Spring on the Little Cornish Isles: The Flower Farm. Phillipa Ashley
taking in the small rectangular fields where the flowers were grown. Each one was protected from the wind by thick hedges and the green shoots of the first narcissi were just showing, even though it wasn’t quite September.
‘How long have the Godrevys been farming here?’ Gaby asked as Jess pulled her phone from her pocket.
Adam had sent her a text: ‘Any sign of the Man yet? Any chance of getting away If You Know What I Mean? Got a surprise for you …’
Jess felt her cheeks heat up and pushed her phone back into her jeans.
‘Three generations now,’ she replied, trying to refocus and not think too much about the shivery feeling that Adam’s text had given her. ‘Apparently when my grandparents started the farm in the 1950s, there were ninety flower farms on St Mary’s alone. Now that people buy so many imported flowers from abroad, there are only a handful.’
‘St Saviour’s survived though,’ said Gaby. ‘And this set-up is very impressive.’
‘Thanks. We try to have as many varieties and markets as we can. We also sometimes work with other farms at busy periods. They supply us with flowers to supplement what we can’t grow, or sell ours when we have a glut. It’s a fine art, trying not to have too few or too many flowers – that’s the tricky part. Too much warmth or too much cold can spell disaster or not being able to get the flowers to market. It’s taken years to get the balance right and we’re still experimenting and keeping our fingers crossed.’
Jess looked around her at the green shoots starting to appear in the brown earth of the outdoor fields, ready for the new season’s harvest. Hard to believe that the first tight buds of the earliest types would be ready to pick in a few weeks’ time. These days, sixteen types of narcissi were produced through autumn and winter, far more than in her father’s time. It had been Jess’s idea to expand their range shortly after he’d left.
Gaby crouched low to touch one of the emerging shoots. She had a dreamy look on her face. ‘Do you think the legend is true?’ she asked.
‘Which legend would that be? Scilly has quite a few,’ said Jess, amused.
‘The one about how the narcissi first came to Scilly on a Dutch ship.’
‘Ah. The onion story.’ Jess had heard the tale many times. Supposedly, the first bulbs were given to the Governor of Scilly’s wife by the captain of a Dutch merchant ship. She mistook them for onions but threw them out of the window of her castle because they tasted so horrible. The bulbs bloomed in the moat and that’s how the islands’ flower industry began. ‘It’s a great story and there may be some truth in it, but we’re not so concerned with the past,’ said Jess wryly. ‘It’s the present and the future we want to secure, which is why you’ll find plenty to keep you occupied,’ she added with a smile.
Gaby nodded enthusiastically. ‘Oh. Absolutely. I came here to help you do just that.’
‘Glad to hear it. I’m sure my brother will be too. Hold on. There’s Len,’ said Jess, spotting a middle-aged man striding over the yard through the open door. ‘He might have seen Will. Do you want to wait here?’
Leaving Gaby looking at the farm set-up, Jess caught up with Len as he headed into the packing sheds.
‘Hi Len. Have you seen Will? I want him to meet Gaby, our new worker.’
Len Scarrock’s forehead, already as lined as a contour map of the Himalayas, wrinkled even further. ‘That kid over there?’
‘She’s not a kid. She’s twenty-seven and she’s had plenty of experience.’
Len snorted. ‘As what? A pixie in fairyland?’
Jess clung onto her patience. Len had worked as field supervisor with the Godrevys for years and what he didn’t know about flower farming on the isles wasn’t worth knowing. But he was as spiky as a whole field of thistles. ‘Have you seen Will?’ she repeated.
He sucked on his teeth and shrugged. ‘Might be in the fields. It’s been a good hour since I saw him.’
Jess’s heart sank; she was beginning to think Will really had forgotten Gaby was coming and gone to visit his rowing mates. ‘OK. Thanks.’
Just then, Adam walked across the yard and joined Jess on the edge of the top field. ‘The gig’s coming along. Where’s Will?’
Jess rolled her eyes. ‘This is turning into a game. I should produce a book: Where’s Will?’
‘Hold on, that sounds like him,’ said Adam, pointing towards a figure marching from the rear of the equipment storage shed. A familiar voice carried on the air to them.
‘No, bloody hell. Next week? That’s all I need. You have to come sooner than that?’
Adam grinned. ‘I think we’ve found him.’
Will’s voice grew louder, clearly giving some unfortunate supplier the hairdryer treatment down the phone. He’d stopped outside the door of an outbuilding used by the flower picking staff for breaks. ‘I can’t wait for an engineer until then. It’ll be disastrous for my crop. You have to come out. Charter a plane if you have to …’
‘Yes, but where’s Gaby got to?’ Jess crossed back into the yard but Gaby had vanished. ‘Oh God, I hope she hasn’t decided to go home already.’
Adam joined her. ‘She won’t. She’s tougher than she looks. Look, there she is.’
Gaby emerged from behind a hedge just as Will strode across the yard, his phone clamped to one ear, the other hand gesticulating wildly.
‘Len!’ he bellowed, holding the phone down by his side. ‘We need to get that damn pump fixed. That’s the whole water supply to the farm!’
‘The bloody water pump? When did that happen?’ said Len.
‘About half an hour ago. Haven’t you noticed?’
‘I’ve only just come up here from my place. Have you tried fixing it?’
Will threw up his hands. ‘What do you think I’ve been doing for the past half an hour? Bloody hell, why does this always happen on a sodding bank holiday?’
Ouch. Jess cringed.
And oh no … At the same time as ranting to the supplier and Len, Gaby had clearly come onto Will’s radar. He suddenly veered from being on course for Len to making a beeline for her. Jess quickened her pace to try and intercept them.
‘Hey! You!’ Will bellowed.
Gaby stopped, frozen like a hedgehog about to be run over by a juggernaut. Will shoved the phone in his jeans pocket and homed in on Gaby.
‘Oh no. I’d better make the introductions or she really will leg it.’ Leaving Adam behind, Jess jogged over but it was too late. Her twin was giving Gaby the full benefit of his customer-facing charm and skills.
She reached him to find him talking to Gaby, with his hands on his hips. ‘Can I help you? Are you a customer?’ he asked impatiently. ‘If you are, I’m sorry, but you shouldn’t be wandering around like this.’
‘I was just admiring your Innisidgens,’ said Gaby.
‘My what?’
‘The Innisidgens. They’re just coming into bud, aren’t they?’
‘Yeah, they are but …’ Will peered at her. ‘Look, this is a staff-only area and you should call in at the office if you want to buy some flowers.’
Jess darted between them. ‘Will. This is Dr Gabriella Carter. She’s one of our new field workers.’
Will stared at Gaby and his jaw dropped, anyone would think the queen of the fairies had landed on his farm and zapped him with her wand.
‘She’s a field worker?’
‘Yes,