We've been so very lucky to meet Gill early on in her story and we're loving seeing her develop her plot and her own style as a grower. She has very kindly written us a little piece about her story which we're very excited to share with you.

I became a flower farmer in 2015. The way in which this came about is rather curious….. I was working as a building surveyor and, in my spare time, tending to my own back garden - very pretty but not much bigger than a postage stamp. One evening I was snoozing in the bath with a magazine and a glass of wine ( bad habit I know) when I happened upon a feature about the creation of a flower farm in Cornwall. Up to that point my career choices had always been driven by practicality but suddenly, for the first time in my life and at the ripe old age of 54, I knew exactly what I was meant to be doing! When I look way, way back, I do remember as a child picking flowers from the fields behind our house for the dining room table. Where did that urge come from? My parents were neither gardeners nor foragers at that time. In early 2015 I went on a mission and I was very determined. I found a plot of land to rent (not large - I’m told the area equates to two allotments). I created beds and paths and planted seeds. When I look now at the ‘before’ and ‘after’ photos (see attached) I don’t know where on earth I got all that energy from By July 2015 I had flowers and I contacted Marianne and Alison, only to find that they had been trying to reach me. Our happy liaison continues to this day. A few months ago I decided to leave my job as a building surveyor in order to devote myself full-time to my new world of flowers, bees, butterflies and happy people. Don’t get me wrong, it also involves lots of hard work in all weathers, long hours, early starts plus a few slugs and greenfly. I now have permanently frizzy hair, freckles, and sometimes I have to take sandpaper to my hands but I am happy. The loss of a guaranteed monthly income is a little scary. I know that my flowers will never make me rich, but riches come in all shapes and forms and I consider myself to be very fortunate. Hopefully I will earn enough to cover my costs and buy a few luxuries such as food. We will have to see! Gill Bagshawe (Wild in the Country)