Otter Nurseries mark anniversary at show

Otter Nurseries will be paying homage to its own anniversary at this year’s Devon County Show with a display based around events in its history.

The team at the popular East Devon garden centre has designed a two-sided stand to both acknowledge the roots of the business and show how far it has come.

One side of the stand will be a step back in time to 1964 with old gardening equipment, a vintage T20 Ford tractor and some of the first types of plants sold by the nurseries, such as pansies and lettuces.

The opposite part of the stand will be bang up to date to show what can be done in the modern garden, with the very latest equipment and ‘Lady Marmalade’, the Rose of the Year 2014.

Visitors to the stand should look out for a classic houseplant van used for twenty years for local deliveries – its currently having a revamp to bring it flamboyantly into the 21st century.

Sabine Taylor, Otter Nurseries Marketing Manager and granddaughter of founders Malcolm and Marilyn White, said: “Granddad always used to take a stand at the Devon County Show, and we are delighted to be exhibiting for our 50th anniversary year.

“We hope that lots of people who have visited Otter Nurseries at any time during the last half century will come and say hello to us. If anyone would like to share memories of the old days or even has plants in their garden that they bought from us years ago, we would love to meet them.”

Also on show will be a motorbike from the Otter Nurseries Charity of the Year 2014, Devon Freewheelers. A ‘wheelbarrow raffle’ will be held to raise funds for the charity, with the top prize of a wheelbarrow and all its contents, a range of the latest gardening goodies.

To see the display and take part in the raffle, visit Otter Nurseries in the Flower & Garden tent.