Out of the Fire & into the Flowers, My Story….Part 1.

Some might wonder why I grow flowers, and to be honest if you’d have told me ten or even five years ago that I would be the owner of a small flower farm in Carisbrooke & creating beautiful floristry I would have never believed you. So why? And how did I get here?

I have always been a creative, spending many hours drawing, colouring in & making things as a child & I did well through school in the Art & Design subjects with every intention of becoming an Architect. I’ve always loved buildings & the tactile nature of sculpture. However, I also loved being outside, I grew up living next to the local forest & spent many hours playing in the trees. I loved sport & my teenage years were spent running, swimming, cycling, leading to competing in triathlon, back then, it was a relatively new sport. This lead me to wanting to pursue a career in something active. The fire service seemed to fit the bill.

The Creative Firefighter.

Waiting for a Chinook to arrive whilst on an inter agency exercise. A fantastic experience, its not often you get taken for a fly in one of those.

Unfortunately being 5ft 4in, certain entry requirements required you to complete tasks which I couldn’t do due to my height. This eventually changed & after 5 years in the Royal Mail, the UK fire service dropped the required height for firefighters and I was able to apply. I joined the Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue service as a retained firefighter in 2001. I quickly realised I wanted to make this my long term career & promptly joined the whole time crews, on Red Watch at Newport Fire Station, 18 months later.

Skip forward to 2018, 2 children, 2 ironman triathlons, 2 house renovations, a small candy floss business & various pets later, I found myself burnt out. I was working full time, & training hard at a Crossfit gym where I had also become a coach helping others achieve their fitness goals. In the summer of 2018, I completed a cross Solent swim, competed in a local strongman competition and another weekend long team fitness competition. That same summer I also attended a sad incident with the Fire Service that I really took to heart.

Ironman Nice 2014, my first Ironman Triathlon. 3800m Swim,112 mile Bike, 26.2 mile Run. 13hr 6mins.

I was forced to take a break, my body said enough & I crashed. For the first time I experienced extreme anxiety & agoraphobia. My partner Ant(now husband) was great and gave me the time to recover. The only thing I was drawn to was creativity - I started drawing again after nearly 26 years! I drew, painted, taught myself macrame, & took up pottery. I also baked - I made fondant covered cakes with handmade models & various other styles for all occasions. I couldn’t get enough, I was an arts & crafts addict! Then COVID hit…

Watch out for part 2 coming soon!