“I don’t care how busy I am - I will always make time for what’s most important to me” — Kevin Hart This summer has been such a whirlwind of weddings, school holidays and general mayhem that my resolution to upload monthly blogs just dwindled away! Its always hard to juggle work and life. As a one man band at work and a family at home it is always going to be difficult in school holidays. I try and live by the ethos of ‘work hard, play hard’ but ultimately family comes first and I do have the just lock the door and turn away during the summer. The shop gets closed, weddings are turned down ..read more

“It’s not about being the best. It’s about being better than you were yesterday” — Anon I was recently nominated in the Muddy Stilettos awards to be Devon’s Best Florist. Yes, it is exciting and flattering to have been nominated (I don’t know who started that for me but whoever you are - thank you) I’m not normally a fan of this type of awards as they are based purely on a voting basis and therefore become more of a popularity contest than based on any actual business acumen. But it did get me thinking. What would make me the “Best florist in Devon” How do you define “the best”? Especially ..read more

“Life seems but a quick succession of busy nothings” — Jane Austen Too busy and flustered in May to write a blog! Back next month ..read more

“In dreams and in love there are no impossibilities” — Janos Arany April was the month of weddings. Obviously I have weddings all year round but there is definitely a key season and April is the first month of the peak season. January to March saw an average of four weddings a month and then bang! April had a total of 14 weddings. I love them! Every one different. Every one with a story. Every one bringing me anxiety. Yes, I do still get nervous when working on weddings. “Wow! Thank you so much Heather, I was thrilled with my bouquet and flower headband. Absolutely perfect, better than I’d ev ..read more

“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade” — Charles Dickens Another month gone and not sure where that one went - again. On paper it wasn’t a particularly busy month but the weeks have been full. And hasn’t the weather been fab? Everything is better in the sunshine.  The month started with a wedding. A wedding that’s been postponed a few times in the last couple of years. But we got there eventually. It was lovely palette of vintage hues. Soft mauves and pinks. I must confess it’s one of my fav ..read more

“Victory” Eunice is a feminine given name, from the Greek “Eunike”, from “eu”, good and “nike”, victory” — wikipedia “Hello? Church Park Flowers…” “Is that Curry’s customer service?” Just one example of random phone calls I receive. But being February I was hoping for the phone to be ringing off the hook with guys ordering red roses by the dozen. Now, I know 99.9 % of girls don’t want red roses - they prefer pink or white or actually just a pretty mixed seasonal bouquet. But to be honest we would be chuffed / suspicious (delete where appropriate) to receive any fabulous flowers on Valentines ..read more

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language, and next year’s words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning.” — T S Elliot New year. Fresh start. Clean slate. Big ideas. High expectations. Let’s do this……. Of course that was the vibe in week one. Well, week two actually as I took an extended Christmas break to recover from the whirlwind of 2021. It was a very intense year and it almost broke me, definitely a learning curve not to be repeated. New notebook and great intentions were the way forward for 2022.  The first problem was that the 2021 me wasn’t not ..read more

“Rivers know this: There is no hurry. We shall get there some day.” — Winnie the Pooh Today is my shops business birthday. A year ago today I opened my doors of the little blue flower shop on Mill Street, Bideford.  To be honest I feel a little like Eeyore on his birthday. Little bit sad, little bit forgotten. No cake, no candles no “whoop whoop”   A gift of an empty honey pot and a popped balloon would be fab but instead I’m in the shop bleach cleaning buckets. 42 of them so far. It’s a glamorous life! Of course I would have to have been bleaching buckets even if I was open - it’s n ..read more

“It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.” — Roy E Disney Happy (!) New Year! A bit late to the party and I’m sure we can all agree it’s not got off to the most fantastic of beginnings but hopefully for some lucky couples it is the start of something exciting……. Did your partner ‘pop’ the question over the festive season? If so, then a massive CONGRATULATIONS! And now the fun can really start as you begin to plan your big day (Or not so big under current restrictions). You’ll have plenty of choices and decisions to make over all sort of details you haven’t even thoug ..read more

“An intense anticipation itself transforms possibility into reality; our desires being often but precursors of the things which we are capable of performing” — Samuel Smiles When I was a kid you didn’t get chocolate in advent calendars. You just opened the little cardboard doors and had a little picture. That was it. If it was a particularly good advent calendar, we closed the doors and saved it for the following year!  These days it’s a whole different ball game. Those well known Christmas characters of Peppa Pig and Paw Patrol have their own sugar loaded cheap chocolate offering. You ca ..read more