British Hardwood Tree Nursery Ltd has reached a quarter of a century in business this year, supplying trees and hedging to forestry, farming and landscaping markets. To mark this milestone and to support the future development of UK farming and the countryside, the Lincolnshire-based company has nominated their Anniversary Charity Partner as FACE (Farming and Countryside Education). As well as becoming a FACE Partner, British Hardwood will be donating a penny per bare-root plant sold online this season via their consumer site www.treesandhedging.co.uk.
FACE aims to educate children and young people about food and farming in a sustainable countryside and is aligned with British Hardwood’s own values to secure long-term sustainability – inspiring, supporting and educating the farmers, foresters and landowners of the future.
Zoe Henderson, part of the www.treesandhedging.co.uk team states: “We’re really thrilled to be working with FACE as our official Charity Partner. We’re keen to encourage schools and other youth organisations to learn more about the countryside around them – where food comes from, how it is grown and harvested and the importance of planting and maintaining hedgerows and forests for nature, wildlife and conservation”. Andrew Henderson, the company’s Managing Director continues, “Our focus remains on supplying UK-grown stock, raised from UK seed where available. With the bare root season about to start, we’ll be raising a glass to our first 25 years’ successful trading with our staff and our customers – here’s to the next phase!”
British Hardwood Tree Nursery has grown considerably since its establishment in the late eighties. Established by Andrew’s late father, John, the family business initially focused on growing their own stock for contracts with local, regional and eventually national forestry, farming and landscaping customers.
From the mid-nineties, they expanded by having stock contract grown to service the demand for UK plants. Andrew, opting for a change of career direction from Chartered Surveying, took a more direct role in the office and honed the company’s business strategy. The company’s ethos was then, and still is, to offer the most comprehensive and relevant plant and product range to the forester and landowner, backed up by their own first-hand early years’ experience with planting and aftercare. The company’s focus now is purely on a supply and advisory basis to their client base.
Looking beyond their anniversary season, the company has some exciting new ventures planned that will only serve to further develop British Hardwood as one of the UK’s leading specialist tree and hedging suppliers. They are now one of the UK’s selected distributors of Tubex tree protection products – a partnership built over several years and backed up by their commitment to offer their customers the best products available with high service levels and a broad range of top quality plants and planting accessories.
They have invested in personnel, expanding the team to help grow and develop their strengths in purchasing, sales support and customer service. www.treesandhedging.co.uk is also growing in status, range and appeal, with regular offers and promotions afoot to drive online sales. They continue to invest in system and process improvements which are already having a positive impact on service levels and customer satisfaction.
