A Tenterden-based nursery is marking its 30th anniversary with plans to move to a new home in Cranbrook.

Hopes Grove Nurseries, which specialises in hedging plants, was first opened in 1992 on a quarter-acre site in Small Hythe Road by managing director Morris Hankinson.

Over the years it has grown dramatically - now covering 137 acres with land also in Sandhurst and Benenden.

But now plans are being developed to move the main nursery in Tenterden to a new 168-acre site in Cranbrook.

One complete, it will bring the area it covers to 275 acres, in which more than one million plants will be grown and cared for by 26 staff.

Morris Hankinson said: “When I first started the company, I initially sold garden plants like perennials and bedding plants at the local market every Friday, at weekend flower shows and sometimes even at boot fairs – initially from the boot of a 1983 Vauxhall Cavalier.

“Like many industries, there has been considerable amalgamation and very many small nurseries have been lost.

“For much of the 30 years, horticulture has been somewhat in the doldrums you could say – with a weak pound, cheap imports and overproduction being key reasons.

“But the added hassles of importing plants due to Brexit, exceptional demand from home gardeners during the pandemic and the rush to plant trees to mitigate climate change have transformed the fortunes of UK horticulture.

“Quite honestly the outlook has never looked quite so sunny in my time.

“In 2020, due to the Covid pandemic and Brexit regulations, we had an offer accepted on a large 84-acre plot of farmland at Benenden, enabling us to expand and grow every species possible so that we could be largely self-sufficient in many products.

“This year plans are now being developed to move the whole of our main nursery in Tenterden to a new larger site in Cranbrook, close to the Benenden nursery.

“When complete this will leave the business based across three convenient sites that are close to each other.”

“Looking ahead, one of our bigger individual projects will be to produce a range of eco-friendly instant hedging plants, not just for our own customers but also for the wider landscaping market which is potentially a significant market. And to bring all our propagation ‘in-house’ when we have space to do so.”