Florist Profile: Glenholme Florist in Beverley, East Yorkshire UK (Part One)

I've often been curious about florists in other countries and what their shops are like. What flowers are popular? Do they share some of the same social traditions we have like prom? Are they required to have special training? A million other questions come to mind, and I wish I could sit down with a
latte' and talk shop for an afternoon. Instead, I'm fortunate to have the next best thing, an online interview!
( even better because I get to share with you)


Recently I've been in touch with Karen, a florist in the United Kingdom.
Karen has graciously agreed to share with us her story and a little about
what's going at Glenholme Florist .

I asked her to tell a little about what her store is like and where she is located. I was also interested in the type of floral selections she offers to her customers.
So, in her own words...



"The town of Beverley is located on the north-east coast of England, 30min drive from the sea. We are a historical market town full of history and fantastic old buildings. We have two magnificent churches, one being the Beverley Minster."

"To the west of the town we have an amazing expanse of pasture land that holds the racecourse, a golf course, an ancient disused mill and has cows freely grazing that can wander across the road at will!
We still have two local markets selling fresh produce and various other products twice a week in two separate market places. The population of the town is approx 29,000 which has increased rapidly over the last few years with developments of much more modern town housing and living."


"Our most popular floral gift is definitely the aqua-packed hand-tied bouquet (flowers arranged by us, tied ready to go straight into the customer’s own vase and gift-wrapped with a cellophane bubble holding water at the base so the flowers don’t dehydrate), although more modern, structured designs using a limited number of more choice/ tropical flowers are becoming increasingly popular."

"The most popular flowers are still roses and all varieties of lilies, with more tropical flowers becoming popular such as anthuriums and strelitzia to suit the newer more minimalist new homes."


"A lot of our flowers are imported from Holland, although we do like to stock as many locally produced flowers as we can, when seasonally available. Tropical flowers are imported from all other corners of the world. Prom is very different here I think to in the US, it didn’t exist when I was at school and only really evolved slowly over the last decade. Unfortunately flowers at the moment don’t play an important part and is something we are looking at to promote to the youngsters."

I hope you enjoyed your virtual field trip to Beverley's finest flower shop!

In Part 2 Karen will be talking about her required schooling to become a florist, and her many accomplishments including the ICSF (Intermediate Certificate of the Society Of Floristry) ,NDSF ( National Diploma of the Society of Floristry) and providing flowers for the Queen!

Karen is available to answer any questions or read comments you may have about her shop, her town or if she would like a few house guests! (just kidding)
Please leave a comment or question and we will get back to you right away. You can also follow Karen on twitter at GlamFlowers