2:56pm Wednesday 13th June 2007
A contract with Bluestone worth £200,000 is helping a budding horticultural business to become a blossoming success.
Wizo Trees, run by Adrian Thorne, of Clarbeston Road, has been awarded a contract to source and supply Bluestone with almost a quarter of a million trees, shrubs and other plants.
"It's a significant boost to a fledgling business," said Adrian, a former vet who branched out into the tree business three years ago.
"If Bluestone hadn't come along I would still be plotting my tree business, but the scale of this opportunity has been a great help. I've also had to take on casual labour to do the potting, which has provided work for quite a few local people."
Adrian has to source 97,000 native tree and shrub saplings, 14,000 ornamental shrubs, 115,000 bulbs, 5,000 aquatic plants and 1,600 semi-mature ornamental and native trees for the first phase of the development.
Another £100,000 worth of plants is required for the second phase, but Adrian is undaunted by the scale of the task in hand.
The trees around the lodges are all native species, including alder, aspen, oak, ash, lime, willows and birch. This part of the scheme mirrors the plants and trees already growing around the site and was agreed between the landscape architects, Pembrokeshire County Council and Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority.
The actual planting will be carried out by local farmers Martin Brodie and Philip Merriman, with new job opportunities likely to arise as a result.
Martin said: "We'll probably be going into partnership to form a company, and we'll be looking to employ at least four people long-term to help with the ongoing maintenance."
The other member of the landscaping team is machine operator Paul Harden, from Templeton, who'll be creating the bunds between the lodges.
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