The Gallery

Im starting my Instagram introductions about our shop. Here are a few people that work for me flowers wise. Firstly Mary- she is a retired florist (amongst other jobs) and used to work at Kerrs in town years ago, she also lives very near the shop and when she passes the shop always waves or pops in to check what’s coming up . She is great at wiring, sweeping up, good company, loves a challenge, very particular, takes lots of photos and loves a trip out to the various venues we go to! Mary keeps saying she’s going to retire but admits she enjoys the work so much she hasn’t! You’ll know Mary when she’s with me as she always wearing her trademark jumpers.
Next up is India, whose my sister , she has a full time job with the National Trust and helps deliver wedding flowers on Saturdays , despite not being a florist she has plenty of floral and wedding knowledge that she can use when carrying out the very important job of delivering wedding flowers. She also has a new puppy called Margo !
Then there’s Len , who delivers bouquets , he’s a friend and customer whose led the most interesting life working all over the world and at the moment is our delivery driver.
Others that I haven’t pictures of are Laura A who helps out with wedding deliveries when needed she is also a yoga teacher and works for Dalefoot Composts! ...

After a long and difficult few weeks and the knowledge I won’t be producing many flowers for the next few months, I think I’m going to do something on here to introduce you all to the people, customers and suppliers that contribute to our business - something I’ve wanted to do for ages but haven’t got round to!
Watch this space Laura and Lee ...

***UPDATE* following Boris announcement tonight we will have to close for the foreseeable future- it’s very sad in a few days when I’ve gathered my thoughts I’ll try and post some positive content and get on with all jobs we’ve being meaning to do, we may also sleep tonight for the first time in a couple of weeks as we now have an idea what’s happening, we are also thinking of all the other business’ that are feeling like we are and I will try and find something positive to occupy our time 😢 Our shop and those on the row - we are @greenwheat , Martins antiques next door , then @thetoffeeshoppenrith and @hearthandhomecumbria (photo from Neil at Toffee Shop). Thanks for all the support and kind words from everyone in the past week, there’s going to be so much to look forward to when this is over
Laura and Lee ...

Our opening hours (for a long as we are able to remain open) are 10:30am- 2pm. If you would like to order food or flowers the shop number is 01768 744240.
Please social distance and sanitise your hand when entering the shop , we will also try rearranging things to avoid anyone being too near each other.
Also flowers are available for collection or we will deliver while we can, but there is a more limited selection so please bare with me in that one. We will update you should things change- also brides that have emailed over the weekend I’ll be catching up tomorrow afternoon and evening- thank you xxx ...

Good morning- just a little update on Mother’s Day this week- the flowers have all arrived and we are good to go, as usual we are delivering locally all over the weekend starting right now! I am full to the brim with beautiful flowers as unfortunately the wedding I had for this weekend has had postponed after the order was placed so there’s lots of gorgeous blooms available for you, that it would break my heart to see go to waste - so I think they’ll be a good deal on some David Austin roses!
Aside from that there’s lots of British grown Smith and Munson tulips- they look gorgeous.
I would also like to say how hard it’s being to get everything here for all my wholesalers (thank you @the_flower_bank @wimvanbohemenflowerexport and Railton Plants) and like us florists they are probably putting a brave face on it all but probably feel like having a good cry .
Well I’m of yours prep these lovely flowers so thank you xlaura ...

When visiting the shop we have sanitizer and hand washing facilities please do use them.
UPDATE*** all customers that are eating in are requested to wash their hands, those that are taking away or browsing sanitise please.
We are regularly sanitising hard surfaces in the shop.
When I’m out and about delivering hand washing is my priority between venues.
If you have any concerns regarding your wedding do contact me , at the moment it’s very much business as usual . If things change or certain items become unavailable I will let you know and if you have a change in guest number please let me know as soon as you can if I need to alter orders.
Many thanks Laura and Lee ...

Getting these lovely roses ready for today’s wedding fair @lodorefallsweddings 12-4- see you there Laura and Bill ...

Today is World Book Day #worldbookday , and thankfully Bill is still happy to dress up! In the past we’ve done Wainwright and Wordsworth - well today it’s The Herdy Shepherd @herdyshepherd1 - we hope he doesn’t mind Bills impersonation of him as we have most of the gear apart from a real Floss! #worldbookday2020
#lakedistrict #cumbria #edenvalley #farming @ullswatercc ...

For today’s #marchmeetthemaker I’m covering two topics as I missed yesterday’s - they are ‘time’ and ‘branding’. Time is such a broad subject and I wasn’t sure what to choose to talk about it- so I’ll say a bit about how my times spent.., I’d like to spend most of my time doing flowers , but I probably spend a good half of 6 day week doing paperwork (quotes, emails, invoices and ordering), conditioning and prepping flowers and foliage’s (around 1/2 to an hour most days), meetings (for weddings, funerals and other stuff) a few hours a week, the rest of the time is spent doing the fun bit - the flowers and setting up and tidying up after weddings and events.
The picture is of the current shop logo- it was designed by @rwbranddesigner after we fancied a change, my previous logo was designed by Barry and was great - but it was time for a change. These things do take quite a bit of sorting out - getting the right font and the colours too, the gold letting is just on the window as the metallic stands out well from across the road, we had trouble making the blue stand out when the sun shines until @jill.liley.lettering coloured behind it in white when she was doing her lovely drawings on the window and now it stands out!
Lee has a slightly different logo for the food side of the business. The next job is to get the front of the shop painted so it goes better with the logo and signboard and the other shops on our row! This lovely photo was taken by @peter.photo_cumbria when he borrowed the shop on Sunday for a photo shoot! ...

It’s #marchmeetthemaker month. I’ll start the month with one on here then continue on Insta stories.
I’m Laura - aged 39 (still think I’m 18, then realise that was a long time ago!). I’m a florist and run a florists , cafe and pop up restaurant in Penrith with my husband Lee- we have 2 boys and live in town near the shop. When I was a child I used to pick flowers from the garden at Meaburn Hill for the guest rooms (Mam did B and B) , my floral interests lay hidden for years until I went to college in Shropshire to do countryside management , but I fancied a night class too - so went to Rodbaston to do Flower Arranging - I enjoyed it so much! , When I left I started a floristry course at Newton Rigg- courses were quite different then - I got in quite a bit of trouble for putting garden flowers in an assessment piece ( that would be encouraged now!) and have always foraged for foliage before it was fashionable - I haven’t as much time to now! I also worked between the Appleby Flower Basket and Kirkby Stephen Veg Shop ( I loved delivering the veg and know the roads of Kirkby Stephen well) , we bought a house in Penrith so I went to work at Aldi (efficiency and productivity are still important !) for the next 9 years while doing wedding flowers . The shop on Brunswick Road was empty so we gave ourselves a week then set off- that was 6 years ago. So now along with weddings I do hotel flowers, photo shoots , business and brand flowers , funerals, gift bouquets and when I’ve time I love doing classes and demonstrations and travelling around in Cumbria and further afield ! #meetthemaker #meetthemakermarch ...

New shop wallpaper- I bought this several years ago - it was £10 roll - what a bargain I’m hoping there’s enough left to finish the front hall at home as I can’t get any more! ...

It’s Shrove Tuesday / Pancake Day... the batter is made, the pan is warming and the fillings here! Available to eat in or take away.... ...

We have being clearing out our books at home... they are in the shop now... with donations to our shop charity boxes - Eden Animal Rescue and Penrith Mountain Rescue. ...

Our brilliant local newspaper is in receivership ☹️. They have being sharing the news and stories of those in Penrith, the Eden Valley and Fellside for over a 100 years- in Penrith we hope a solution or suitable buyer can be find. If you’d like to write a letter of support it’s letters@cwherald.com or drop one into the office on King Street. ...