GREENFIELD-BASED glasshouse and greenhouse manufacturer Hartley Botanic is returning to RHS Hampton Court Garden Festival with a stand which celebrates and showcases its business through the decades.
The show from July 5-11 communicates the manufacturer’s heritage and reputation with five handmade Hartley Botanic structures, each representing different eras in its trading history.
The show stand traces the manufacturer’s legacy using its handmade structures – from a 1950s vintage semi-dodecagon greenhouse to a modern-day Hartley 8 Planthouse.
The structures have been dressed to represent the relevant decades using planting schemes, garden tools and accessories typical of each decade.
Hartley Botanic was founded in 1938 by brothers Vincent (RHS fellow) and Norman Hartley following their ground-breaking aluminium greenhouse design.
Over the decades, they have produced elegant handmade horticultural buildings from its original factory on Wellington Road.
HB have become the manufacturer of choice for leading organisations, institutions and designers including: the RHS, the National Trust, Kew Gardens, Glasgow Botanic Gardens, Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Oxford Botanical Gardens, Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Blenheim Palace, The Lingholm Estate and Hampton Court Palace… to name a few.
In April of this year, the manufacturer was awarded a prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the international trade category.
CEO Tom Barry said: “Hartley Botanic has an unrivalled history when it comes to English Glasshouse and Greenhouse manufacture and generations of customers have put their trust in the hands of our expert, time served, highly skilled craftsmen.
“We wanted the stand to communicate this. As a historic business, we are in a unique position to be able to provide an overview of the way greenhouse design and use has developed and changed over the decades.
“It is also interesting to see some of the historical trends coming back into fashion today.
“As in the 1970s, we are again seeing a resurgence in city dwellers buying smaller models so they can try growing their own for the first time – only this time, as a reaction to lockdown or another way to address sustainability concerns, rather than an attempt to live ‘the good life’.”
Hartley Botanic’s Glasshouses and Greenhouses are handmade, bespoke and made to order. Find out more online www.hartley-botanic.co.uk or call 01457 819 155.
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