Beautiful blooms abound at Abbey Farm Flowers, a pick-your-own farm set in the historic grounds of Abbotsbury’s medieval abbey. The business was started by friends Amy and Emma who share a passion for sustainable floristry and British-grown flowers.
Abbotsbury was once the home of a great abbey that housed a thriving Benedictine community. Founded in 1044 by Orc, a thegn of King Cnut, the monks who lived here were master gardeners. Tending the land and growing food for their religious community was all part of the spiritual life for many centuries. When Reformation swept the country in the 1530s, the abbey was surrendered to Sir Giles Strangways in 1539, and the monks were dispersed and stone from its building reused. Today only fragments of those monastic buildings remain alongside the magnificent 14th-century thatched tithe barn, which miraculously is still intact. However, new dedicated gardeners have taken up residence - Amy Ralph and Emma Hughes of Abbey Farm Flowers. And what a location for this new cut flower business.
‘It’s tucked within the abbey ruins, overlooking the medieval barn,’ smiles Amy. ‘St Catherine’s Chapel is on the hill over there and there’s a pond with swans and ducks.’
Back in 2021, when Amy was looking for a location to set up a cut flower business, this plot at Abbotsbury came up. ‘It’s too dry, too far from home and too steep, but I fell in love with it!’ Many weeks of hard work was required to turn it into a viable place to grow flowers. It started with the laying down of cardboard to suppress weeds. Raised beds were then built, which were filled with 28 tonnes of topsoil, before Abbey Farm Flowers could open to the public. Now this idyllic site welcomes people to come and pick their own bouquets from a wide array of flowers. ‘It’s such a beautiful place that it seemed daft to just grow flowers to cut and take elsewhere to sell,’ says Amy. ‘Here you’ll find a great variety of flowers, so you can go home with a unique bunch that you have picked yourself.’
Many of the flowers are the ‘cut and come again’ type - the more you pick, the more you get. So, at this time of year, there are lots of cosmos, cornflowers and dahlias, the latter are the stars of the show in late summer. ‘Our favourites change with the seasons, but I particularly love scabious, eryngium and, of course, the dazzling dahlias.’
There’s also a wonderful wildflower meadow. ‘It’s always full of bees. Later in the season we can hear the grasshoppers and big green bush crickets. The meadow is filled with an unusual mix of wild clary, vervain, chamomile, opium poppies, spotted medick and other plants that are classic medicinal herbs. We think these must be remnants of the monks’ apothecary garden, as they don’t appear in other meadows locally.’
The archaeological sensitivity of the site means Amy and Emma use a no-dig system. ‘A medieval abbey, a manor house and Second World War huts used by American GIs have all sat on the patch where our flowers now grow. A Civil War battle also took place here. As a result, we can’t use any heavy machinery, fix permanent structures such as polytunnels or dig too much. We don’t know what, or who, is underneath!’
Keeping it green
Amy, who has a background in environmental education and creative wildlife gardens, loves the great outdoors. A former gardener for Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall of River Cottage fame, Amy feels ‘like all roads have led to Abbey Farm Flowers.’ And while it was a little daunting at first to start a new venture alone, she then drafted in her friend Emma, a specialist veterinary nurse with a love of flowers. ‘It was the best decision ever,’ she enthuses. ‘Emma is great with customers and able to turn her hand to anything. We have both learnt a huge amount along the way, and are still constantly learning, which makes every day different.’
Growing seasonal and sustainable flowers is a priority for this green-fingered pair. ‘The majority of flowers sold in this country are imported. Often, they are grown in places like Kenya or Ecuador then flown to the huge auction houses in the Netherlands, where they follow the distribution chain to your supermarket or florist,’ Amy explains. ‘As well as the carbon cost, lots of chemicals are used to induce and then break dormancy. Then there are further issues with water, human rights, and so on. Whereas British grown flowers have about 5% of the CO2 of their imported equivalent, and they support the biodiversity of where they are grown. If everyone embraced these more seasonal locally grown flowers, we would have a much more sustainable world, as well as more exciting flowers on our kitchen tables!’
Choose your own blooms
Pick your own (PYO) sessions at Abbey Farm Flowers are becoming ever more popular. Families and friends turn up to pick their own bunches of flowers, as well as WI groups and gardening clubs. ‘People even come here to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries,’ says Amy. ‘We were nervous about letting the public loose with snips, but it’s been a joy to share Abbotsbury with others. The happiness they get from taking the time to look closer at the flowers and choose their blooms is something we had underestimated.’
The duo particularly love watching different generations sharing this experience. ‘We were a bit concerned about letting children cut their own flowers, but, so far, they’ve been incredibly careful, thoughtful and interested. There are always lots of bees, ladybirds and butterflies to spot too.’
Brides-to-be come here to choose flowers for their wedding. ‘They often say it’s the most relaxing part of the build-up to the big day, and a much-needed escape.’ While regular attendees of the Friday Flower Club enjoy talks, demonstrations and a relaxed chat over coffee and Emma’s homemade cake. ‘It’s a lovely way for people to make new friends, pick some flowers, see the plot develop and just take some time out purely for themselves.’
Spring into Summer
Abbey Farm Flowers is not just about summer blooms. Spring is just as colourful. ‘We planted over 3,000 tulips for this spring,’ Amy smiles. ‘And we’re doing more workshops and wedding decorations, which we love. We don’t use floral foam, aka oasis, as it’s an environmental disaster. Instead, we make biodegradable, compostable arrangements.’
It's also been a surprise to Amy how much she likes doing funeral flowers. ‘People want to make the flower choice a personal one that connects to the person they’ve lost, so it’s a very mindful process. I’d like to offer the opportunity for people to choose and pick funeral flowers, maybe help make a tribute arrangement for their loved one. It’s a very reflective process and can be an important part of saying goodbye.’
You can visit Abbey Farm Flowers at any time, you don’t need to have an occasion or reason. ‘Visitors also just come for a look around, maybe sit down with an ice cream and enjoy the view. I know Dorset is full of beautiful places, but I’d challenge anyone to show me a better “office” than ours.’
Open: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday to Saturday, refreshments available. Pick Your Own from mid-March to late October, then its Christmas wreaths and trees. For details of workshops, including private bespoke, visit abbeyfarmflowers.co.uk.
Follow on Instagram @abbeyfarmflowers
Monthly Flower Club: This runs from April through to October on the first Tuesday and second Friday of each month. Cost £30 per session includes a walk around the flower fields, a demo of how to grow and care for plants, a bunch of flowers picked by you, coffee and homemade cakes. Book at abbeyfarmflowers.co.uk (so they know how much cake to bake), drop-ins are also welcome.
Flower Festival: Abbey Farm Flowers is part of Abbey Farm, a new redevelopment based around the medieval remains of the abbey barn. It includes art studios, artisan workshops and a dog-friendly cafe, visit Abbey Farm over the Summer Bank Holiday (August 24- 26) for their popular and free Flower Festival, a celebration of all things floral, both in the garden and the countryside, as well as a programme of workshops, talks, walks and music. There’s also the Viking Festival over the weekend of August 3-4. abbeyfarmabbotsbury.co.uk
