Hot weather cost family flower farm Shropshire Petals over £20k

A firm said the cancellation of a flower festival after the hot, dry weather has cost it more than £20,000.

Shropshire Petals, near Newport, was hoping to welcome visitors who wanted to create "unforgettable memories" and be pictured in a field full of flowers.

But the family-run farm which grows and dries flowers, said the plants had been hit by the weather.

Marketing manager Ashley Evers-Swindell said ticket holders for the Shropshire Petal Fields event were being refunded.

"It's left us in tears," she said. "We looked at opening our smaller production field for people to visit but access is an issue.

"Our much bigger field really struggled. We've tried everything. We had a dry spring, disease and then the extremely hot days this summer.

"We've lost upwards of £20,000."

The farm says it plants a variety of flowers, including cornflowers and wildflowers, which it picks to make biodegradable confetti and dried flowers.

In the summer, there is usually a "carpet of colour" which it hoped to share and had arranged for activities and a viewing platform during the two-week event.

The family business said it was committed to learning from the experience and was planning for next year's event.

The UK saw extreme temperatures last month and temperatures passed 40C for the first time.

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