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Spalding features on BBC One Countryfile shaping the future of blooming flower and farming industry




A popular television programme has featured how our area is shaping the future of the flower and farming industry.

Countryfile aired on BBC One on Sunday night with a segment of the show focused on Spalding.

Presenters Joe Crowley and Charlotte Smith explored how it has been a tough year for British flower farmers and how the industry in Lincolnshire is blooming.

Countryfile presenters Charlotte Smith and Joe Crowley visited Spalding
Countryfile presenters Charlotte Smith and Joe Crowley visited Spalding

James Lacey, L and D Flowers , is a fourth generation farmer in Spalding and featured on Countryfile with his mum Judith, who supply sunflowers and sweet Williams to three major supermarket chains.

Mr Lacey told the programme: “Spalding is the hub for flowers in the UK and that’s not going to change.”

Since his parents started the indoor business originally it is now 20 times bigger in its operations with a turnover of 4.5 million a year.

James Lacey and mum Judith on Countryfile
James Lacey and mum Judith on Countryfile

He said: “The secret is the soil which is very light and full of organic matter, it is reclaimed from the sea and has very good silt.”

Mr Lacey has introduced technology as a main asset to the success of the business with a bespoke harvester which cost £300,000 and the business represents the future for the flower trade in Spalding.

Matt Naylor has a farm in the area which is one the of the largest growers of cut flowers in Lincolnshire.

James Lacey and presenter Charlotte Smith on Countryfile
James Lacey and presenter Charlotte Smith on Countryfile

The family farmers produce 100 million stems per year and employ 200 people with their heritage going back to the 1600s.

Speaking to Countryfile Mr Naylor said: “Spalding’s got a rich heritage of cut flower growing and it’s become a real hub.

“It’s been part of our identity with events like the Spalding flower parade which I remember from my youth which celebrates this part of our history.

Matt Naylor on Countryfile
Matt Naylor on Countryfile

“The soil is perfectly suited and we have ended up with a lot of employers here who specialise in packaging and distributing flowers and it has become a real hub.

“The whole cut flower market changed when supermarkets got involved and started importing flowers.

“A bunch of flowers is, for most people, not too expensive an indulgence.

Hannah Benson and presenter Joe Crowley on Countryfile
Hannah Benson and presenter Joe Crowley on Countryfile

“So we are fairly optimistic that the next few years might see an increasing demand creating things that improve the local area and creating more employment.”

Hannah Benson is a young grower who created her business Hannah’s Flowers from scratch in 2015.

She is a first generation flower producer and aims to profit from her blooming business when she sells her handpicked blooms of sweet Williams and cornflowers at Spalding’s traditional flower auction.

Hannah Benson and presenter Joe Crowley on Countryfile at Spalding flower auction
Hannah Benson and presenter Joe Crowley on Countryfile at Spalding flower auction

Ms Benson told the programme: “I started at college in horticulture and really had no idea but I found what worked.

“Since Covid people seem keen to support smaller businesses, I think it is encouraging them more to buy British Flowers.”

She sells three times a week at Spalding Auction, the largest horticultural auction in the UK with up to 16,000 plants a day going under the hammer.

Nicholas Watts MBE farms sunflowers which are farmed solely for bird seed at Vine House Farm, Deeping St Nicholas, Spalding
Nicholas Watts MBE farms sunflowers which are farmed solely for bird seed at Vine House Farm, Deeping St Nicholas, Spalding

Nicholas Watts at Vine House Farm in Deeping St Nicholas also featured on the programme with its aim to reverse the decline in wildlife.

The family farm 3,500 acres whose flowers are farmed strictly for birdseed for wildlife with Mr Watts’ daughter, a fifth generation farmer, Lucy Taylor overseeing operations.

She told the show: “The sunflowers are all for birdseed and the beauty of our sunflowers is that people actually get to see them.”

Lucy Taylor with Joe Crowley on Countryfile
Lucy Taylor with Joe Crowley on Countryfile

The farm produces 2,000 tonnes of birdseed and the ethos is very much wildlife centred with a percentage of every sale donated to the Wildlife Trust.

Mr Watts, who received an MBE in 2006 for his services to farming and conservation, chanced upon his business of farming for birdseed and he said: “I realised we had birds feeding on the scraps left by the cattle.

“We had 800 buntings and finches and had an open day for people to come and see this spectacle and two or three people asked if I could sell them any birdseed.”

The farm has introduced turtledoves whose numbers have declined with 25 million killed for sport and suffering from intensive agriculture.

Some of these are now starting a brood and are being aimed for release this summer and people will be pleased to see them again in the local area.

Mr Watts, who has appeared on A Year in the Fens and Countryfile in the past, said: “I think the programme is good for the district.

“It is up to everybody to do their bit to stop wildlife declining.”



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