Vigo Nursery – ‘an oasis in the


middle of town’ by Vivienne Lewis


NURSERY TIMES


Fred Blake was demobbed after serving in the Army during World War II, and after working as an insurance agent, returned to his first job, horticulture.


But this time he was to be the boss. With his wife Dorothy he started up his own nursery in Andover in 1954, and the family business of Vigo Nursery is still going strong into the third generation.


Daily watering – Janice Blake one of the directors of Vigo Nursery


Fred, always known affectionately by all who knew him as Charlie, started with a plot of


land in Vigo Road, when next to him was allotments and a large old house and garden. The house has gone and has been built over, the allotments turned into a cricket field, but the one-acre nursery site has become a fixture for the town.


C. Blake and Sons Ltd., at Vigo Nursery, comprise Charlie’s son Colin, Colin’s wife Janice and their son Christopher. Colin and Janice, aged 70 and 64 respectively, took over the nursery just over 30 years ago when Mr. Blake senior retired at the age of 64.


Whereas father and son were practical gardeners who learnt their trade literally on the ground, Christopher was trained at Hilliers before returning to work alongside his father.


Dorothy Blake has survived her husband and at the age 91 still takes an active interest in the business, living by the nursery, and often standing at the door to chat with customers. If he were still alive, Mr. Blake would be 95.


It is this family interest that keeps customers satisfied and loyal. Many of the staff have been with the firm for several years, adding to its stability.


“People like to come here and see the same faces,” says Janice, who runs the floristry side of the nursery.


She started at Vigo Nursery at the age of 18, marrying into the business, and worked alongside her father-in-


26 Vigo offers good old-fashioned service to the local community


Customers return year after year to have their hanging baskets refilled at the nursery.


There’s a good choice of other containers as well, everything from frost proof pots to oak barrels. Stoneware garden ornaments include bird baths and sundials.


Open all year, the nursery only has days off when they close on Sundays during August and September, and also in January.


But last winter proved to be long and hard for them, as with all nurseries. Although more urban than some other nurseries, in the worst snowy weather people still couldn’t get down their snow-covered road to reach them.


‘An oasis in the middle of town’, is what the locals call Vigo Nursery. Even more than that, they offer good old-fashioned service to the local community.


Vigo Nursery 01264-323893 www.vigo-nursery.co.uk Country Gardener


law on the floristry. He was well known in the town for his flower stall at the Saturday market in the High Street for many years.


From this developed the floristry business, which Janice has built up considerably over the decades. It is quite unusual for a family nursery to run a dedicated florist department.


Now she has six workers dealing with floristry, some of whom have been with her for the past ten years, and they supply flowers for any occasion, whether it is for weddings or funerals, Valentine’s Day or a birthday.


Colin has built up a wide range of nursery plants: hardy trees, conifers and shrubs, bamboos and ornamental grasses, fruit bushes, bulbs and bedding plants. With the increasing popularity of grow-your-own fruit and vegetables, there is a good range of seeds and plants, complemented by bagged compost and other products.


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