April Showers.

It’s early April and whilst the rain came in winter, it hasn’t yet left in Spring and this must be the wettest start to the year I can remember to date. Especially after a few dry winters in recent years - at least those growing tulips don’t have to worry about stocky stems this year but that’s probably the only silver lining I can draw upon.

The wet has meant i’ve taken a very slow approach to planting out this year and whilst we have good drainage, the soil is difficult to work after months of constant downpour. If I act too hasty we’re at the risk of destroying the healthy soil structure we’ve worked so hard at establishing and as the saying goes ‘nature is never in a rush, but is always on time’ - which is a good reminder for practising patience (when possible).

Restless feet have turned to all the structural stuff that needed doing, topping up wood chip paths, staking existing plants, digging up more Yorkshire stone that’s laid everywhere and anywhere, assuming where once raised beds were around the walled garden.

We’ve also been preparing the potting yard ahead of my workshop being built. We have a team of hard-landscapers out this week laying the block paving and building a low retaining wall so we can fence in the area creating some much needed privacy from our front drive.

I’m really excited about how this space is going to come together and the impact it’ll have with workflow preparing for weddings and events. We’re also looking forward to opening up the space to host workshops and open garden/plant sale days.

In other news i’ve been diligently preparing for all of the weddings, events and miscellaneous jobs we have in the calendar for the year. Catching up with couples and diving into some exciting briefs which i’ll share more about as soon as I have permission to.

Have a lovely week, somewhere warm and dry preferably. Hattie x

The Last Week Before Spring.


It’s mid March and the week before the first days of Spring arrive for 2024. It has been wet, grey and a little uninspiring but as always there has been plenty to do on the homestead. Firstly, we celebrated Mother’s Day once I returned from a work trip. I was kindly gifted from the family three large terracotta planters for the walled garden which it’d been searching high and low for since moving here. The perfect accent to the rose beds which will come into their own next Spring when they are densely planted with bulbs and put on a show.

For the most part, i’ve been breaking my back over the driveway cobbles at the front of the house. They’ve been in need of desperate attention since we bought the property but until now been lower down on the list of priorities. But as we work towards finishing the front with plans for a hardwood front door and the renovation of the potting yard, the time has come. It has so far taken me two days, around 12 hours, to do half. So there’s another week yet of bent back getting it finished, then we’ll get the wet sand in to suppress any future weeds. It’ll need yearly maintenance to keep on top of any weeds creeping back, but it should eventually ease off and mostly self sustain.

I managed to source three sliding sash windows second hand we collected earlier in the week that’ll be handed over to Boland & Rayson to install into the workshop they’re building us this Spring once the potting yard has been hard landscaped.

Today it’s Friday and i’ve returned to flowers for a delivery in the morning which is a welcome break from it all.

Have a wonderful weekend x

Working with the seasons: Understanding Flower Seasonality.

Flower seasonality is a topic which naturally comes up a lot in conversation with our clients and couples.

With Pinterest and Instagram at our fingertips as a resource for floral inspiration, it’s important to manage expectations and champion the seasons with a clear understanding of what’s in bloom around the month of your event date.

Below we’ve curated a visual guide to the British flower season. From spring to high summer, we’ve got you covered…

Spring Flowers
March - May

 

Early Summer Flowers
June - Mid July

 

High Summer Flowers
Mid July - September

As a sustainable floral design studio, we encourage anyone to always consider a fair season event if they can. Between March - September we have great availability within the UK for flowers, lowering our carbon footprint whilst supporting healthy and transparent supply chains and encouraging local economic growth.

However, if you’re planning a wedding out of season (October - February) fear not, we are here to help! Whether that’s for a festive occasion or a late winter ceremony, we are able to mindfully request imported floral options to fulfil your brief.

If you have any questions, email us: hello@honourfarmflowers.co.uk

How to Hire Honour Farm Flowers for your Wedding or Event: 6 Helpful Steps From Start to Finish.

At Honour Farm Flowers we are often asked what the process is when hiring our floral design services for a wedding or event.

Today I thought it’d take you through our 6 helpful steps from start to finish.

Bride holding bouquet by Honour Farm Flowers, floristry. Dress by Sassi Holford.

Photography by Sara Lincoln.

 

1. Booking Enquiry.

The very first step you need to take to hire our services for your wedding or event is to make an initial enquiry. This can be done two ways, either by our booking enquiry form or to email us directly at hello@honourfarmflowers.co.uk . The important points to mention in your initial enquiry is the date of your event, the location and a general overview what you have planned for the day. The more information you provide, the clearer the picture we’ll have of what role we can play in bringing your vision to life. We will then diligently read through your enquiry and aim to respond within 1-3 days.

2. Estimate & Mood Board.

By now we’ll have exchanged a couple of emails or perhaps spoken on the phone. We’ll have discussed the number of bridesmaids you might plan on having to the types of tables you’re hiring and a *‘colour story’ for the day. At this point we take all this information into account and pull together a detailed estimate of each asset requested, formulated together to give you a full breakdown on cost.

Depending on the budget, you may also receive a mood board. We create mood boards for all of our bespoke wedding and event bookings, helping you visualise the outcome of your floral install. We often also provide digital sketches to illustrate specific scenes and potential outcomes.

3. Final Estimate & Booking Deposit.

Ok, so you’ve now had time to review your initial estimate. You’ve decided you want to go straight ahead to booking (fantastic) or maybe tweak things by removing a gift bouquet but wanting to add more buttonholes perhaps. In which case we will revise costs and send out the final estimate for your approval.

Given that everything is as it should be, you’ll then confirm you’d like to go ahead! Brilliant, we can now move forward and confirm your booking into our calendar. To do this, we will then send out your Booking Deposit Invoice, the cost of which is always broken down in your estimate beforehand and can vary depending on the cost of the job. Once paid, you’re all booked in and your date is officially formalised in our diary. We will be feeling as equally excited as you!

Booking Deposit Invoices are required to be paid within 7 days of issue. As a general rule we do not hold weekend dates (Fri-Mon) for longer than 14 days for high season (April - September) as there is much demand for these dates.

4. Final Changes.

Final changes can be made no later than 14 days prior to your event. There is usually no need to make any changes, but more often than not our couples will need to add in an asset they haven’t considered or as the planning process has progressed something new is needed. Usually that will be ‘Thank You’ gift bouquets, buttonholes, bridesmaid bouquets or a table arrangement or two. You might even have decided you want to add a pop of colour to the floralscape or tone down your colour story, but whatever your needs are we’re here to help and advise.

5. Final Invoice.

Your booking deposit will be deducted from the final invoice and will be issued for payment. Your final invoice will be due for payment no later than 14 days prior to your event, this is to ensure we have received the finances needed to execute your order. We usually send out final invoices 2-4 weeks prior to your event, so you have plenty of time to settle the payment.

6. Installing & De-rigging.

The big day has arrived and within the past fortnight we’ll have finalised with you the timings for delivery/installation. If your venue location isn’t local, we may have even arrived the day prior to your event to get a head start with our team. Whatever the logistics, we’ll be there on-time to install your stunning floral arrangements, ready to be admired and enjoyed by yourself and your guests. We’ll hand over carefully hand-tied bouquets and leave stems perfectly poised in their vessels, placed thoughtfully in situ.

If prior agreed we will then return the following/nominal day, to de-rig and collect all of our vessels and staging hired. This is often the case for location weddings or for larger installs. You may not require this service and wish to return any hired items to us directly, returning everything back to our workshop, which is absolutely fine. Damage charges will be issued for any breakages to our property made during the hire period.

Whether your needs are large or small, we pride ourselves on being down to earth and approachable.

Our diary for 2025 is now open! We look forward to hearing from you soon. Follow our Instagram for regular updates.

Bridesmaids holding bouquets made by Honour Farm Flowers.

Photography by Sara Lincoln.

*A colour story is a term we use a lot at Honour Farm to describe a colour theme, as our colour themes for an event are usually made up of a complex combination of seasonal flowers to create a tonal effect.

A New Year Of Flowers and Land Plans.

The new year is here, in-fact as I type it’s the 6th of February. Already time is flying as we gallop towards a busy Spring here at Honour Farm. Whilst we’re still only cultivating from our family walled garden, plans are in motion to finally get a move on with work out on the field, ever working towards the goal of growing our first flowers from there in 2025.

Two valais sheep at Honour Farm Flowers West Yorkshire.
Two valais sheep at Honour Farm Flowers West Yorkshire.

For this to happen, we first need to get a handle on our unruly parcel of land. We are unfortunately entirely at the mercy of the deer population here, therefore we’ve been unable to start any cultivation in the field so far. Along with the mountain of work we’ve carried out on the house and walled garden we've admittedly not had the physical or financial capacity either. If you follow along on Instagram you’ll have seen we’ve recently introduced two assistants to lend a hand, Penny and Soane, our beautiful Ryeland x Valais sheep! They are already diligently grazing away, helping us to maintain the grass ahead of the deer fence being erected later in the year.

But this is year 2 at Honour Farm and things already feel to have kicked off much further forward than this time last year. Firstly, now we live on site in our half finished house making land work much more accessible and sustainable to fit in.

Secondly, our son Magnus, who is now 3 can you believe, has just started a nursery/preschool. So for the first time in years I have the space and time to really crack on with the land project. This was always the plan, to increase work flow gradually until he eventually reached the stage of starting primary school (Sept 2025). So, we’re on track guys and this new stage of development is unfolding nicely.

Before Christmas I planted a further 25 or so bare root roses, expanding our collection of scented garden roses. More shrubs have gone in the ground around the walled garden and I’ve got my work cut out to finish the deep back boarder in time for our guests this summer.

Winter walled garden at Honour Farm Flowers, Yorkshire.
Carrying a wheelbarrow down the field at Honour Farm Flowers in Yorkshire.
Two valais sheep at Honour Farm Flowers West Yorkshire.

We’ve got a box of 60 alder bare root trees I keep staring at (trained for hedging) that need going in to the ground to start creating the framework for the flower field. In good time providing some wind defence and a natural screen from the graveyard. I’ve recently split over 200 dahlia tubers and put back into storage, prepped for planting late Spring and seed sowing is now well under way.

Our most exciting news is that we’re hoping to get a garden workshop built and in situ by the end of April! Finally a place designated for preparing our flowers for weddings. This is what i’ve been dreaming about since moving here and with a very busy event season a head we’ve decided to make this a priority. In between events this space will serve as a space to welcome couples to discuss flowers, as well as host our small, group workshops. You can find out more about what workshops we have available this year here.

As the months continue to progress, i’ll make sure to swing by here and give regular updates. My camera is permanently at hand as shoots emerge and the years cycle progresses which I can wait to share with you.

Hattie x

Autumn Harvesting.

This week we experienced some high winds and rain up in Laycock village which resulted in plenty of flattened plants, signalling the end of a very productive first season in the walled garden.

But between the storms and clouds there have been some spectacular Autumnal days filled with sunshine and birdsong. Just enough time to get out and cut whats left to dry, ready for sustainable floral design meadow scenes next year.

Mid August Dahlia Abundance.

August has arrived since I last updated and the garden has truly come to life, full of dahlia abundance. After weeks of rain, the sun has arrived and pollinators are working hard everywhere I turn.

Cut flower garden in Yorkshire, honour farm flowers, growing dahlias.

Biodiversity surrounds us, there is nothing more grounding than immersing yourself in all that activity. Cutting only what I need and allowing the dahlias to go over, opening from picture perfect pom-poms to pollen full resting points for the bees. The succession of foxgloves I planted continue to open and offer more vital opportunities for pollen extraction.

Cosmos flowers and Antirrihium flowers in cut flower garden at honour farm flowers west yorkshire, wedding flowers.

The first bed of dahlias is constantly busting out more blooms, i’ve probably cut 100+ stems in the past fortnight and after a busy weekend I return again to a sea of floating flower heads waiting to be enjoyed.

Cut flower garden in Yorkshire, honour farm flowers, growing dahlias.

My sweetpeas have really put on some growth with all that rain and after a slow start in June, have really become quite prolific. I lost my first batch of sweetpeas in late winter to the frosts but that has certainly not spoiled our harvest this year.

Cut flower garden in Yorkshire, honour farm flowers, growing dahlias.

The feverfew is lush, buds open, fluffy and full. Already has it been cut for a few weddings this past fortnight and still plenty to go, in my opinion, the perfect filler I couldn’t be without.

The best is yet to come and we still have over 4 beds of dahlias yet to come into flower, what a triumphant way to end the growing season.

As the garden continues to inspire me i’ve started working on a programme of workshops for 2024, from an introduction to successful seed sowing to honing in your sustainable floristry techniques. I’ll keep you posted here on where and how you can book your place and I so can’t wait to see you there! x