About Hayloft
Started at a kitchen table
Hayloft was born from Yvonne’s kitchen table at her home ‘The Hayloft’, a converted barn set within the village of Wick near Pershore, Worcestershire soon after the birth of her first child. Yvonne sought a project that would keep her busy at home whilst being able to spend time with her daughter.
Yvonne’s son arrived in 1994 and Hayloft grew from strength to strength, surpassing all expectations.
Growing & packing plants together
It did not take long for Yvonne to require additional assistance with the increased volumes of order processing and plant packing.
Harriet joined Hayloft in 1994, bringing her two daughters along for the ride too. They were of a similar age to Yvonne's children and kept each other occupied for hours on end. For some time, Harriet took charge of the office activities whilst Yvonne packed plants in the nearby market town of Evesham.
Moving to Manor Farm
After incredibly buoyant sales of Edward Wilson’s Pensham Penstemon, in 2002 Yvonne and Harriet were able to buy a nursery and offices at Manor Farm in Pensham, between the historic town of Pershore and the renowned RHS Pershore Horticultural college. They were in awe with the enormity of space they had acquired.
The team keeps growing
22 years since the relocation to Manor Farm and Hayloft have since acquired two further nurseries; Sandilands and Hollyoak, both just down the road. Hollyoak Nursery was built by the previous owners to grow indoor orchids. The greenhouses are of a high specification and the nursery is large enough to accommodate Yvonne’s plan to offer an extensive range of plants in various sizes to suit all gardeners.
It's not just the nursery expanding. The Hayloft team now consists of over 30 people!
Hayloft today
Hayloft now operates solely at Hollyoaks nursery. The large greenhouse is accompanied by a purpose-built packing shed with offices. The entire nursery has been created with the environment in mind, so is solar-powered, heated with a ground source heat pump and all rainwater is collected to water the plants through targeted irrigation, which minimises waste.
