Back in that odd little seasonal hinterland that lies somewhere after Christmas but before spring sets in, we left the children with the grandparents for the afternoon and escaped for a quiet drive down through the peaks (and through the amazing Chatsworth estate - serious heart eyes for that) to Abbey Brook.
Unassumingly nestled at the bottom of Brian and Gill Fearn's garden, a pared back but nonetheless wondrous version of its former self (having once had many more operational cactus houses before being scaled back to wind down a little). A small but perfectly formed cactus lovers dream, and surely the most photographed nursery north of the M25.
My jaw visibly dropped as we pulled back the door to the specimen house and I could honestly spend all day there taking everything in. Even their "mess", cast offs once deemed unfit for purpose and abandoned under the tables, are thriving in their own beautiful way. It was our good fortune to get to speak to Gill who set us straight on a thing or two about lithops and told us a little of the story of Abbey Brook as she showed us around.
We were most excited to get to see the propagation house as it isn't open to the public in general and Gill clued us in on a few things we could be doing to grow our own for the shop too. She has amassed knowledge over the years and her travels that I could only dream of, it was the most beautiful thing to see two people with a business that is literally part of the fabric of their being. The photos don't do it justice but have a look anyway.
We now stock a few select specimen plants from Abbey Brook - currently only in store but we are considering having a Plant Market Monday on Instagram stories to enable you to see what we have in stock and order. Get in touch if this is something that would be of interest to you and we'll keep you posted. You can see the rest of our Outdoors In range here.
Post a Comment