From HR to horticulture and the beauty in flowers, Debbie Richards set up Nature’s Posy back in 2019 just south of Cambridge. The farm is dedicated to beautiful British flowers and the aim, to supply local flowers to the people in Cambridge, massively reducing the carbon footprint of flowers.
Debbie swapped the suit and heels from her corporate career in HR to jeans and wellies last year to set up Nature’s Posy. The 1/2 acre farm in Ickleton has been created to help keep beautiful bouquets local and reducing the need for intensively grown and shipped flowers. She is one of the many growing number artisan flower farmers producing seasonal flowers for the local market.
There is a wide mix of seasonal flowers, many from seed, which are grown in a sustainable and low impact way. There are no chemical pesticides or weed killers used on the farm so you can tell a lot of heart and soul is put into the ground to improve soil health and the land. Debbie is part of the Flowers from The Farm network which is a group of 750+ farmers and is a constant source of information and support to keep the trade roaring.
“Flower farming is not for the faint-hearted. If you think it involves skipping through a field with a basket of flowers, your hair flowing behind you think again! I spend most of my time on my hands and knees, digging, weeding and planting, and am invariably covered in dirt! I work long hours, in all weathers. But I love it!”
Nature’s Posy supplies bouquets and posies to order as well as mixed buckets of foliage and flowers for those who enjoy arranging their own including supplying the trade florists.
“Now more than ever I think that we need to connect with nature, learn to love what we have and appreciate the passing seasons. Embracing seasonal, local flowers means we can do just this.”
