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The Easter holidays are over, phew … they seemed to last about 3 years and not 3 weeks!
We’ve had a busy few weeks here at the house … the wallpaper of dreams finally went up in the office, so now I’m on furniture sourcing duty. I will keep you updated on my finds!
I thought I might tell you a bit about my floral background today. Flowers have always been a passion of mine and I was delighted to launch the Floristry School here in December last year with our Christmas Wreath workshops and oh my goodness they were so much fun!
I trained as a florist when I decided to go back to college after a failed attempt at university and then a hopeless career as an estate agent … too much chat and not enough hard sell apparently!
I completed a BTEC Level 3 in Floristry and got a job at a local florist while I was studying which I absolutely loved. Soon after I qualified, I decided to go it alone and set up my own business specilising in wedding flowers and I also decided to go back to college in Stafford to complete my Level 4 Floristry. During this year I was approached by Moulton College to join their Floristry department to teach. I jumped at the chance and started the next week and also enrolled on a PGCE … next ensued a manic couple of years of teaching, studying and running my own business!
It was during this time that I won a floristry competition at the Covent Garden Flower Market which meant I secured a place in the finals at The Chelsea Flower show. To compete at Chelsea was a dream come true! … set up at the show ground was in the middle of the night and this was by far the highlight! After set up at 2am in the morning we were able wander the show gardens with not a soul in sight, it was a heady mix of eery and magical!
A Flower School has always been a dream of mine ever since I moved to the Flore house. I wanted to be able to share my passion for flowers and for everybody to be able to enjoy this at the house; be it a Christmas door wreath, an Easter table decoration or a stunning hand tied bouquet. The Christmas Wreath workshops sold like hot cakes and they were so much fun, with some amazing wreaths being made.
The Prosecco flowed and some great wreaths were crafted, on one afternoon all went home happy, feeling festive with beautiful creations … but less than an hour later I receive a message to say utter devastation had occurred when trying to hang a wreath and said wreath had crashed to the pavement and broken into about 145 pieces! … so the next morning a lovely husband was sent round to purchase the wreath I made during the workshop …
I hope to offer a wide variety of workshops spanning the year using seasonal flowers and foliage from local growers and also from here at the house. This winter a cutting garden was constructed, and seeds have been sown … so watch this space, I hope to be able to offer the opportunity for you to go out to the cutting garden to pick your own flowers for designs.
I recently launched our latest floral workshops – the Vases, Jars & Bouquets workshop. In this workshop you will learn how to arrange flowers properly in a vase, create a jar arrangement and a stunning hand tied gift-wrapped bouquet, have a wander of the gardens at Flore House with tea, coffee, fizz and homemade cake, it’s going to be amazing!
We currently have very limited spaces left, with some dates completely sold out, so if you fancy it, get in quick to avoid disappointment.
And finally, for any of you wanting a little sausages update … well, they’re no longer chipolatas, they’re now more like Cumberland sausages! And they love a sunbathe … so number 2 and 4, who are very hot on sun safety and have been slathering on factor 50 at every opportunity!
Stay safe,
Covid Government Guidelines were adhered to throughout filming. Flore House is a Covid Safe Venue.