Business feature: Moongate Plant Centre based on the Apley Farm Shop site.

Shropshire Star

We look at business: Moongate Plant Centre between Bridgnorth and Telford in Apley, and not only find plants but also unusual salvage antique items too aswel as gift items. They also offer a border design service.

Transcript

00:00So we're here at Moongate Farm Shop, hello sir. Hello there, how are you? I'm good thank you,

00:04what's your name and introduce yourself to our viewers. It's Mark Lavers, I'm owner of

00:08Moongate Plant Centre, we've been here since 2017, we expanded it in lockdown,

00:18made new gardens etc. So yeah, you've got a lovely little walkthrough garden haven't you,

00:23which it is not even this time of the year, it's looking fantastic. We're trying to give

00:26people ideas basically of what they can do with their own gardens, obviously trying to sell the

00:32plants that are here, but yeah a little bit different to most places. Yeah, you've got

00:36your greenhouse, you've got some of the plants you're turning to in there and also you do,

00:40is it special orders? We do particular orders for customers, they basically send through their

00:46requirements or quotations and then from there we do back-to-back orders, deliveries to basically

00:52wherever we can over the country really. So yeah, and your background was working in nurseries

00:58isn't it, it's still kind of in the Shropshire area back in the day, supplying garden centres

01:03and that, so you've got quite a history with plants and gardens. Yes, I've come from a wholesale

01:07background and then switched to the retail about five years ago basically, so experience of both

01:13which helps, we also grow our own plants here as well which is also quite a big plus point.

01:19And what I've not seen in places of a similar nature, you've got quite a nice little

01:24quirky items as well that pop up from now and again, there's a lovely old antique lamp

01:28I've clocked, is that a bit of a... We do a little bit of salvage, try and do a few things that are a

01:33little bit away from the norm as well. Yeah, just quite unique really, a little bit specialist

01:38definitely. So it's situated in Appley, if people know where Rapley Farm Shop is, that's where you are.

01:44Yeah, between Bridgnorth and Telford. And when are you open, is it a seven day a week operation?

01:49Seven days a week, hours vary a little bit between the seasons, but essentially in the main

01:55season we're open from nine till five o'clock. Any particular kind of plant at the moment that

02:01people seem to be getting into? Probably alpines, that's the main thing at the moment, they're

02:06coming into flower, and it's their season really early spring, so that's really one of our

02:12kind of strengths. And a particular favourite plant of your own? We use quite a lot in schemes,

02:19so I tend to kind of go with a bit of a mix really, but we do a lot with heucheras. Heucheras

02:25are good, we've got quite a range of those, we also grow those ourselves here, try and pick some

02:29of the new varieties. So do you get involved in kind of designing people's gardens and that

02:34element as well? Yes we do, we do a border creation service where people can either basically come to

02:40us with their areas, or we go out to them, pay them a visit, and then basically pull together

02:46something for however big the border. We've done great big schools plantings to a very very small

02:53courtyard plantings, but yes we kind of specialise in that outside of here.

02:59And I've noticed that lovely purple building with the gifts, is that quite newish? I don't

03:04remember that when I've been previous. That's been here, but we've kind of expanded

03:08that and also again looking at unique items in there, and a little bit different away from

03:14kind of most garden centres really, and also made it a lot more, there's a lot more colour there as well.

03:20Well thank you sir, and we look forward to traipsing down in the summer with our listed

03:25hands, and let's hope you have a good year, a good garden season, all the best. Thank you for coming in, thank you.

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