An evening and weekend project started in 1961 grows to become a successfully family run business 60 years on.

Two generations of the Fairweather family have cultivated and nurtured Fairweather’s Garden Centre into something more than just a plant centre.

Customers who started shopping at Fairweather’s before the current owner Patrick Fairweather was born, can remember the garden centre building being the old Beaulieu Estate vehicle workshop. Behind the shop, where plants and pots are now sold, were gardens and waste land 6 ft deep in brambles. They were then slowly developed by the late Christopher Fairweather with help from his wife Aline.

Initially all the shrubs and trees were plunged into the ground, as pots did not exist, and the plants were wrapped in hessian squares when they were lifted for customers. Soon afterwards, they were potted into old baked bean tins which saved work and allowed customers to serve themselves.

“We have seen a lot of changes over the last few years, Patrick’s Patch is a successful learning garden where children and adults can learn and enjoy gardening. Our café refurbishment, Steff’s Kitchen has proved to be very popular and the launch of our new takeaway, Steff’s to go, which we started during the pandemic last year, is now a stopping point for walkers and cyclists in the New Forest. Most importantly, we have great loyal customers who will hopefully continue returning for the next 60 years!”.