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FLORIST AND FLOWER SCHOOL FOUNDER, RACHEL WARDLEY

- SHARON PARSONS

Rachel takes a stroll in the famous topiary gardens at Levens Hall

Rachel Wardley of the Tallulah Rose Flower School distinctly remembers the smiles from strangers as she walked down Marylebone High Street in London 16 years ago. She was holding two hand-tied bouquets of flowers that she’d created herself. ‘I’d just done a one-day course at the famous Jane Packer Flower School,’ she explains. ‘I’d had a wonderful time, and was so pleased with what I’d achieved. Seeing people’s faces when they saw my flowers made me so happy. It wasn’t exactly a eureka moment, but it definitely sowed the seeds for something new.’

At the time, Rachel was enjoying a fast-paced career in the fashion industry. ‘I loved my job and all that London had to offer, but after many years going at full pace, both my husband Martin and I had begun to think it might be time for a change of direction,’ she recalls.

Her creative instincts had led her to enrol on a millinery course at the Central School of St Martins, but her interest in floristry was growing. ‘Friends started to ask me to do flower arrangements, and I’d take bunches into my local hospice in South London,’ she says.

In the end, she abandoned all thoughts of becoming a milliner, and with some trepidation, resigned from her job. ‘I decided to enrol on a four-week floristry course at the Jane Packer Flower School,’ she recalls. ‘I remember drawing the money out of the bank to pay for it – it seemed so indulgent!’