“The site is the most advanced blending and bagging plant in the north, so we have the best of both worlds.”


Scotts have their ‘grass-roots’ origins at Bramford, Ipswich, where Fisons Horticulture Division ran their fertiliser factory. “It enjoyed direct rail links with Ipswich docks,” recalls Scotts marketing manager Dave Steward, who joined Fisons 22 years ago. He also remembers Scotts purchase of Levington Horticulture and Miracle Garden Care.


The Ipswich hub handles the


professional side, supplying the turfcare and horticultural sectors with fertilisers, control products such as


Scotts products is carried out. “We have two 2000 square metre golf greens to test our products along with specially sown weed areas to trial new selective and total weedkillers.” Also at Levington are trial plots of seed varieties, ready for launch on to the market in 2009, “We are going to supply sports pitches and golf courses with top quality seeds and already have leading varieties such as Penn A4 and Penn G6, which are used on some of the world's finest greens.” The agricultural strength of eastern England also figured strongly in two well known turf machinery suppliers setting up on the east side. Robert Ransome started an iron


Lely UK’s also took the decision to set up in Cambridgeshire. Turf division general manager Peter Mansfield takes up the story. “When Lely UK was first founded in the late 1960s, its business was purely agricultural and St Neots was seen as an ideal base because its main trunk roads enabled effective servicing of the agricultural industry. Also, links to Felixstowe and Holland, where Lely’s parent company is located, ensured the two companies could work closely together and that machines could be shipped to a nearby port.” Founder John Hawkins started the company from a building he rented from another St Neots company,


Stephen Fell


Paul Dawson


fungicides, pesticides and herbicides and growing media. A major recent success has been the


introduction of H2O Pro wetting agent, used for maximising water penetration in sportsturf as well as dispersing water from waterlogged areas. The manufacture of controlled


release fertilisers, such as Sierrablen, is in Holland, therefore proximity to Europe is important. The area has links with Harwich, Felixstowe and Ipswich. “This is a rewarding industry to work in,” says Dave, “because you are helping to improve people’s environments, which is a very positive activity.”


Located near Felixstowe is Scotts ten


hectare Levington research station, where research and development for all


Paul Johnson


foundry business in Ipswich in 1789 and, in 1803, took out a patent for the chilled cast iron plough share (a type still in use today). Twenty nine years later they were to produce the world’s first lawnmower, under licence to Budding’s patent, and progressed through steam engines, traction engines and threshers to the company we know today.


In 1973 the sales of grass machinery


exceeded tillage for the first time and the company are now almost exclusively ‘grass machinery’. Whilst their Ipswich location was


more a ‘happy accident’ than any transport or soil quality requirement, the company has become as synonymous with Ipswich as Coleman’s mustard are to Norwich.


Alex Edwards


Simon Taylor


agricultural machinery dealer Arthur Ibbett Limited, which still operates today. But, he quickly outgrew the Great Paxton premises and moved to the Station Road site, where Lely continues to operate from. “John would literally be out on the


road visiting clients or travelling over to Holland by car, ferry and train to pick up a machine and sell it on, so the transportation links certainly suited his needs,” Peter concluded.


The above mentions just a few of the successful companies that have made the east side of the country their home, and it is easy to understand why. We have one of the few occasions when it can be stated, quite literally, that the grass is greener on the other side.


“This is a rewarding industry to work in because you are helping to improve people’s environments”


Dave Steward, Scotts Professional


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