A Norfolk florist said moving to a new town after 18 years has given him a ‘new lease of life’.
Nicholas Godfrey-Cole owns Scent with Love florists with his husband Kevin. The pair opened their Fakenham florist on October 1 after trading in Hunstanton for the past 18 years.
Mr Godfrey-Cole who started his business back in 2002 has been a florist since 1995.
His passion for his career comes from being around flowers all his life. He used to go to church and was involved with flowers there, before moving into catering after school and part of the job was weddings and events.
He was sent off to college after six months as an apprentice and was the only male student there, where he was awarded best achiever.
He and Kevin moved to Fakenham two years ago as they were living above the shop and working ‘24/7’.
When covid hit and things changed he said he took some perspective on his life.
“The shop wasn’t overly busy because of covid and it seemed right for a change and Fakenham lacked a florist,” he said.
“With covid, weddings and events stopped and we wanted to be somewhere with good footfall and people buying flowers and that wasn’t the case in Hunstanton.
“It was to give me a new challenge. You plod through life and everything’s the same and we wanted to come to a new area for something fresher.
“It has given me a new lease of life, coming to an area not knowing how it would go.”
Scent with Love operates on Upper Market in the town.
Mr Godfrey-Cole said: “We are blown away with the number of people saying hello and good luck.
“The amount of orders we made and customers we have served, it has been incredible and we hope it continues.”
The florist has moved into where Rainbow Deli Norfolk used to operate. The deli said people in the town need to be more supportive of local businesses.
Mr Godfrey-Cole said he will be grateful for any trade.
“It will be busy and then there will be quiet parts, but we had that for 18 years so we know how that works,” he said.
“Anything we get we will be thankful for, especially during covid.
“We would like to thank people who will be using us and supporting us.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here