Short Guided Tour - 36
Longcroft nurseries were established in the mid 1940s by Dennis Baldwin.
Tomatoes were the first produce to be grown and sold but the business developed into a premier supplier of cut flowers, particularly chysanthemums, to the wholesale trade.
The property was gradullay developed Northwards along the West side of Back Lane, with the portion nearest Laycock village covered by glass houses. The glass houses were heated from a local boiler house adjacent to Back Lane.
The business employed a number of the local inhabitants who were in involved in the cultivation, harvesting and shipping of the flowers.
The nursery was closed in the early 1970s.
After a period of gradual decay, the property was sold in the late 1970s to the Warker family who adapted the facilites to provide produce for a degree of self-sufficient living. In 2006, the Walkers are still the owners and the site has not been subject to housing development etc.
Longcroft Nurseries
