Living: Mother’s Day & Local Flowers

“Florals? For Spring? Groundbreaking!” 

But that’s because it works!  Mother’s Day, the first day of Spring, and beautifully bright spring bulbs really do go brilliantly together, especially when accompanied by a bottle of light and fruity Filey Bay Flagship… 

We love flowers here at the distillery, brewery and on the farm – something we hope you’ve noticed if you’ve been for lunch or a tour, or just bobbed in to pick something up.

Our late Director Gill was a horticulturist and created an incredible garden from nothing at Hunmanby Grange (the farm), as well as designing many gardens locally too. She brought a love of all things floral and botanic to Kate and me (her two daughters) and so I wanted to come out behind the ‘fourth wall’ of social media today to talk about flowers and Mother’s Day.

Nothing makes me happier than someone telling me they have a-this or a-that plant on her recommendation, and that they think of her whenever they look at it. She was my personal plant wiki – I’d send a picture to her of a plant and immediately get a response back with its common name, latin name and an interesting fact too. 

Mum and Rebecca (Thompson, one of our Directors) together devised and planted the beautiful landscaping at the distillery too, with year round colour and interest, which was always so important to her when it came to garden design. They had great fun one summer planting the Filey Bay and Spirit of Yorkshire Dahlias in old casks by the main door, named and bred just for us by customer Bob Hendley. 

Mum was passionate about supporting local industries, especially those doing things from scratch. So for this coming Mother’s Day, if you’re looking to send some blooms (alongside your bottle of Filey Bay or Cream Liqueur of course!) then please do look and think local first. 

Over the next week or so we’ll be doing some posts highlighting some great Yorkshire (and further afield) florists, nurseries and garden centres, where you can get something to dazzle the mum-figure in your life, as well as often picking up a bottle of Filey Bay.  

And if it’s a difficult day for you, know that we’ll be raising a dram with you too. 

In good spirit,

Jenni 

Xx

Gill Mellor on the farm (late 80s) with her dog Jesse