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Our Story

Our Story

THERE'S ALWAYS A STORY TO TELL

I am often asked how all this began and of course there’s always a story to tell.

One day two friends were chatting on the telephone about work – one in London, one in Hampshire – but it turns out that both were looking out of their windows gazing at the birds feeding on the seeds and fat-balls swinging from their trees and soon they were no longer discussing business but birds! But only one had a bird bath and the owner of this bird bath wanted his friend to have one so he too could enjoy the spectacle of bathing birds.

So it was decided that the friend’s wife’s birthday would provide the perfect opportunity to bring such a thing into their garden. But the wife was not so convinced! A discerning lady especially when it comes to house and garden – I have always admired her stunning style and effortless elegance – she would have to be persuaded and the wonderful stone one that sits in our garden would not be ‘right’ for her or her garden. It would have to be unique and striking and above all elegant.

So with an idea in mind I set off on my mission and the first prototype was created from an old boiler base, a cut off boiler bottom and a bit of rusty rebar that we found in a wonderful family-run metal recycling yard. And from these humble beginnings our first bird bath NICCI evolved into what she is now. Elegant and sculptural and equally at home in a city or a country garden where she quietly stands alone ageing gracefully providing water for birds to drink and bathe in.

Then I wanted to create something striking for the beautiful flower beds that we are lucky to have here at our home. So GELDA was created by placing the reclaimed boiler bottoms on to a steel stem. I like to group three together in each bed and nestle them amongst the flowers at different heights creating a sculptural element amongst the softness of the flowers.

Jess Bassett

Jess

A bit about me...

Film, photography, flora, fauna, food and foreign climes are what I love most. I’m a mother of two, who are growing up fast and beginning to set off on their own.

I used to make documentaries in London for many years taking me across the world and meeting incredible people from all walks of life, before moving with my husband to Hampshire and bringing up our family. I still make short films which is how I first met Flora. During COVID we spent the summer filming 80 fabulous cookery classes, turning her Flora’s Kitchen business into an online one. So much fun and laughter, we became great friends. When I heard that she was leaving for sunny Portugal I didn’t want all her hard work setting up Verdigris to go to waste. So here I am taking over the reigns and looking forward to getting more beautiful bird baths and feeders into English gardens.

I’m hoping that my rather lovely but lively Irish Terrier will learn to appreciate our fabulous garden birds and let them spend long enough in the bird bath that I can capture them on camera. Fingers crossed!

Flora

A bit about me...

I am a trained chef, a wife and a mum to four amazing boys (some of whom are now actually men)! I have been lucky enough to live in Cornwall, London, New York, Melbourne and Hong Kong before settling in Hampshire.

At the beginning of the pandemic and after nearly a decade my cookery school, Flora’s Kitchen, closed its doors. Although it is still open virtually, with four 12-week digital courses available to buy, the world outside has piqued my interest. My desire to nurture is still strong but finding myself no longer surrounded by either my own children or my students, it’s the flora and fauna in my garden drawing me in or rather outside! Feeding the birds, planting and nurturing flowers are my new creative draw.

Mindfulness can be achieved in many ways and watching birds is definitely mindful – try it! We have a garden full of birds including blue tits, great tits, long tailed tits (I think they are my favourite at the moment), nuthatches, wrens, robins, sparrows, black birds, gold finches, woodpeckers, pigeons, doves as well as a cock pheasant, starlings and others that I probably can’t even identify.