Last updated at 14:14, Monday, 26 January 2009

Stephen and Lesley Abbit, at Beetham Nurseries, near Milnthorpe, in south Cumbria

When did you start your business and why did you choose Beetham?
We started Beetham Nurseries in 1984, replies Stephen Abbit. At the time Lesley and I were working on a short-term project in Sri Lanka, and as enjoyable as that was, we always knew we wanted to set up a nursery in our locality in the UK. We eventually found a suitable piece of land, and buying it while we were based in Sri Lanka proved to be quite a challenge in itself – in those days, of course, there were no mobile phones, email or internet so everything was done by fax and by pre-arranged times for phone calls.
Eventually the deal was struck, and the rest is history. The land was waiting for us to develop when we returned home and we started off with a stand pipe in one of the fields, a humble polytunnel and a Portaloo.

How many people are employed at
the Nurseries?
It varies depending on the time of year. Many employees are part-time. They are passionate about plants and are highly trained to advise on planting, pruning, pests and diseases, and the specific needs of our vast collection of plants.

Is there a guiding principle in the way you run the Nurseries?
Our passion has always been to grow the finest, most unusual plants, shrubs and trees, providing value for money and excellent customer service. We would have been happy to concentrate only on the plant side of our business, searching out ‘rare finds’ from around the world, but with the emergence of the larger garden centres, which have gift shops and tearooms, we realised that to compete
we would also have to expand into
these areas.
Our ethos is evident in these areas too, and we aim to provide exceptional quality and something a little bit different, to give our customers a really enjoyable experience. We opened our tearooms eight years ago, unfortunately we never seem to have enough seats! Our gift shop is now four years old, and we have a huge variety of gifts for the gardener; an exceptional range of bird and wildlife products; British made, Cretan and imported pots and a range of high quality garden furniture and Weber BBQs.
Tell us about your training
Lesley and I both trained at Merrist Wood Horticultural College in Guildford, Surrey. The training we received there has stood us in very good stead for the business
that we have gradually built up, and it provided us with the basis for the daily decisions that we make regarding the
vast choice of plants which we cultivate and stock.

How have fashions in plants changed since you started up?
When we first started the nursery, conifers, and in particular Leylandii were very popular. Although their sales have dramatically declined, we still offer a small range. There has been an increased demand for herbaceous perennials and grasses, probably due their popularity in numerous TV gardening programmes.

Tell us about the Lakeland Poets Garden at Tatton 2008 and other
show successes
We have worked with Andy Loudon, a master craftsman in dry stone walling, on previous show gardens at the RHS Flower Show at Tatton Park, where, between us, we are delighted to have won the highest accolades. The partnership works well, because we are both passionate about what we do, and we tend to just get on with it (and leave the meetings to
our colleagues!).
However, there is much planning to be done in deciding on the plants to grow and take to the show, ensuring that they comply with the garden brief and are at their peak for the opening of the show – we always have some species in reserve, ‘just in case’.
The planting for our Lake District Poets Garden was inspired by the joy that Wordsworth would have felt in the mountains and countryside of our beautiful area. He was very much ‘at one’ with nature, and believed that a garden should be informal and should harmonise with its surroundings. We feel he would have approved of our choice of nature’s favourite plants, and the romantic ambience of the garden.

What are the most popular plants for each season?
Spring is when the bulbs planted in the autumn will be showing their faces and the flower buds of snowdrops, crocus, narcissus, daffodils, hyacinths and alium get the year off to a colourful start.
Summer is the time for bedding plants and hanging baskets; herbs such as coriander, parsley and basil for pots on windowsills; and roses in full bloom.
Ornamental grasses shine in September and the seed heads glitter in the pale sunlight. This is the time to plant shrubs and fruit trees such as apples, pears, peaches, plums, kiwis, cherries
and vines.
It’s good to maintain some colour in the short days of winter: Viburnums will flower from October to March in a mild winter climate, or from January to March in a cold garden. Skimmia is a lovely evergreen, very hardy ornamental shrub with shiny dark green leaves and the foliage and flower buds are used in Christmas bouquets. Winter’s the time when houseplants such as poinsettia and the many bright flowers of cyclamen bring colour into the home.

Do you have much time for a garden of your own?
Unfortunately, no time at all, but we are working with the plants and getting our hands dirty each day at the nursery, doing something that we love, so in that respect we are very fortunate.

What are your favourite plants?
The type of natural-looking plants that we worked with at Tatton, which really look at home in their environment such as varieties of Sanguisorba and Astrantia; also, the many varieties of grasses, which provide such lovely movement on a breezy day in the garden. English roses are hard to beat for their look and fragrance.

Do you plan to develop or further expand the business?
We have plans to extend our tearooms – at the moment we are disappointing too many of our customers through lack of space. At some point we would like to set up a garden club, for the benefit of our loyal customers.

 Beetham Nurseries, Pool Darkin Lane, Beetham, near Milnthorpe. Tel: 015395 63630 or see ww.beethamnurseries.co.uk.

First published at 11:49, Monday, 26 January 2009
Published by http://www.cumbrialife.co.uk