Back in February I received an email: 'would any members of Flowers from the Farm be interested in putting on a display at RHS Hampton Court Flower Show?' and so, in the spirit of saying YES, off I went to meet 5 fellow members of FftF at the RHS Spring Show in London, along with Dave Green who runs Hampton Court Flower Show. The RHS were very interested in our efforts to promote British-grown, cut flowers, and we were invited to have a stand in the Rose and Floristry Marquee, 3m square with a theme of 'Circus'.

We quickly shared out the various roles with Emily Rae - Plants for Presents - in overall charge, Martin Beker - Martin and the Magpie - designing the stand, Fiona Hesketh - Purple Daisy Flowers - would make a rota of attendants, Shiela Hume - Blue Hen Flowers - and Cel Robertson - Forever Green Flower Co - would cover press releases, and I would collate the flowers from the various members of FftF who had expressed an interest in being involved.

I received promises of flowers - which at that stage were probably still seeds in a packet - from optimistic flower growers all round the country. Martin worked out a design and calculated how many flowers we would need. A chance conversation led me to Jo Hammond of Twigweave Willow who very generously took on the challenge of creating a willow horse. Meanwhile Julie Clark of Hillcrest Nurseries offered the services of her husband David and his jigsaw to create the beautiful Romany wagon.

Very many emails later.... we arrived at the Hampton Court site last Sunday to bring the plans to life. Some, but not all, of us got to meet each other in person at last. Flowers were delivered in a continuous flow during the week to allow for the heat inside the marquee. We had an amazingly enthusiastic response from the organisers and the public.... there is already talk of 2015.