Throughout the summer of last year, my brother Robert kept asking me become the new owner of the florist on St Catherine’s Road in Grantham. I thought I couldn’t do it. I nearly convinced myself I couldn’t do it. But my husband Andy thought otherwise. We talked it through and, with his support and encouragement, I eventually took a leap of faith. Terrified, yet hugely excited, on October 1, 2015 I opened the doors of Flowers From Holland for the very first time. Although I had always been a keen flower arranger, a florist (I thought) I was not!
We all need sources of inspiration now and then. Mine has come from a poem by Edgar Albert Guest, called “It couldn’t be done”. This poem hangs on my office wall and, whenever I thought I had bitten off more than I could chew ( and there were plenty of those moments, believe me), I would seek encouragement in its words:
There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure,
There are thousands to point out to you one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing
That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.
So I stopped thinking ‘I can’t’ and started believing ‘I can’’. And you know what? It turned out I could! I took on an existing colleague, Claire, to join me and together we’ve ‘buckled in with a bit of a grin’ and we’ve done it!
We’re now completing our NAFAS (the National Association of Flower Arrangement Society) qualifications, to ensure we always deliver exceptional arrangements, using exceptional flowers.
One year on, every day I’m surrounded by one of my favourite things – flowers. And I’m pleased to say that the business is going from strength to strength. So thank you Robert, thank you Andy, thank you Edgar and thank you Claire. And most of all, thank you to all our amazing, lovely clients. Your support means the world.
To celebrate our 1st birthday, we’re offering FREE DELIVERY throughout October,
We will of course also be celebrating with cake and on the 21st & 22nd we are exhibiting some gorgeous art by a talented, contemporary artist (my cousin) who taught at The Perse School in Cambridge and now lives in France
The Angel & Royal Wedding Fair is on October 23 in Grantham and we’ll be showcasing a wonderful new range of bouquet presentations.
Looking ahead (well it is only weeks away) Claire and I are looking forward to offering you a range of unique and bespoke Christmas wreaths and arrangements.
Catch up soon 😊
Flowers from Holland 