Mother-of-four turns passion for flowers into business venture

Emma Harber, 28, recently studied floristry at Shrewsbury College but from an early age loved flowers.

Now Emma, who trades under the name of Meadow Florist and Market Garden, has set up a pop-up shop which is open on Saturdays at Dorrington Village Hall between 10am and 1pm.

Emma said: "I have a photograph of me as a young girl carrying armfuls of daffodils in my mother's garden.

"I have trained as a florist and am now doing something that I love.

"I cannot draw so floristry is my art form.

"I love arranging flowers and when I present a bouquet to someone it is fantastic to see the reaction on their face.

"Last year I started growing my own flowers and have an assortment of many different blooms including Snapdragons, Dahlias, Verbena, Sunflowers and Gladioli.

"I also have a passion for seeds and the Summer and Spring in Britain offer a lot of beauty so why not enjoy this on tables and in homes.

"Although I am not against flying blooms in out-of-season and for special occasions, I do feel that while there are wonderful flowers here why not buy and enjoy those that are locally produced.

"I decided to open the pop-up shop during the Jubilee weekend and it proved very popular with me making my first sale within ten seconds.

"It makes sense to use village halls as a sales point as it is cheaper than renting premises and helps attract people to use these buildings.

"The shop will be open every Saturday and eventually I hope to add further days during the summer.

"I have my own style of arranging bouquets which I would describe as natural as I let the flowers do the talking and if they lean one way I go with that and then balance the other side.

"I set up at the start of June as a sole trader and eventually hope to be doing vegetable boxes.

"At the moment I am focussing on the floristry side until my husband, Peter, a train conductor, can help."