My first Saturday job was working as an assistant in a local flower shop when I was 15 years old. I loved it so much that I decided I wanted to work with flowers in some way. So after leaving school at 18, I joined a course at Oaklands Horticultral College in Hertfordshire where I trained to become a qualified florist. While studying at college I was chosen by my tutors to do a floristry demonstration at the Chelsea Flower Show. I was incredibly nervous but it was such an amazing experience ! I worked in various local flower shops after gaining my floristry qualification and also did some freelance wedding floristry too.

In 2004 I gave birth to my first son and my husband and I went on to have 3 more sons. We made the choice quite early on that we wanted our sons to be educated at home. So while my husband ran his own business full time I decided to put my vocation on hold and stay at home to educate our sons. Little did I know that THEIR learning journey would also become MY learning journey.

Whilst teaching them I learnt so much about so many different things but most of all I learnt about myself and what I feel really passionate about. We spent a lot of our time learning outdoors in the natural world and the more time I spent in nature the more alive and connected to the earth I felt. I wanted to learn everything there was to know about the natural world and pass the knowledge on to my sons. I became incredibly passionate about wildlife conservation and began photographing, researching and reading about anything nature related from fungi, herbs and wildflowers to pollinators, native species and ancient woodlands. I also began gardening and growing food but after everything I had learnt about wildlife conservation it was really important to me that our garden was beneficial for wildlife and that any food I grew was grown with nature in mind. Once again I began reading, researching and practicing everything I learnt about gardening for wildlife. I became particularly interested in planting for pollinators and wrote as a guest blogger for Bumblebee Conservation Trust – an amazing charity working hard to protect bumblebees.

Whilst learning about all these new things I realised that everything I loved and felt passionate about was connected to nature, the earth and humanity. I found a deep love of natural history and cultural history which led me to discovering green witchcraft and paganism. As soon as I read about green witchcraft and the pagan wheel of the year I knew this was the path for me, I was already on it – living in harmony with nature. I love the idea of living by the seasons and the natural cycles and rhythms of nature. When I’m surrounded by the sights, sounds and scents of the natural world I feel completely content.

In May 2020 I decided to start sharing my love for wildlife gardening, nature & floristry in a blog which I called ‘Thyme For Nature’. Thyme is one of my favourite plants – It’s a wonderful, medicinal herb with beautiful flowers that are so beneficial for pollinators – so it seemed like the perfect name to encompass everything I love ! 

My garden is natural, wild and whimsical. I welcome all wildlife (even slugs and snails, albeit begrudgingly; who when found are relocated to my compost bin !). I avoid using herbicides, pesticides or fungicides and I’m happy to leave most self-seeded wild plants to grow where they are. If they do begin to take over or grow somewhere unsuitable, I remove them by hand and add them into my compost bin.

My floristry style reflects my garden – natural, informal and a little bit wild ! Where possible I like to integrate some flowers & foliage I’ve grown myself organically in my garden into my designs and I try to use sustainable materials and techniques where I can. Anything I create using flowers & foliage is made with love and care.