HOMEstead GROWN, South Park, Macclesfield (2025)

10/09/2025

Christmas Wreath Workshops – ‘Found & Foraged’
at The Random Apple Co, Swanscoe, Macclesfield, SK10 5SZ

Thursday 27 November 7 – 9:30 pm
Friday 28 November 7 – 9:30 pm
Sunday 30 November 2 – 4:30 pm
Tuesday 2 December 10 am – 12:30 pm
Thursday 4 December 7 – 9:30 pm

Now that there’s a definite whiff of woodsmoke and autumn in the air, this year’s Christmas wreath workshops don’t seem so far away on the horizon!
Plan some time out before the busyness of Christmas to join me in the gorgeously rustic barn of the Random Apple Co. on the rural edge of Macclesfield for one of our popular festive wreath workshops.
If, like me, sustainable, local and natural is your preference and you like your wreaths a little on the wild side, then this is for you …
What to Expect:
You’ll work with local, responsibly-foraged foliage, dried flowers & seed heads, hedgerow finds, feathers and velvet ribbons to create a beautiful wreath that reflects your style. All tools, materials, and step-by-step guidance are provided. A twinkly barn setting, mulled Random apple juice and home-baked cake will help you settle in and enjoy the creative process.
Who it’s For:
Many people say that this is where their Christmas begins. Usher in the festive season with friends, colleagues, family or come solo – it’s equally ideal for returners or first-timers looking for creative inspiration and help.
Workshops can be gifted as a voucher to a friend or family member, and group bookings can be arranged.

Book Your Place:
£60 per person
These workshops fill up quickly — there are only 12 places per workshop. Last year we sold out by the end of September!

Register your interest through the online form linked below, or by email.
Payment details will then be sent for you to secure your place.
https://www.byhomesteadgrown.com/workshops
Email: [email protected]

02/09/2025

Reflecting today on my favourite flowers from high summer in the garden now that September has appeared out of the blue ... Where to even begin, but here are a few blooms and bouquets that have brought me and their recipients the most joy throughout the long, warm season. Yes there were certainly significant growing challenges and some decent rain will be more welcome than usual, but what abundance and surprise after surprise to reward the hard work.
I'm already busy sowing seeds and ordering gorgeous tulip bulbs for next year, and wedding bookings are trickling in - there's no time to be sad at the end of one season when the next one is already in sight!

19/08/2025

Next Saturday! Come and say hi…👋

14/08/2025

The ultimate honour: to be asked to create a collective tribute from three parts of one family saying their special farewell to a much-loved mum.
The gorgeous bright-pastel summer flowers and the foliage were picked from my garden plot and the nearby flower fields of and some had special significance. If you look closely, I think you'll agree that they are exquisite in colour and design anyway and they were certainly fresh and scented.
The base was made sustainably too (no plastic-based floral foam) with yew, pittosporum, rosemary 'for remembrance' and fragrant, flowering mint.
There is no reason why funeral flowers shouldn't be at least as beautiful and unique as wedding flowers can be. They can be anything that you want them to be and what better than choosing seasonal to honour the seasons of life ...

09/08/2025

There are weekends to remember and then again, there are Weekends To Remember.
I take on a few commissions a year to grow, provide and arrange flowers for a small number of local weddings. But when friends from afar ask if you can arrange the flowers for their daughter’s wedding and the space is as awe-inspiring as Westminster Abbey, then you find a way to make it work!
The brief was an English country garden in pastels, which is one of my very favourites. We carefully packed a huge array of Cheshire-grown flowers from several gardens and a flower farm into every inch of the car and roof box. A handful of the roses were bought in – the rest of the flowers were the best that this British summer has to offer; sustainably grown, freshly harvested, and smelling fantastic, including scented herbs as foliage. I had to drive with the car windows open for many miles before the bees finally all flew out!
It was such a privilege to work away behind the scenes of the Abbey and to be there after visiting hours when a deserted hush replaced the crowds of the daytime.
It’s not often that I get to witness my flowers in action. Usually, I pour my heart and soul into them and then hand them over, so it was extra special to be part of the service – which was nothing short of beautiful – and to see the bride and wedding party wearing and carrying their flowers throughout. The meadow boxes were whisked away from the chancel steps afterwards to decorate the pretty marquee and garden for the rest of the celebrations.
Special thanks goes to the other main sources of really gorgeous flowers which supplemented my own: Abbeywood Estate and Min of Smokebush Floral Design.
The last photo shows some of my special helpers who also need huge thanks, along with other friends and family for every little part they played – a true team effort, and I'm still soaking up the wonderful memories of it all from beginning to end.

22/06/2025

.flowers.week Day 6 and I do hope you might feel inspired to…
- Grow something
- Visit a flower farm
- Choose British and locally grown flowers
- Share the joy that flowers bring!

I’m proud to be a member of the 1,000-strong trade association Flowers From The Farm which champions, supports and networks growers on all scales, the length and breadth of the UK.
Wherever you live, you can find your nearest seasonal flower farmer here: https://www.flowersfromthefarm.co.uk/find-flowers/

Every week can be a British flowers week 😊

21/06/2025

.flowers.week Day 5, and a little bit behind the scenes at HOMEstead GROWN HQ. Specifically, what lurks under the flower arranging?

Well if there's one thing you can be sure of, it won't be oasis / floral foam which contributes needlessly to the global problem of micro-plastic pollution as it crumbles and enters our soil, food chains and watercourses.

Of course when Oasis was the new wonder-product of the 1950s, we didn't know that it would never degrade and that beautiful arrangements would - ironically - be harming the planet.

Now that we know it, there's a choice. The fast-growing movement of sustainable floristry is championing back-to-natural mechanics to support flowers and foliage, like we always used to: moss, chicken wire, branches, flower 'frogs', and new, creative ways.

I give you...
1) My newest £8 vintage acquisition with the brilliant wire device cemented inside to hold flowers in position.
2) A few more vintage charity shop finds to arrange without floral foam - pop chicken wire inside the bigger vases.
3 , 4 & 5) A completely compostable wreath: a vine-stem base on which to bind moisture-retaining moss and British-grown seasonal flowers & foliage with twine. Gentle, 'green' funeral tribute ('farewell') flowers.
6) A natural, compostable, mineral product in compressed blocks called Agra-Wool, although the processes used to make it mean that it's still not completely eco-friendly. So I'm aiming to use it less.
7) Meadow boxes: Pack a box with jam jars, top the lot with chicken wire and let the flowers & foliage do the arranging for you.
8 & 9) The hugest of wedding pedestal arrangements is possible with all stems supported in chicken wire inside the container.
10) We made a structure in plaster in pots with cones tied at intervals to hold water and chicken wire: a 'broken' floral arch to stuff with billowing branches and blooms, no floral foam needed.

It takes more effort and thought, but I love every creative challenge and wouldn't do it any other way.
What do you think?

19/06/2025

.flowers.week Day 4, and you might be wondering what all the fuss is about.

Apart from the sheer sensory beauty of freshly picked flowers, there are so many ways in which seasonally grown British flowers are a fantastic choice. For starters...

- You're supporting a local business and the economy of your community.
- You're reducing the environmental impact of the global flower industry where 90% of flowers bought into the UK for sale are flown in from Africa, South America, Europe...
- You're helping to sustain the UK farming and horticulture industries, which are striving for increasingly sustainable practices.

At HOMEstead GROWN, we grow very intentionally alongside nature, which means taking the 'hits' from the nibbling and digging wildlife with whom we share the garden. But mostly, they're a delight.
It means never resorting to chemical treatments and returning to the earth what came from it wherever we can, to regenerate it.

And that sensory beauty I mentioned? Unbeatable scents, garden-to-vase freshness and longevity, and all from an endless variety of delicate and unusual blooms that just can't be bought on the high street.

Each British-grown stem tells the story of the seasons, of dedicated hands, and of a deep-rooted connection to the earth.

Photos 1-5:

19/06/2025

.flowers.week Day 3. What do I grow?
What I love! Each year, some new varieties, keeping one eye on the trends for new ideas.

Here are a few seasonal highlights:
1. Tulips. My TOP desert island favourites. Absolutely endless choices of shape and colour shading, March to pretty much May. The doubles open like peonies and last for ages in the vase. I'm not so much an orange or red person, but tulips are a different story.

2. Add some buttery scented narcissi and ranunculus - Persian buttercups - in swoon-worthy shades of flamingo, peach and apricot as well as pinks and white. Perfection as they unfold.

3. Early hellebores and snakeshead fritillary (not shown) ... I take the same photos of them every year, just can't stop myself. Great vase life. Exquisite signs that spring's on the way.

4. Wild foxgloves have their own beauty but have you seen the apricot, peach and the white cultivated varieties with deep purple, mottled throats?!

5. Alliums. 250 more this year! First, the bright drumsticks, but with a dozen more varieties, the cutting season spans two months and counting. Some are a bit bonkers like the HUMUNGOUS starbursts (Schubertii) but the white, almost black and the paler mauve ones (Christophii) are something else.

6. Anything lacy and frothy because it adds a delicate quality to any vase or bouquet: ammi, daucus (carrot flower), feverfew, and astrantia which are like little starry pincushions ...

7. The summer stars: peonies, Queen of Sweden rose with her straight, thornless stems, phacelia , stocks... all the scents and pastels.

8. Dahlias. A new bed of 150 additions this year and I. can't. wait. My favourites are always the perfectly formed pompoms .

9. Crysanthamums. Forget plastic-wrapped, garage forecourt sprays. Look out for lots more curvy, spidery beauties on my plot in shades of peach, apricot, gold, bronze this autumn.

10. And pansies, especially the diminutive violas. I press them continually to use in the winter. This stunning colouring is Antique Mulberry Shades.

People, I have only scratched the surface.

17/06/2025

.flowers.week Day 2... and a question I'm often asked is: Where do you grow your flowers for cutting?
The answer is - all over my garden! A dedicated growing plot of raised beds; the borders, wild areas and the grass verges where bulbs can 'naturalise'; in pots, veg crates and troughs; a mini wall-greenhouse and cold-frames, and my new game-changing 8m poly tunnel. Always room to squeeze in more or change the use of an area. Always experimenting to find the right spot for each crop or plant to thrive, and that proves quite a challenge given the amount of perimeter shade and the range of soils. I have as many fails as successes much of the time.
People also say: Your garden must look so colourful. But actually, I grow on a small scale compared to some and the minute something lovely makes an appearance, I'm out there with the snips!
I kid myself that I buy plants to make a beautiful herbaceous border to look at from the house but guess what - nowhere's off-limits when it comes to cutting the perfectly blooming stem for your bouquet!

Photos 1,2,3 & 10:
,

16/06/2025

So here we have it, ta daa 🎉 ... the annual British Flowers Week launches today!
You can follow along .flowers.week and with the many flower farmers and growers like me who will be joyfully filling social media with a celebration of everything that makes seasonal flowers so wonderful and important.

To kick off, here's a pic or two of me from last summer surrounded by one of the very favourite flowers that I grow - 'Annabelle' Hydrangea. We planted them en masse 12 years ago to make a fantastic impact all summer, as each head alone can be as big as a MELON! At the last count there were at least, oops, 35 plants... and right now there are literally hundreds of small limey green flower heads developing. Within the month, it'll be a frothy sight to behold.

They take me back to seven happy years living in Belgium where I first met Annabelle: Belgians typically have a love of stylish, calming, structural gardens planted simply with white roses & hydrangeas, lavender, topiary and smartly clipped espalier trees. I love a country garden riot of flowers but this look stole my heart too!

I'd love to know - what is your favourite flower, and why?!
Rachel x

Photo no. 4:

HOMEstead GROWN

10/09/2025

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22/06/2025

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