Strathtyrum Estate and Balgove Larder are powered by people who have a passion for flowers and a desire to not only care for the natural world but ensure that you can enjoy its bounty at home
Balgove Larder sits shoulder-to-shoulder with the Strathtyrum walled garden on the Strathtyrum Estate just outside of St Andrews. What started as a local shop now comprises of The Farm Shop, The Steak Barn, The Butchery, The Garden Shed, The Homestore, The Café and a takeaway hut named Eat Out. Founded in 2010, there’s an enduring focus on sustainability in the gardens and at the larder. The growers and gardening team follow organic principles with flowers and produce carefully sowed, planted and harvested by hand.
Balgove Larder hosts everything from butchery classes to wreath making sessions, but a shining light in their calendar is the summer-autumn program of flower arranging classes. The range of workshops offers a garden-to-vase experience, showing you how to develop your own cutting garden before picking a selection of flowers and creating a beautiful arrangement. Other courses focus on cultivating and arranging particular species like dahlia; and drying and arranging seasonal flowers.
I venture to Balgove Larder on a windy, but sunny, day in August. I’m here with my mum to try the Late Summer Workshop, a flower arranging class and walled garden tour that utilises late summer stems from the Strathtyrum estate.
My mum spends as much time in her garden as possible, designing flowerbeds for the year ahead and watching butterflies flock to the huge buddleia bush that has been slowly scaling her house since she moved in two decades ago. She’s been trying to convince my DIY-minded dad to lay a meandering path for the last five years or so, but is yet to see it. Needless to say, a tour around a lush, tenderly-maintained walled garden – which has a few meandering paths of its own – and a two-hour flower arranging class is her idea of the perfect day out. And that’s exactly what our sunny Saturday in St Andrews turns out to be.
The Late Summer Workshop at Balgove Larder
Strathyrum’s head gardener David is running the class with his sidekick Beth in Balgove Larder’s Garden Shed. It’s an old stone structure with a metal banquet table in the centre and an end table overflowing with pots of freshly-cut flowers waiting to be arranged. Pillar candles and little bud vases decorate the table where pink and blue scissors mark each class member’s workspace. We’re treated to a hot drink and some cakes, then begin.
To build a professional-standard bouquet, we learned, you should start with a selection of three types of focal, or “showy”, flowers like peony, dahlia, chrysanthemum or roses. Next, you need five stems of greenery, like Bells of Ireland, Silver Dollar eucalyptus, gyp or even wild mint. Finally, you collect eight stems of filler flowers like statice, snapdragon, feverfew or alstroemeria. Create a base with the fillers, then add the stems, followed by the showstoppers. Pinch about half way down the stems and spin the bunch as you add flowers to ensure even placement.
David, who made a career change from wedding planning to gardening, shares a few industry tricks that help maximise bouquet shelf life. If your flowers are looking a little drab, trim the stems and blanch them in boiling water. “This gives them a fright,” laughs David. “The hot water helps revive wilted flowers and prolong their vase life by facilitating water uptake and preventing airlocks. The treatment opens the stem’s vascular system, allowing for a rapid intake of water, which rehydrates the cells and helps the flower regain its upright position.”
To ensure longer life, you can drop a combination of sugar and an antibacterial agent like vinegar or Fairy Liquid into vase water. “The flowers for sale in supermarkets are shipped from faraway places like South Africa and have around two thousand air miles-worth of life before they reach your home. They’re stored in fridges along the way to preserve them, which means you only get three to four days of life at home. It is such a shame! And a bit of a sham,” critiques David.
The head gardener also speaks of “drying potential”. I’m the friend who has twiggy statice and sad roses hanging upside down from corkboards in my kitchen, so I’m all ears for this part. “Flowers that dry well generally have sturdy, woody or thin stems and petals that are not fleshy or overly showy,” David tells the room. Noted.
I select a mishmash of yet-to-bloom florals that, once opened, should reflect the colours of a meadow sunset. Chinese lanterns will transform into vibrant orange drops and pink asters will peak out from behind the Veitch’s Blue’s spiky purple spheres. A few scattered peach roses should be supported by pillowy puffs of white hydrangea paniculata.
My mum’s bouquet is showstopping and chic; an elegant mix of hydrangea, Japanese anemone, achillea, sedum and white roses that will add texture to her equally as chic Japandi-inspired living room.
The Strathyrum Walled Garden
Our workshop is followed by a saunter through the Victorian-era Strathyrum Walled Garden. Flowers from the garden are available seasonally at Balgove Larder’s Garden Shed but the garden is only occasionally open to the public, so this is a rare opportunity.
We peeked inside the gardener’s shed and admired the vegetable patches before winding through a small dense forest to see 19th and 20th-century houses and an astounding stone mausoleum that has been hidden amongst the greenery for centuries.
“We focus on building a working community that champions respect to both wildlife and the professionals that work across our land,” says David. “Ethical gardening and floristry can be hard to come by these days, so it’s important to support those who are doing it right — and we are doing it right.”
Autumn workshops at Balgove Larder
Dahlia Workshop
Saturday 6th September, 10.30am – 12.30pm
This is a celebration of the delightful dahlia. Learn how to create your own bouquet with these unique and beautiful blooms with top tips on how they grow.
Dried Flower Workshop
Saturday 11th October, 10.30am – 12.30pm
A focus on flower arranging using the best of the summer grown dried stems. Learn about the drying process and create your own everlasting bouquet, which will include flowers, grasses and seed pods.
Meadow in a Frame Workshop
Wednesday 22nd October, 10.30am – 12.30pm
Using foraged branches and chicken wire, this course allows you to create a frame to arrange a unique meadow, carefully arranging summer grown dried flowers.
Balgove Larder
Strathtyrum Farm
Strathtyrum
St Andrews
KY16 9SF
t: 01334 898 145
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Looking for floral experiences like the ones at Balgove Larder? Add the V&A Dundee’s Garden Futures exhibition to your must-visit list.
Unearth the extraordinary world of garden design at V&A Dundee
