Beautiful woodland garden in rural Norfolk

Gardening business Norfolk

Stuart’s gardening business office for the day

The perks of running a gardening business!

Stuart Thackeray has an established Ed’s gardening business in rural Norfolk (North and West). It’s a stunning part of the world and Stuart loves being able to live in such a beautiful place, as well running a successful garden maintenance business

The background…

Having spent many years commuting into London from New Malden to work in the City as a systems analyst, Stuart really was ready for a change of career. He originally joined Ed’s in 2014 to build a gardening business in New Malden. He loved the gardening and was amazed at how quickly he could establish a good business as part of Ed’s. There was only one thing missing.  It was in the wrong location for him to feel truly fulfilled. 

Stuart had grown up in rural Norfolk and had always longed to move back there. However, he had felt that it was just impractical from a career perspective.  The seeds of an idea were germinating though…. Maybe maybe Stuart could do a job he loved in a place that he loved too?

Completing the dream lifestyle…

Stuart says ” I was amazed at how well the Ed’s business model worked when I started my gardening business in New Malden. I was pretty sure I could do the same thing in rural Norfolk. I knew that my customer profile and that the typical garden would be different. Yet I also had a strong hunch that I would be able to run a really good gardening business there. Indeed, my hunch was right!”

Stuart now lives in a listed cottage with outbuildings (and the obligatory Aga to dry his gardening socks on!) He says ” When I talk about our life now and how different (and better!) it is, I risk sounding like a bit of a cliché! But it really is wonderful. No more traffic congestion and my day consists of working in a variety of different gardens, mainly in rural villages around the one in which I live – Whissonsett, near Fakenham. Sometimes I have my sidekick, Monty, our Hungarian Vizsla,  with me, depending on whether the weather suits him to venture out or not! My customers love it when he decides to grace us with his presence. He usually gets a more enthusiastic welcome even than I do.” 

Gardening business helper Hungarian Vizsla dog

“So what’s the downside? Well, irritatingly I guess, I don’t really think there is one. You get the odd day of weather which is not as good as you’d hoped but give me that over a stuffy, claustrophobic commute into Central London any day. Each to their own, I suppose, but I wouldn’t swap the life we’ve built here for anything.”

 


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