BOUQUET FOR A BRIDE

A move to the High Weald of Sussex gave Zelie Billins the space for the cutting garden she’d longed for – and a whole new career as a bridal florist

- NATASHA GOODFELLOW

Some people know what they want to do from a young age. Others discover a passion quite by chance, leading them to change course dramatically. So it was for Zelie Billins, a flower farmer and florist who, before she moved to a plot of land in the High Weald in Sussex in 2004, had an office job and had never so much as pruned a rose bush.

‘My partner Jonny and I were living in Brighton with our young daughter, Milly,’ she says. ‘We had a lovely house but the garden was tiny – not much more than a courtyard – and I really wanted somewhere where we could make a garden and be close to the countryside.’ She started looking online and found a dilapidated bungalow close to the village of Mayfield. In a parlous state of repair and with no heating, it didn’t look much but it had land and was within budget. ‘I remember it was just the loveliest midsummer’s day when we drove up there,’ says Zelie. ‘The garden was completely overgrown but as soon as we saw the view, that was it. We didn’t even look at the house, we just decided we’d build our own.’

The view in question looks out over a wide valley so steep one feels as if perched on a mountain top. Old oak trees dot the fields below while deer and foxes loll in their shade. In the foot of the valley is a small wood, hazy with bluebells in early spring and pungent with wild garlic later on. It is, as Zelie says, ‘heart-stopping’, and so it’s no surprise they positioned their new home to take full advantage.