As we celebrate this milestone, we invite you to join us in reminiscing with our Otter teams as they share their cherished memories, reflections, and emotions from their time at Otter Garden Centres.
I’m from Dartmouth originally, we moved to Ottery in 1982. When we moved I got a job in Exeter in a health food shop where I made a long term friend of one of the ladies called Emily. She knew Marilyn’s Mum, and she suggested after I left and had my son that I should go and see Marilyn and tell her Emily sent me.
I visit the garden centre and saw Marilyn and asked if there were any jobs available. Marilyn remembered Emily and told me I could start on Monday!
I started working weekends in the shop, on the tills and stocking up, then I moved into the garden centre, working with Marilyn. She used to call me her ‘right hand lady’. I worked in the garden centre for around 20 years and moved into furniture when a job came up. I’ve been here nearly 14 years.
I remember Marilyn had an Alsatian, called Aysha, who would like to lie on the floor in the entrance/exit of the old shop, she was a lovely dog.
Once when we were really busy, Marilyn called to ask me to come in and came to collect me in her Mercedes!
When I started in the garden centre it was just a shed, with one door in, and one door out. We’d get really cold working outside, we’d turn blue! When the new building went up with heating, it was real luxury compared to before.
We used to go the ‘pump house’ in the garden centre for our lunch break, we’d keep our bags, coats and lunch boxes there. I remember one time I went to get my lunch box, opened my bag and out crawled a mouse! It had been helping itself to my cheese scone.
The shop was a lot more cluttered in the early days, now there’s a lot more space and its laid out better. Although there are lots of other branches now, and everything is more professionally run, the business still has that lovely family vibe. At one point I used to babysit Sabine (Marilyn’s granddaughter) and I’ve watched all the family grow up and get involved in the business.
I loved working with Marilyn, she was great fun to work with and always appreciated what we did, she always thanked us for our work. Working in the garden centre was such a great education. I knew nothing beforehand about gardening. I learnt about different soils and plants. I do a lot of gardening at home.
There have been lots of summer parties, and our internal awards, The Otters. And the hot air balloon ride, which was a reward for good customer service. We had champagne on the flight and breakfast afterwards at the Jack in the Green. Really special times.
We always used to dress up for ‘Old Ottery Week’. It was an annual event and we’d wear old dresses, bloomers, camisoles – the whole caboodle! And there was a fashion show in the coffee shop. I remember we had to dance the Macarena.
When Jacqui got married, she was living on site in the White House. She came down on the morning of her wedding and stood outside of the shop so we could see her dress and wish her good luck.
I really love the people, the team spirit. The family element is still very much in evidence, and it’s great to be appreciated. I’ve loved the variety, too. When I was in the garden centre, we didn’t only work in one place, we’d help out wherever we were needed, particularly in the quieter winter months.
A huge thank you goes out to Cherie for sharing her wonderful memories and lots of photos with us.
Her stories truly bring the spirit of Otter Garden Centres to life! We’re so grateful for her dedication and passion.
Keep an eye out for more heartwarming tales from our amazing team as we continue our 60th Anniversary celebrations!
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