fran has been a customer of the Market ever since
Fran ’s sire Jacob Verhoef come to the UK in 1952 to operate in the flower industry , at a meter when English growers were first cotton on to the opportunity to tap into advanced Dutch horticultural expertise .
" He came over to get by a baby’s room in Yorkshire . When the owner withdraw , he took it on and it became The Dutch Nurseries , " says Fran . " My mommy Audrey was a big part of the job and they built a house on the land , so in my former years , I was surrounded by carnations arise in greenhouse and away dahlias . "
Jacob is still going inviolable , at 96 . Fran call up : " He was breeding and growing plug plants to betray to other agriculturalist and he was very successful . When the oil crisis bump off in the early ' 70s , ironically the contest from Holland was too much , so while I was still immature he converted it into a garden centre and bloom shop . He still grew a few acres , and I used to water plant and get my hand contaminating .
" I do n’t remember wanting to be a florist , but I ended up flush it my exams and go to the Welsh College of Horticulture , in Mold . The college was lovely and we had all the grounds with mown flowers and leaf , so it was a dandy earthing . I went there wanting to do landscape painting design or growing , but swap course to floristry when I realised that was my really what I wanted to do . "
On finishing her course , in the early ' XC Fran go to London and set herself up as a freelance florist . After forgetful spells in Chiswick and Islington , she ’s been in South East London for more than 30 class . " I ’ve work with some really secure florists in some adorable venues – my preferred memory was plausibly working with Ming Veevers Carter – but most of the clock time I worked as a freelancer for Dee Hine Floral Design . I was 29 with two kids when Dee make up one’s mind to sell the business , but my pa had always told me to look out for an established business that is for cut-rate sale . "
So , Fran bought that business . " It had some outstanding contracts like the Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery and because the upshot organisers knew me , it was quite an easy transition . Those were unlike times when you did n’t have to pitch for job every yr . That reality convert and because I was relatively small , I lost a lot of business to larger operators who started to get all the employment . At the same time though , the field around East Dulwich was on the up and North Cross Road had a nice Saturday market and a few short independents were open up up . There were three other florist on Lordship Lane at the time , would you consider , but we all had dissimilar style and could offer unlike things to different citizenry . So , in 1998 , I took the situation on , give The Fresh Flower Company and after working on marriage and events at first , open up my first flower shop in 2006 . We ’ve built up a really loyal bunch of customer .
" I opened Forest in East Dulwich in 2013 , right at the get-go of the houseplant boom . I had a shop down the road and to help compensate the split I opened up one-half of it to sell plants . There were n’t many other outlet for houseplant at the clock time and The Fresh Flower Company was fine , for a while it seemed everyone wanted plants . "
Of course , others cottoned on to the trend and presently there were mess of high - street and on-line works wall socket to compete with . A second Forest give in Deptford in 2017 and maintain the looking at and feel of its harbinger , but also sell trimmed flower . Fran enjoin : " That is incline by my eldest girl Alice . We also have a storage warehouse in Deptford , which is mainly for stock but from time to time is used as a workshop and we also run monthly floristry stratum . "
Not surprisingly , COVID changed thing again for Fran , as a split hike made the original Forest ’s location indefensible . However , as destiny would have it , further along North Cross Road another choice come up and while the plant side of the business is n’t quite as busy as it used to be , it moved into what used to be a café and added java and a larger cooking stove of homeware and giving into the admixture . " In the prime shop I like to be really purist – no balloons , chocolates etc … – but in Forest , we ’ve been able to expand the offer and separate the sister shops , " she enounce .
The pandemic was responsible for an even bigger transition for the job . " I ’d always had the itch to get back into grow , " say Fran , but it ’s grueling enough establish a support as a florist shop and produce in London was n’t an selection . I ’d always bribe a lot of English bloom , visit nurseries and endure agriculturist , but I never thought I could do it , " Fran accept . " During the first Lockdown , I part from my husband . We both found new mate and mine be in Kent . It reserve me to think more about broaden the business organization and we find a patch of dry land with a barn in Deal .
" The Barn only has half an Accho . The season runs from March to October , starting in the spring with tulips , genus Ranunculus and anemones . Early summertime we are cropping sweet peas , roses , larkspur and cornflowers and then into the fall we finish with dahlias , zinnias , grasses and rudbeckia . Already , during the season I ’m able to supply roughly 20 % of the blossom my business needs . I do n’t sell anywhere else . I ’m realistic , I think . I ca n’t just bribe English for nuptials , as St. Brigid have very eclectic tastes and specific requirements and you have to manage those expectations , but also give them what they desire in the destruction . If I need to supplement 80 % from The Barn with 20 % from the marketplace or another grower , then I ’ll be flexible , otherwise I ’d soon come unstuck . "
Fran and her mate started out inhabit in an old wagon at the farm . " It ’s never going to be Grand Designs , but we ’ve have one room of the house done now , with a stove in it ! " she laughs . " I sleep with it and appease down there two or three solar day a workweek growing , before arrive back to London for the latter part of the calendar week when we have weddings on .
" When I ’m in London , I expend most of my clock time in the workshop , though I still do peck of event alongside the shop class work . I love being out and about in my white van , essentially being the gofer in the business – a skip on wheel ! I ’m trying to get oeuvre down in Kent as well as there are some great locale down there too . "
Market connectionsFran has been buying flowers , plants and foliage from New Covent Garden Flower Market for more than 30 age , essentially since she shake up in London . " I ’d finger there was something lacking if I did n’t go at least once a week , " she suppose . " I used to be there three or four daytime a week , but that ’s changed a bite as my line of work has changed .
" I know you could get deliveries from Holland , but I just need to see the intersection and chat with the guys to know what I can get postponement of in the next few calendar week . It ’s a vital part of my patronage and if I was n’t there , I ’d sense really disconnected . The knowledge of the dealer is sovereign – I deal with everyone and go to different firms for different thing , of course .
" As everyone knows , prices are really high at the minute , which is a worry . I ’ve always focused on the higher end of the marketplace as you just ca n’t compete when supermarkets are sell Ralph Johnson Bunche of flush for flash than I can buy them . So , I sell the good timbre , swallow the prices where I can and endeavor to educate the client about what they are receive . It do it tougher when the Mary Leontyne Price I pay rise significantly , but I ’m lucky that a lot of my customers do realize and are really supportive . "
The British growing buzz exhale from the period in Lockdown when florists in the UK just could n’t get deliveries , and food market traders were ineffective to betray them . " Everyone leap out on it and the fact that Flowers from the Farm has over a thousand members instance the shock it has had . I guess masses have realised the world of doing it and the hard body of work involved . Thankfully most people are still doing it , but you need a reliable client root word , " Fran says . " A few of the guys in the mart have take if I would be concerned in selling to them . I ’m definitely not big enough to do that and we have our own vent . I was looking to expand at first , but it ’s operose oeuvre . "
Floral familyAs the business has evolved , so too has the squad of people working within it . " I ’ve make a peachy team – four of us in The Fresh Flower Company ’s North Cross Road shop and 10 puzzle out for Forest , " Fran says . " My three daughters have all been involved in different way , sometimes reluctantly ! My eldest Alice mold in East Dulwich for some clock time and is a really good florist shop – she set up and execute the shop class in Deptford and is especially good on the cut flowers side of matter . We ’re on the same wavelength , but she ’s definitely more organised , good at paperwork and trade with staff !
" Maddie did an RHS course and love draw her hands ill-gotten . She ’s helped me a lot down at The Barn . She has just gone off to Patagonia , to offer for a second clip on an organic farm in Chile . She loves doing that , but I would desire she ’ll be back with us when she returns . "
The youngest , Thea , was perhaps the most reluctant to join the family business organisation , but the idea may be growing on her . " I ’ve never exactly push them into it , but it ’s been a way to earn some Johnny Cash and you either have it off it or you do n’t , " Fran explains . " Thea ’s a endearing sociable person and is smashing with the customers . Helping me at The Barn in all weathers is less of her travelling bag , but she ’s enjoin she ’s going to do it , so we ’ll see how that move ! "
