"Trained horticultural people, you are like gold dust" was the greeting from Reinhard Beihler at Baytree Garden Centre for five Colegrave Seabrook Foundation funded students at the start of their business insight development trip, part of their Smart Garden Products sponsorship.

Abi Green (Pershore College), Ben Sayers (CAFRE), Rebecca Gilroy (CAFRE), Alfie Smith (Eden Project) and Naomi Hughes (CAFRE), were accompanied by three trustees from The Colegrave Seabrook Foundation and joined by two young colleagues, one from Gilroy Landscapes in Northern Ireland and another working at Kerley & Co, plant breeders, based in Cambridgeshire.

The scholarship winners had been invited to visit Smart Garden Products as part of their scholarship award and in addition they also visited Baytree Garden Centre, Bridge Farm Group, Springfield Festival Gardens, Taylors Bulbs and of course Smart Garden Products, all hosted the group for a tour of their facilities and gave the students a great insight into their various businesses.

Paris Natar, commented, “As a significant supplier to UK garden centres, at Smart we are delighted to be playing our small part in helping to bring bright new talent into the industry. Hopefully, the visit to the heartbeat of our business will inspire and live long in the memory of Abi, Naomi, Rebecca, Alfie and Ben.”

Rebecca Gilroy spoke for all the students when she said “We have all gained so much from this trip and have had the chance to see inside some businesses that we had previously no knowledge of. We are so grateful for the opportunity and the chance to get to know some of the other scholarship winners.”

Colegrave Seabrook Foundation Trustee, Neil Gow said, “Developing student and industry integration is vital to the future of our sector and forward-thinking businesses like those we visited are actively supporting the next generation of horticulturalists with experiences such as these. Without their support and the freely giving of their time, it would not have been possible to provide the students with this extremely worthwhile experience.”