Fewer flowers due to extreme weather, Shropshire Petal Farm warns

11 minutes ago Charlie Stubbs Shropshire BBC The organisers of Shropshire Petal Fields said they still planned to open as usual, between August 7 to August 16. Visitors to a flower farm have been asked to manage expectations as the recent weather has caused crops to struggle. Shropshire Petal Fields, near Newport, said its flowers had been put "under significant stress" because of this year's cold spring followed by heatwaves. As a result, the business said the flowers would be "much shorter and [more] widely spread" than usual, but there would still be "plenty of colour to enjoy." The farm normally hosts rows and rows of delphiniums, cornflowers, sunflowers and wildflowers with thousands of visitors arriving to admire the views and to take pictures. Last year it opened a week earlier that ususal due to the dry spring. Ashley Evers-Swindel, head of marketing, said it was important the company was transparent with visitors. "You only want to show people the best, but at the same time, as a team, we've been looking at the field for the past couple of days. "We just knew that we just needed to share it with the public." The company added there is still many things they have on offer, including a woodland walk, picnic spots and dedicated dog days. Evers-Swindell said that people could refund their ticket if the news makes them not want to go anymore. "Everyone will have had an email from us and just to give them the option," she added. "We're hoping you still want to support us and support the whole event because it would be wonderful to have you there, but at the same time we totally understand if it's not what your expectation was." More on this story