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Gloucestershire Business News

New garden centre by Chelsea and Malvern RHS gold medal winner (and rugby sponsor)

For those who know about high-end garden design and the world-famous Chelsea Flower Show the Gloucestershire family of Dowle will be well-known.

And even if you do not know about such things, but follow the mighty Gloucester Rugby, the name may sound familiar.

Peter Dowle's Ross-on-Wye Howle Hill Nursery has supported the Kingsholm club, but now the highly decorated garden designer and businessman has a new business venture.

The winner of 14 Chelsea gold medals, no less, has returned to his roots taking over and re-opening the what was once Huntley Garden Centre as Leaf Creative, creating six jobs to date and still recruiting.

Lead Creative is being pitched as the retail arm of his Ross-based business. It is also where he landed his first job as a youngster.

When Mr Dowle's father Julian - he of Julian Dowle Partnership, Newent, and Chelsea Flower Show fame - also worked there it was known as Huntley Garden Centre.

However, the garden centre closed three years ago and fell into disrepair - until now.

To begin with, Leaf Creative will just sell plants alongside a new coffee shop but eventually Mr Dowle's plans to base his design team there and have 'garden vignettes' showing planting combinations.

Already there are existing mature borders at the six-acre site on the A40 with some unusual plants, such as eucalyptus and acacias. The designer's "trademark" acers, ferns, large shrubs and specimen trees have now been added.

"It will be a one-stop gardening destination giving you everything from design to planting," said Mr Dowle.

The coffee shop is described as having "an ethical ethos with artisan coffee, organic teas and a selection of handmade and vegan cakes". It will also serve light lunches.

Eventually, Mr Dowle's existing Howle Hill Nursery site in Ruardean will be used solely for plant propagation and as a base for the landscaping team.

In September Mr Dowle was working with another sponsor of Gloucester Rugby, Westons Cider, as well as CANNA, to create seasonal displays using tonnes of apples at the Malvern Autumn Show.

Earlier this month he could also be found dressing several areas of the Cheltenham Literature Festival, including the restaurant, hospitality suite and writers' lounge.

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