A cup of tea for the New Year

Happy New Year! I hope the festive period was exactly what you were hoping and needing.

Mine started with a lovely trip up to Edinburgh with some friends to see The Unthanks and peruse the Christmas Markets. We had a wonderful time strolling around the little alleys in search of tiny pubs with folk music and hot toddies. Christmas itself was quiet with the families, filled with good food, too much telly and lots of catching up.

I spent NYE in the Old Crown dancing the year away to a brilliant Postmodern Jukebox tribute duo and I may, or may not, have been in bed by a quarter past midnight...

I juggle a few plates throughout the year. I'm not only a flower farmer, I lead the team at Tortworth Arboretum, run nature-based wellbeing groups through my company Wild Folk and do lots of volunteering. So I really appreciate the downtime each festive season gives me to reflect on myself, my dreams and what things in my life I want to keep working on.

Looking back, I'm pretty chuffed with 2023. I achieved some great things in my other work, I've been on an unforgettable trip to the Isle of Mull, attended the most beautiful family wedding in Lithuania, and have come a long way training my little rescue pup Fig.

Alongside all of that, I have set up and grown Uley Flowers and I am really proud of what I've achieved in less than a year. I took on the old veg patch at Newbrook Farm in February 2023, it was thick with weeds and had been unloved for a few years since its previous guardian sadly passed away. Thanks again to Farmer Fred & Dave for trusting me with this little corner of their land.

I spent the first few months clearing the weeds, mulching the ground and drafting up a planting plan as I got to know the micro climate and conditions better. I scrubbed the greenhouse and sowed my first seeds, not really knowing whether it would all work out or if anyone would actually want to buy my flowers.

Once the summer hit, I faffed around a little bit trying to pluck up the courage to "go live". I'd made my social media accounts, but I was too nervous to share them - what if everyone thought I was crazy?

Eventually, with some pep talks, I remembered that you will only ever regret the things you didn't try. I had dreamed of growing flowers for so long and now was my chance. I launched my socials and everything steadily grew, perfectly slowly, but I was so pleased to have a handful of lovely messages from local people who thought it was all a great idea.

After making up example bouquets for friends, neighbours and pet sitters, I had my first customer - the Old Crown Uley. Each week I make up the bud vases for the tables and an arrangement for the end of the bar. I love bringing seasonal flowers in to our local pub to be enjoyed by locals and visitors as they tuck into the tasty seasonal food.

From there, people starting messaging me to order their own bouquets. I'm not exaggerating when I say I had to pinch myself each time. It is such a honour to carefully cut, condition and arrange flowers to be displayed and enjoyed in someone's home. I'm not sure I will ever get bored of that feeling!

As the flower season slowed down and winter drew in, I dabbled with my first flower-based workshop - making festive wreaths, hosted at The Old Crown. It sold out quicker than I could believe and everyone had a jolly time meeting new people, drinking mulled wine and playing with the best seasonal foliage from Uley.

The final highlight of the year was launching Christmas Gift Subscriptions for the 2024 flower season. I wasn't sure how willing people would be to invest up-front before the season, but this is a really incredible way to support small-scale local producers as it helps cover all the winter expenses such as seeds, dahlia tubers and compost. I set myself a small target and I couldn't believe it when, together, we smashed that target by triple! Thank you so much to everyone who bought subscriptions, they are the best way to secure great value flowers at last season's prices. They will only be available up until Valentine's Day, so head to the website if you would like to find out more.

Whilst there have been a lot of highs, it hasn't always been plan sailing. I have really had to challenge myself, push through the self-doubt and believe in myself to make this happen. So thank you to everyone who has sent lovely messages, liked, shared and bought flowers - I couldn't have done it without you. 

As I've reflected over the last few weeks, I realised that my biggest downfall was my worrying that not everyone will like my flowers. As I unpicked that worry, I decided that really doesn't matter. Lots of people won't like my flowers, and that's fine, I only have a tiny patch and I can't grow flowers for the whole world! There are lots of brilliant local florists and flower farmers and we all have our own unique magic, that's what makes buying small and local so special, someone has put their heart and soul into their craft to give it that extra sparkle.

So to wrap this up, I'll let you in on my phrase for 2024... be your own cup of tea. I'm setting an intention to focus on my own craft and dreams, I will not get distracted by what everyone else is doing and the endless opinions of others. 



I'd love to know your intentions for 2024, does anyone else like to set a word or phrase for the year?

Wishing you a wonderful 2024, full of peace, joy & flowers.

Speak soon,



Ps. mine's a Yorkshire, strong and milky. If that's up your street, then drop me a message and let's talk flowers!