Family’s tribute to John Ravenscroft
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John and Liz Ravenscroft
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John Ravenscroft
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John and Liz Ravenscroft
Here we print in full, the family’s tribute to John Ravenscroft, who has died aged 89.
John Ravenscroft, who has died aged 89, was well known in the industry for his pioneering work at Bridgemere Garden World. His passion for horticulture began early and he felt very fortunate in being able devote his life to it, leaving school for a gardening job at 16. By a stroke of good fortune he was posted to Holland during National Service, where he learned Dutch, explored local nurseries and formed lifelong friendships which were to prove invaluable when Britain joined the Common Market and cross-border trade opened up.
Returning to England he began growing bareroot crops in his free time, when another piece of luck arrived: a small parcel of land for sale at Bridgemere. This proved ideal for growing roses. John's efforts had already won him friends amongst local collectors, who let him use their budwood and introduced him to fellow enthusiasts, the beginning of his customer base. Roses were popular in the 1960s and John made sure that his list included the latest introductions, a habit he would continue as his business grew.
The first café at a garden centre
By the 1980s the industry had moved to containerised production and Bridgemere stocked a wide range of plants, most of them grown on site, attracting national attention. John's wife Liz developed the indoor side of the business, amongst other things adding what was probably the first café at a garden centre. At the time it was thought that customers would not travel more than half an hour to visit a retail site, which posed a problem for Bridgemere with its rural location. John and Liz set out to prove that wrong by making it into a destination, the success of which has influenced garden centres to this day.
They drew inspiration from visits to America and aimed to recreate the range and standards of customer service which they found there. If it worked in a country the size of the US it could surely work here, and so display gardens appeared, catering expanded and the shop became less utilitarian and more focussed on lifestyle: innovations which found a receptive audience at a time when there were so many new home-owners eager to improve their gardens.
Own gardening TV programme
As others followed the same course John looked for new ways to stand out, with show gardens at Chelsea and the garden festivals of the period, often on behalf of newspapers or organisations like the WI. He produced his own gardening TV programme and sold it to regional television companies. Realising that independent growers could not easily compete with the scale of Dutch exporters, he used his contacts to join their auction system as a member. It did not endear him to intermediaries who were used to taking their cut, but the growers liked dealing with him and it gave UK plant lovers access to their material at competitive prices.
John's knowledge was extensive and he shared it widely, both at Bridgemere and as a member of trade associations and the RHS. His reputation attracted ambitious young people and he made it his business to train them up and send them on to careers elsewhere in the industry. Hard work and enthusiasm were the qualities he looked for, and in later life those friendships and their many success stories were a source of great pleasure to him.
A second career
John retired and sold Bridgemere in 2006. A second career followed at his arboretum next door, growing trees which he thought deserved a wider audience; the increased range of magnolias now available in the UK owes much to his work. He was pleased when Bridgemere was subsequently acquired by Blue Diamond Group, and delighted to learn of their success at this year's Chelsea Flower Show - picking up where he left off.
Liz predeceased him in 2022.
Read also: - Gardenforum News - People - Family confirm death of John Ravenscroft