An East Sussex farm shop is to double the size of its plant sales area.

Ben Taylor said he bought Planters in Hurst Green, East Sussex, with a vision to open a plant centre on the 4-acre plot at the rear of the existing farm shop site.

Ben, who had been studying horticulture at Hadlow College, Kent, said: "Whilst at Hadlow, an opportunity to purchase Planters in Hurst Green came up.

"At the time, Planters was a farm shop and cafe, but I saw the potential to add a plant centre on its 4-acre site, given its excellent location and the rich horticultural surroundings.

"Three months after taking over Planters in Summer 2024, Merriments, also in Hurst Green, made the shock announcement that it was closing its well-known nursery and garden centre, resulting in the loss of 30 jobs.

"After meeting several of the Merriments’ staff during the closing-down sale, I was hugely impressed by their dedication and customer service despite the prospect of losing their jobs a few weeks before Christmas.

"I was also fortunate to be introduced to Emma Davies, formerly the owner of the much-loved The Walled Nursery in Hawkhurst, who had just joined Merriments a few weeks before being given the sad news about its closure.

"Emma and I quickly set about making plans for a new plant centre at Planters, and I offered employment to as many of the staff from Merriments as I could. We also acquired all of Merriments’ unique and rare stock of plants, including many tender varieties that I had to keep at home in my loft over the winter months, as we didn’t have a polytunnel at Planters at the time."

He added: "We opened the plant centre in Spring 2025 along with a nursery to grow our own plants from seed and cuttings. Our first season was a success, drawing many of the previous customers from Merriments and other nearby nurseries that had closed in recent years.

"A new indoor/outdoor furniture section was added to the shop in the summer, and then a Christmas shop followed over the autumn/winter. We have added outdoor seating for the popular on- site café, renovated our antiques section, and refreshed the food hall/butchery inside the shop."

He said they had received planning permission from Rother District Council to double the size of their plant retail area and triple the size of the nursery for Spring.

"Our aim is to give the Weald community and beyond an inspiring and sustainable alternative to garden centres that stock the same ranges since they buy from the same wholesalers and often import from abroad. We currently grow around a third of the plants we sell and plan to increase this to over half. By producing our own plants, we have the freedom to hunt out and trial new garden-worthy plants suitable for the local soil,' Ben added.