Our September Business of the month is Scilly Flowers, a gorgeous, sustainable, mail order flower business based at Churchtown Farm on St Martin’s, the northernmost of the Isles of Scilly.
We love this floral delight and interviewed Zoe, one of the partners, and daughter in law to Hilary and Andrew who set up the business, in our series of interviews collecting stories from women on the Scillies. Funded by the Shared Prosperity Fund and conducted with the museum on the islands, this work is now part of our Karavan An Chi Drolla.
Scilly Flowers have been growing and sending their scented treasures to homes across the UK since 1991 – a whopping 34 years! Churchtown Farm was already an established flower farm, one of many which have been growing and trading for generations on the Isles, when Hilary and Andrew moved there in 1986. The islands’ microclimate is perfect for flower growing, with few to no frosts and snows. This means little to no need for additional heat or light, and if you brighten up your spring (or even Christmas) mantelpiece with UK grown narcissi, you may well find that they have come from these tiny islands.
Aiming for sustainability at all times, amongst other things, since 2015, they have grown *all* their summer crop of scented pinks in sustainable coir, rather than the less environmentally friendly option of peat grow bags. The flowers are (beautifully) wrapped in paper and shipped in slim cardboard boxes.
The
history of the farm and the business is fascinating, as is their journey from growing scented narcissi – a traditional Scillies crop, which they send out from October to April – through experimenting with
other flowers, particularly scented pinks, to provide a supply of summer flowers for sending. Scilly Flowers send both their own and other farmers’ flowers (including from Cornwall) by mail throughout the UK. One member of Team Scary recently received three bunches of their pinks – admittedly bulked out with some spray carnations due to the dry summer – they lasted, beautifully, for 12 days!
Very excitingly, there are opportunities every year to
live and work on the farm for six months – though from the
Team page it seems many people stay far longer! And if you fancy a visit without the hard work, they have
two holiday cottages – sleeping three and six – available for rent. The combination of island life, almost 360 degree sea views and friendly community of 140 souls brings many people back year after year.
Scilly Flowers send flowers throughout the UK all year round. They even offer
a subscription so your home can be forever topped up with their blooms and they, thoughtfully, ask if you want to opt out of certain – eg Mother’s Day – marketing, which we appreciate.
Why not brighten up your day, or a friend’s, with
a bunch of scented flowers from not too far away? You’ll get something truly gorgeous and support a traditional way of life on a beautiful island.
