Our History
1989
The Simpson family have worked on the land for generations. Peter’s father was a farm manager and, after his retirement, he and Peter’s mother grew flowers for the Covent Garden market for many years.
After he left school in 1972 Peter went to work for a local tree nursery. He supplemented his income by growing flowers on his employer’s land and later started his own small production of fruit and ornamental trees which he sold on local markets and to other nurseries.
As production increased Peter’s employer allowed him to work reduced hours and devote more time to his fledgling business. His wife, Sandra, continued to work full time and help with the business outside of office hours.
The retail centre started in a very small way in the early 90’s on the back garden of Peter’s parents’ home in Station Road, Fordham with an ‘Honesty Box’ as the till! In 1993 Peter and his family, including the latest addition Nicholas, moved to 42 Station Road and the Garden Centre has continued to develop since then.
Production has grown to include shrubs and other nursery stock as well as an increased range of fruit, ornamental and forestry trees. The nursery continues to supply trees and shrubs to many independent Garden Centres, nurseries and mail order companies countrywide as well as keeping its own site fully stocked. The plants we don’t produce ourselves are sourced as much as possible from growers in East Anglia, while Peter and Michael make annual visits to Europe to find more unusual plants.
2005
2013
In November every year Peter and manager Clinton visit Co Wicklow in Ireland and individually tag the Nordman and Noble Fir Christmas trees which are sold on the Garden Centre along with our own home produced fir trees.
In recent years a canopied area has been constructed to protect our plants and customers from the unpredictable British weather. We also now have our own Coffee Shop which is well worth a visit for breakfast, lunch or a tasty snack. The comfortable inside and outside seating areas provide a great space to meet friends for a leisurely coffee.
The most recent addition has been a covered sales area for essential horticultural sundries including tools, chemicals, bird care and gifts.
The whole family remain fully involved in the business and an exciting development has been Michael’s mail order company – www.mailordertrees.co.uk
Many of our staff have been with us from the early and we count ourselves very fortunate to be surrounded by such a skilled and committed workforce.
