HISTORY
If you like plants you'll love Holme
The History of Holme
In the 1970’s Holme was a rented dairy farm
of about 120 Friesian cows run by Jim and Venn Goldsack, Simon’s parents. They also had another similar herd of cows in the neighbouring village of East Holme and a small fruit farm which they started in 1970s. When the option came in the early 1980s to buy some of the land at West Holme they took the opportunity and so the cows at West Holme moved to East Holme to make one larger herd and over the next few years the fruit was gradually moved to its current location at West Holme. Venn grew bedding plants for sale and ran the shop while Jim managed the Pick Your Own fruit and looked after the cows.
Simon originally studied Amenity Horticulture at Writtle College
near Chelmsford in Essex between 1987 and 1990. On qualifying, Simon started growing and buying plants to develop the plant sales alongside the fruit and bedding plants.
At the beginning in 1991 the fruit and bedding were his parents business and the remaining nursery sales were Simon’s enterprise. In those early days the business would close in Autumn and re-open in spring and Simon would complete gardening, forestry and landscaping work to cover the quieter winter months.
In 1995 Simon met Liz. They married the same year
and in spring of the following year Liz gave up her job to help expand the business at Holme. Liz is also from a local farming background and one of the first things they did together was dismantle her father’s old chicken sheds to re-use the wood to build plant display benches with the help of Liz’s brother Tom. They couldn’t afford to pay builders so most of the building improvements they completed themselves.
With Liz to ‘man the fort’, Simon was able to increase the amount of landscaping he took on. More and more people wanted design work done and Simon joined forces with Kit and Dave. Most of the leads for new work came through customers of the nursery and referrals from previous jobs but with the nursery getting busier Simon and Liz had to decide which way to take the business. Simon continued with the Garden Design and Customer Consultations but left the physical landscaping so he could concentrate on developing the plant sales with Liz. Simon has continued with his design work ever since and now works closely with several local landscapers who do the building work to his plans. Look around at the gardens of Purbeck and the surrounding areas and you may well be looking at one of Simon’s designs
Simon and Liz took over the bedding plant business in 1998 and throughout the next 12 years built up the range and sales. They continued to purchase land and business including the Fruit Farm when Jim retired in 2000.
Holme for Gardens News & Events
Our 2021 Events were mostly SOLD OUT on each performance, and we cannot Thank enough the companies involved. The 'critically acclaimed theatre company 'Chapterhouse', The Team of professional actors and directors from 'Folksy Theatre', 'Rain or shine, Gloucester based professional theatre company, our very own 'Top Notes' with Emma, a youth theatre company based in Wareham and the amazing 'Pastures New' with Mezzo-soprano Grace Lovelass, tenor Matt Connolly and pianist Toby Nelms , a local musical theatre and comedy trio who performed Songs from the stage performed in our Beautiful open air Amphitheatre. Next Year’s performance dates are coming very soon.
I am looking forward to showing the Gardens off this year to you all . The 22'000 new bulbs will start showing at the end of January and I can't wait for you to see my new project. I have called it Butterfly Valley. It includes a lake, a mix of perennial wildflowers to adorn the valley sides and I hope this will be completed before Summer! So many more ideas yet, but I have been told to keep them to myself for now........ The Gardens are FREE to enjoy now until the end of February, perfect for a winters walk. From March the cost of the day pass will be £5 and the season ticket only £15. Join us as we grow together! Simon
The Farm Shop
In 2000 Simon’s sister in law started Goldy’s Farm Shop in one of the buildings at Holme. All went well for her and she opened another larger shop at Lytchett Minster. Unfortunately this new venture was destroyed by fire and she decided to sell the Farm Shop at Holme back to Simon and Liz in 2009. Since then Liz has run the Farm Shop. The name was changed to the Holme Farm Shop to unite the business.
The Orchard Cafe
What was really needed was a cup of tea! So in early 2008 Holme contacted a company who imported wooden buildings from Romania. The building works on the new café started in October 2008 and went very quickly, thus in February of 2009 on a snowy day the Orchard Café opened for business with Sonia at the helm.
Sonia had been working on site in Goldy’s Farm Shop since 2000 and joined Simon and Liz after the fire at the Goldy’s in Lytchett. Sonia was responsible for setting up the running of the Orchard Café and has been there ever since as has her daughter Kayleigh who is busy behind the scenes in the kitchen producing the delicious homemade cakes, bakes, scones and meals you can enjoy today.
The Pond and Gardens
With all the elements in place the garden centre, the farm shop, the fruit farm and now the Orchard café the business started to grow steadily. On sunny days the small patio was full with people enjoying meals and cream teas so it was decided to give the wildlife pond a major overhaul and turn it into a beautiful feature for customers to sit out by and enjoy the fish and display gardens, and the wonderful views across to the Purbeck Hills. (See the Guide to the Gardens at Holme)
The results were spectacular. All of a sudden customers were talking about Holme, and meeting their friends for lunch and returning time and time again, and now it has been necessary to add 2 more patio seating areas one encompassing a waterfall and another smaller pond.
Simon, Liz and all the staff at Holme are passionate about gardening and have started creating a 5 acre garden at Holme. The overall ethos of Holme is very much carried through into the gardens.
Simon is now putting his 25 year experience as a garden designer, nurseryman and landscaper into the creation of the gardens at Holme. The development of a garden is a journey not a destination and although still in their early, formative years the gardens at Holme are beginning to take shape.
HOLME HISTORY PHOTO GALLERY
