SINCE 1854
Hello, I'm Marion. I’d like to welcome you on behalf of the family. We are a Farm & Flower Shop nestled here in the Surrey Hills, where my family have lived for generations. The Farm Shop has been here since 1971 (for most of my life). I grew up as a little girl playing real life shop! I've always loved it and have shared my Mum and Dad’s for selling British produce. Since I became a partner in the business in 2003, things have grown and grown. Our shop has come of age in a time where food miles and ethical eating are priorities for both us and our customers.
Our team is serious about keeping our Farm Shop authentic, by packing its shelves with traditional farm produce. Since 1999, when Mum and Dad took the brave decision to downsize our watercress operation and expand our shop, we have grown a distinctive product range - selected to express our philosophy and ethical precepts. The shop has become a destination shop for our valued customers, who seek independently produced and sourced food from an independent Farm Shop.
The Flower Shop has seen the return of flowers and floristry to the business - we once grew blooms for the for the open market in hot houses. Now we work with local flower farms and support the national flower market, seeking the best British flowers we can find.
BARRIE ARMINSON
My dad is the most senior member of the team. He grew up playing in the watercress beds, travelling round in trucks with his Father between across the South East.
As a boy he learnt everyone had jobs to do, he would handle the watercress seed while his sister Celia stencilled the company name on watercress boxes and his brother, Duncan, studiously worked in the greenhouses. His Father managed the Coe’s empire and his Mother did the wages. Steam trains hauled carriages full of watercress from Gomshall to London and the majority of the farm’s workers lived in tide cottages around the village. A way of life that now seems like a page from the history books.
Now in his 80’s, his long life has led him from the Young Farmers to a part-time retirement.
MARION MCBURNEY
From the time of the shop’s expansion plans back in 1998, I've been called on to help with every aspect of the business. My illustration career slowly took a back seat as I gave more time to parent’s big project. Part-time became full-time, which five years later became a partnership. Now, twenty years later, I'm the principal partner of a healthy family business, employing as many if not more folk than we did last century.
It is hard work and the hours very long, but I feel happy, fulfilled and lucky with this life. I can’t believe we have made it through the years with so many hard times. When I’m called on to help harvest the watercress, I find it incredible to think that my Grandmother’s great great Grandfather was doing the same thing over a century and a half ago.
Moving the business forward, changing with the times, while always trying new things (and improving on what we do) is how I’ve learnt to run things. Working as team is how we have always managed to do things with success. Much of the team are friends and family (as are the customers). Many live within walking distance from the shop. In my experience it actually takes not just a family but a community to raise a family business.
The future looks good, there is still great scope to improve on what we do in both shops. Being a Farm & Flower Shop growing and selling goods to folk in the Surrey Hills, is still the plan for this century.
MARGARET ARMINSON
Barrie was Margaret’s centrepiece in life, they stood shoulder to shoulder with each other, excepting shared duties and predestined roles with dedication and enthusiasm. They had a strong shared culture together and a large collection of loving friends to share that with too. That community was an extension of a marriage full of children, parents, animals and work, all under one roof.
Margaret was the cherished only child to older than average parents, surrounded by beloved cattle, chickens, ducks, geese and the dog. She worked hard, loved her mum and dad, she loved her Dad’s tractor, the animals and she loved everything about her world. This was my mothers archetype for life, putting her all in, helping out old dad, enjoying life working for the family.
Sadly our Queen Bee Margaret died on 9th July 2018. The family were overwhelmed when over 400 people attended her memorial service, which was a testament to her wide reaching kindness, warmth and always putting others before herself. There’s not a day goes past without a mention of Margaret by one of us.
1953 - A LETTER TO UNCLE FRANK & AUNT MARY
Late November in the coronation year of 1953 Mum sat down to write to her Aunt & Uncle who had moved to New Zealand. Here aged 11, she gives us a glimpse of the idyllic childhood she knew, a story book life on a farm high in the Surrey Hills, all snug at night in a farmhouse with a pond outside the back door.
