00:17Hello and welcome to Made in Kent live on KMTV. I'm Foria Adelier and this is the show where we
00:23explore the world of businesses and creators throughout the county. This week we are examining
00:27green businesses focusing on their impact to the environment. First up this week let's look at
00:32Meadow Grange Nursery, a peaceful garden centre located between Whistable and Canterbury. Our
00:38reporter Alia Pritchard went down to find out how they have grown their relationship with their
00:42community. Let's take a look. The RHS reports that as of 2025 over half of all UK adults garden at
00:49least once every two weeks, making the demand for garden centres ever more present. I went down to
00:55one myself to find out a bit more about what garden centres have to offer. The Meadow Grange Nursery
01:00has been around for 70 years. It's a family owned business. We have a nursery down the road where we
01:04grow lots of plants. We have a very large selection of plants on site. So our busy time of year
01:10is March,
01:12April, May. We're just coming to the end of April so we are bursting with flowers. It's the best time
01:19of the year for a garden centre really because everything is in flower, everything's looking
01:23good. We have a brand new cafe that's only been up and running for the last 12 months. Produce all
01:28our own food, all our own cakes in there. So we're very local, you know, a local garden centre, family
01:33run. Peter also told us about how their business was affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. COVID-19
01:40had a bit of a knock-on effect for every business. Garden centres were very lucky, the fact that we
01:46were
01:46one of the first people that could open. As soon as the lockdown went in, we had something like 3
01:53,000
01:53emails in the first week of people trying to place orders for plants and goods for their gardens. So
01:59it was a very busy time for us, but a lot of the staff were at home. So it meant
02:04that there was only
02:05a select few people here that worked and got all the plants and all the goods out. But we survived
02:10it
02:10and did very well along the way. Well, we've asked some of the workers here what makes Meadow
02:14Grange special, but let's ask some of the customers. The choice is amazing. I love gardening and so
02:21every possible plant you could want is here. Well, I principally come here because there's a good
02:26range of plants and they're in good quality, they're in good condition. I think because of the care they
02:32take of their plants, they're all so well kept. And as I said, the variety they have is just,
02:38it's just phenomenal. This is where I've always come and I've always been satisfied.
02:43I bring my mum here every week in her wheelchair and they're really helpful because it's difficult
02:48with a wheelchair. I couldn't recommend it enough really. Alia Pritchard for KMTV.
02:56Herbs, spices, nuts, toiletries. Now the chances are you need at least one of these things in your
03:01weekly shop. Well, what if you could get them and support plastic reduction at the same time? Well,
03:06that is exactly what the refillable van hopes to do. This shop on wheels travels across Kent serving
03:11customers their household and grocery needs while encouraging waste reduction. Ethan Materiangate
03:16reports. According to the UK Parliament website, landfill and incineration of plastic bottles make up to
03:25roughly 230,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions. In a local effort to work on reducing the amount of plastic used,
03:36one Kent business has taken an unconventional approach to bringing its customers the products
03:41they want. I spoke with Sue Bates, the owner of the refillable van, to find out why this type of
03:47green
03:48business is so important. Plastic can only be recycled so many times because each time you recycle it,
03:55it's downgraded. So, you know, a bottle is not going to become another bottle, it's going to become
03:59something less until eventually it can't be recycled and it ends up in landfill and you end up with
04:05microplastics that are there for hundreds of years. So I run the refillable van, which is a mobile
04:12zero waste refill shop. So people can bring their own empty plastic bottles and refill with eco-friendly
04:18products. And the aim is to help people cut down on the plastic waste that they're throwing away.
04:24So instead of going to a supermarket and buying another bottle of washing up liquid or laundry
04:28liquid, you can save the bottle you've already got, bring it to us at the van, and we'll refill it
04:34for
04:34you. You know, people will bring their bottle to us, we weigh it, we zero it, we refill it, we
04:39weigh it
04:40again. So people only pay for what they've put into their container, and they can bring any container
04:45they like, whatever they're using at home. I also spoke to Sue about the benefits of being a mobile
04:51business in this line of work. Because we're mobile, we can get closer to people, we can make
04:58it easy for people. And as I say, the easier we make it for them, the more likely people are
05:03to make that
05:04effort. I mean, in the UK alone, there's 13 billion new bottles that are recycled, are sent to landfill or
05:13put into the waste every year. And only five and a half million of those are recycled. So, you know,
05:20there's a huge number of plastic bottles in the UK alone that are going straight to landfill. You know,
05:27we can't expect the planet to keep on providing for us if we keep abusing it at the rate that
05:32we are.
05:33And people are really, really starting to realise that and really wanting to make a difference.
05:41Ethan Materingay for KMTV.
05:45When you hear florists, you might think fragrant and fresh-cut flowers arranged into a bouquet that
05:50requires being kept in water. Well, one florist gift shop in Canterbury is taking an unconventional
05:54approach by creating long-lasting dried floral arrangements that can be used in weddings,
05:59events, or just as a sustainable piece of home decor. Our reporter, Kamiya Kindoro,
06:04went down to find out more.
06:06Flouristry is ingrained into Kenya's state culture. King Kenry VIII nicknamed Kent the
06:10Garden of England. I took a visit to Happy and Glorious in Canterbury to speak with owner Kate to find
06:15out...
06:15I moved to Canterbury about three and a half years ago and opened my shop here and it's been really
06:20great.
06:21One of the team that worked with me is really into floristry. She's done loads of qualifications.
06:26She taught us how to do floristry. My mum grows the dried flowers and we arrange them here. And we
06:32now do sort of bouquets and we do posies and we do weddings from flower crowns all the way through
06:38to
06:38buttonholes and the bouquet and all sorts of things. So it's really great.
06:41As Happy and Glorious is a gift store, I asked Kate how she got into floral arrangements.
06:46It happened kind of by accident really. Since I started employing Katherine, who's my lead florist,
06:52and I knew she was into floristry, I really wanted to get some fresh flowers. But I thought,
06:55they're so short-lived. You get them and a few days later they're dead. And there was that worry about
07:02buying stock in and it not surviving. There was a sort of ecological kind of worry. But then I heard
07:07that dried flowers were having a bit of a moment. So I said to my mum, can you grow me
07:12some dried flowers?
07:13That would be nice. My mum's a very experimental person and she will literally just hang up
07:17absolutely anything in her garden and see how it dries. Things like bunny tails, which are the
07:22really, really fluffy little grasses. They're always really, really popular. Brides love them.
07:26Walk us through the bridal process. It just kind of happened really organically. A bride came to us
07:31and said, could you do my wedding? And we were, okay, we'll give it a go. And it's just kind
07:36of happened
07:36from there. So brides or grooms or couples come to us and tell us their wedding date, tell us their
07:43colour scheme. And we literally go through absolutely everything as we're going through the process. So
07:49they can tell us what flowers they do want, tell us what flowers they don't want. They can choose the
07:54ribbon colour. They can choose just absolutely every detail and we send photos as we go. So it's a really,
08:00really bespoke situation. Of course, the great thing about dried flowers is I can make them
08:04sort of months in advance and they're ready to go whenever the couple are ready. If we've got
08:11couples that are getting married sort of in a couple of years time, we can obviously grow them
08:16for the couples because that's how the season works. We do have a couple of British growers as
08:21well that we get in touch with if there's something really specific and couples are in a bit of a
08:25hurry.
08:26What is a unique property of using dry flowers that clients may not get elsewhere?
08:30They're super sustainable. They're locally grown. They last for years. I got married last
08:34May. I've still got my bouquet on the sideboard and it still looks just as nice as it did on
08:39my
08:39wedding day. So it's just, it's a lovely way to keep part of your wedding long term, which is
08:45really, really special. Kami Akindira for KMTV. And finally, let's take a moment to delve into the
08:52figures and statistics of Kent's green business sector. Joining me this week to bring the deep
08:57dive is Lottie Mason.
09:07Hello Lottie. Hiya.
09:09So why have garden centres seen such a rise in popularity?
09:12So according to Savills UK, in 2025, there were around 2,300 garden centres throughout Great Britain,
09:20sharing a retail spend of five billion pounds per year. But I think the success of these
09:25quintessentially British spaces is down to two things in particular. So firstly, the COVID pandemic,
09:33garden centres were the first businesses allowed to reopen to the public, which means that they still
09:38hold significant cultural value to us. We spent more time in our gardens during the lockdown. We
09:43inevitably needed more supplies for that. And also the second thing is market diversification. So going from
09:49horticulture, sorry, and practical retail to hospitality and even eventually entertainment.
09:55For example, they sell food, clothes, they have big cafes that can also cater for children through play
10:03areas. They supply things like gifts, books, stationery, but still the classic plants, flowers,
10:09greenhouses and garden paraphernalia that allowed them to be great in the first place. At Christmas,
10:15like we were discussing earlier, it's almost a staple to have a grotto. And this could mean that they are
10:23also tapping into the seasonal entertainment market. But at their core, they'll always be there for
10:27gardening supplies and even grocery shopping nowadays, apparently. Nice. And speaking of food shopping,
10:34we touched on refill shops earlier. What's the significance of shopping sustainably and locally?
10:39Well, I think it's important to acknowledge that refill and organic shops can be expensive,
10:43expensive, but their eco-consciousness is an absolutely great selling point. I did some
10:48research and found that according to the Waste and Resources Action Programme in 2025, there are 675
10:55chartered refill shops in the UK, with the third most densely packed area being in our sister county,
11:01Sussex, specifically in Brighton Hove, which is home to a whopping 21 of these shops. Refill shops often
11:07resemble old neighbourhood shops with a more holistic produce on offer and there has been a trend in the
11:14understanding of nutrition and what's going in our bodies recently. Shopping locally also slices our
11:20carbon footprint and food miles are significantly lower this way. Ultimately, people are seeking
11:25better quality food if they have the means to do so and the refill shops help us as consumers to
11:31cut down
11:31on our plastic. You can also find soap, refillable cleaning products and homeware, so it's not just
11:37edible produce you can find. These refill stations mean that you can also choose...
11:41Thank you. Thank you, Lossi. That's all. Thank you. Goodbye.
12:01...
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