Going For Gold – The Taunton Flower Company at Taunton Flower Show
We’re delighted to share that our new Taunton Chamber of Commerce member the Taunton Flower Company was awarded a Gold Medal at the recent Taunton Flower Show! Here owner Jo Ferriday takes us through the run up to the show and the success achieved.
It started stupidly early — the kind of Somerset dawn where the air bites your fingers and the field feels half‑asleep. I drove into the Floral Marquee on my farm EV with my drill and that ridiculous mix of nerves and determination you only get on show day. The chill was real, the silence was heavy, and for a moment it felt like I was the only person awake in Taunton. But that’s how Gold mornings begin, apparently.
I wasn’t alone for long. Designer, mentor, and five‑shows‑a‑year veteran Aizel Finch of Yalham Hayes arrived like the cavalry, armed with insider knowledge about what judges actually look for and what to avoid. We went for cream B&Q floor coverings with matching dust sheets — a risk, because everyone else sensibly uses black to hide stains. But the rose palette looked so good against cream that we decided to gamble. The coverings were stiff enough to form wings and shield the sides of the display, giving the whole stall a clean, intentional frame.
Next time, I’ve already got improvements lined up:
a plastic chain across the front to stop people picking up vases
a lightweight net over the top to catch condensation drips from the marquee roof
Show week teaches you fast.
As the buckets kept coming and the watering cans stayed in rotation, we began to organise and arrange. And no — before anyone asks — my newly planted 600 roses did not produce all this. This was a collaboration between Stokesay Flowers, RealFlowers.com, and Helen from Gore Farm, a young local grower with serious talent. Together they gave me the fragrance stall I wanted: a full range of perfume, including posies without a single rose in them — scented pelargonium (what we used to call geraniums), flowering mint, and a bucket of bronze fennel taller than me at the back for height.
The Stall Comes Together
When the stall finally came together, it felt like stepping into my own version of Somerset heritage — cream, scent, roses, and that quiet confidence you only get when everything lands exactly how you imagined it. We left most of it arranged and tucked in for the night with a light misting. and I fell asleep by 8.30pm.
Morning came at a brisk 6am. There was definitely not a single bird poop on my freshly laundered tablecloths that I had to turn inside out and re‑fold to hide after some deft work with a damp tissue. That never happened. I certainly did not panic about it. By then a strange, surreal calm had taken over. Suddenly it was 7am and the judges arrived. I told myself I’d be happy with anything above a bronze for a first effort — but I’d poured myself into this one, and so had Aizel. The results were spectacular. We could not be more thrilled. GOLD. Large Gold.
The People, The Perfume, The Chaos
I made so many new friends as I took them on an olfactory smorgasbord of rose scents — sugary and sweet, spice and pepper, vanilla and melissa, and all the fragrance tones in between. A group of glittery fairies fresh from face‑painting turned up for photos amongst the roses, because of course they did. I met a handsome stallion that I shared breakfast with. A young lad who had made the colosseum complete with lights caught my eye as did many other stands and local businesses of note. I took so many useful numbers and details my head was spinning and by the time Saturday came i dont know which was wilting more me or the roses.
Serendipity in the Marquee
One rather serendipitous moment: my friends from UK Ecology Lab (aka Soil Smiths) had the stall right next to mine. Easy share. You may have seen me on one of their reels explaining the difference goop and living feed make during this drought.
I was also interviewed by a young rookie for BBC Radio, and Bethan from Taunton Chamber of Commerce paid me an exciting visit — more on that next week.
By the end of it all, my hands were ruined. I did nothing but sleep and eat for three days afterwards, and I’ve only just got my kitchen back to normal. My spare bedroom duvet is currently covered with three buckets’ worth of rose petals drying nicely in the dark. If you need confetti, I may have some for you.
Read more about Jo’s Flower Farm journey here = https://joferridaytfc.substack.com/
Read all about the Taunton Flower Company here = https://thetauntonflowercompany.co.uk/