The present nursery was developed on a bare site, starting in 2002. Some pictures showing our history are shown below.
August 24th 2002
It doesn't look much like a nursery...
August 31st 2002
...So we called in the heavy squad
September 1st 2002
The tangle of weeds is cleared and the new road is excavated
October 27th 2002
The potting shed and tunnels are all in place
March 16th 2003
Everything has been moved from the old nursery
March 16th 2003
A wholesale order being prepared for dispatch
March 16th 2003
Still watering manually, but the automatic system is nearly ready
June 2003
The official opening in June 2003. Gordon Craig declares the nursery open; Nicky Ross cuts the tape (with scissors, having failed with shears); Euan Millar parades with his pipes; a new use for a poly tunnel.
August 2003
Jane, the new propagator, gets things organised.
August 2005
In the winter of 2004-2005 a new area was developed.
August 2005
By the summer of 2005 it is nearly full.
In 2007 we were granted permission for development of the nursery site in three ways.
The potting shed was extended by 7 metres towards the river, in the same style and with the same lines as the existing shed. It provides space for packing orders, separate from the potting area, and allows staff to meet away from the busy office. There is also a small room used mainly for design work.
A new entrance was constructed, avoiding the original tortuous route through the riding stables, and therefore much safer. The route is partly along the line of the old railway to Polton, and the track is being screened by new plantings of trees. The trees planted when the nursery first moved to the site have grown well, and provide an attractive and effective screen when viewed from Polton. The aerial view in the picture shows the bare site a few years before we moved in, and the approximate locations of the new evelopments are marked.
Permission was also given for new polytunnels, continuing the existing row along the river, where they will be screened from Polton Road by the mature trees. Only two of these tunnels were constructed in the following few years, and how many we will actually need to acquire is not known, but meanwhile we have planted more trees, so that they will have minimal impact.
In 2012 we built an extra shed, to provide space for more potting and a workshop.