Louisa Butcher is a flower farmer and florist based on an arable farm near Happisburgh on the north-east Norfolk coast. Ahead of the Pick Your Own summer season starting this Saturday, she talks favourite flowers, top tips, and more
When led you to setting up Brunstead Blooms and what were you doing before? I’ve always loved growing flowers and have a passion for flower arranging and floristry. I started growing cut flowers in 2019 for my own wedding and discovered (through hard-work and much research) that there was a market for sustainably grown cut flowers. We were also on the lookout for a diversification on the farm and Brunstead Blooms was the most perfect fit. After more formal training, Brunstead Blooms launched in 2021. In my previous life, I was an agricultural property solicitor for a national firm with an office in Norwich, so life is a little different now, but I’ve carried skills learned during that part of my life through to running my own business.
Are you Norfolk born and raised?
Yes! I was born in Norwich, grew up in a village called Tacolneston and, despite leaving a few times for study/jobs (as far away as America), I’ve always found my way home – I can’t imagine living anywhere else. We can see the lighthouse at Happisburgh from the farmyard and hear the sea when the breeze is in the right direction.
What is it about growing flowers that you love? Do you have a favourite flower?
There are so many things that I love about growing – but I think the things that I love most are the happiness that the flowers that I’ve grown and arranged bring people who receive them and seeing the eco-system we’re building here at Brunstead Blooms – the pollinating insects love the flowers and there are frogs galore in the flower field (hopefully eating all the slugs!). It’s also special to be asked to provide flowers to celebrate a person’s life and to be able to provide them in an eco-friendly way. I couldn’t pick a favourite flower, although one of my ultimate favourites is a peony – they remind me of my Mum and Dad’s garden.
How important is it to you to be as sustainable as possible, as a flower farmer? Sustainability is key to this business – I don’t use insecticides or single-use plastic (including absolutely no floral foam). I grow as much as I can from seed (including seed that I’ve collected myself). I use shrubs and perennials to fix as much carbon into the soil as possible and I’ve got the capacity to store around 22,000 litres of harvested rainwater, which is used to irrigate the flowers. I recycle glass jars constantly and use these for PYO.
What’s happening from Saturday and where can people find you?
Saturday 20 July is the first pick your own of 2024 – entry is free, jars and snips provided and, for £5 a jar, you can pick stems of Norfolk grown flowers. You can find the flower field by using what3words: mashing.conforms.clerics – the postcode is NR12 9HE, we are just off the Stalham-Bacton coast road. Full directions are on the website, including a map. There are more PYO dates through the year which I’m really looking forward to.
Is the PYO season the highlight of your growing year? And do you have a top tip when it comes to picking flowers?
PYO is definitely one of the highlights – even more so if the sun shines, which it looks like it will on Saturday! I absolutely love welcoming people here to the flower farm – it’s one of the best ways to showcase sustainable, British grown flowers at their best. Other highlights for me are the workshops that I run throughout the year (including at Christmas!) and of course, flowering-up couples’ weddings – it’s wonderful to be able to do that and that people pick Norfolk grown flowers for their big day. Top tip – pick what you’re drawn to and what catches your eye!
What are your hopes and dreams for Brunstead Blooms?
I hope that I can continue to spread the word about British, sustainably grown and arranged, cut flowers. I’d love to expand PYO and become a real destination for cut flowers – for me, it’s about shortening the gap between grower and vase so that people know who has grown their flowers and that they’ve been grown in harmony with the environment. And to win the battle against the slugs (but I think that’s a pipe dream!).
The Brunstead Blooms Pick Your Own dates for the summer are: Saturday 20 July 11am-1pm; Saturday 27 July 10am-1pm; Saturday 3 August 10am-1pm; Thursday 8 August 10am-1pm; Saturday 10 August 10am-1pm; Thursday 15 August 10am-1pm and Saturday 14 September 10am-1pm. Email brunsteadblooms@gmail.com to book your spot.
Featured images – supplied
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