Family businesses share their history and spring tips

Nash and Sons

The Nash family has worked as florists in Maidenhead for 87 years, since 1929. Today, the business is run by fourth-generation Nash family member Sally Carey (née Nash), her husband and their sons, Ben and James. Ben’s 10-year-old son, Charlie, also helps out and recently accompanied his father to a flower market during the Easter holidays.

Talking to James about the family’s history, he said they have traced their ancestry to the 18th century. They also know that all previous generations worked in the horticulture or agriculture trades.

James spoke enthusiastically of his experience of working in a family business, describing it as ‘unique’. He was very positive about having such a long connection with Maidenhead and said that he and the family really enjoy being a ‘part of Maidenhead’s history’.

Nash and Sons informed us that English-grown lilies and narcissi from the Isle of Scilly are in season for spring.

Copas Farms

Geoffrey Copas and his sons, Richard and James, run Copas Farms. They manage almost 2,000 acres, including two Pick Your Own (PYO) farms in Cookham and Iver. The PYO farms grow a variety of seasonal fruit and vegetables, ready to pick from May until September.

Asparagus is the first spring crop to emerge; Geoffrey said: “I personally like it best served with a runny egg yolk”.

The earliest record of the Copas family is in Cookham in the 1600s. They became licensees of the Chequers Public House, in Cookham Dean, during the 1800s. They began farming on rented land in Cookham Rise and, by 1901, had purchased their first 11 acres. Geoffrey explained that his ancestor’s farms were small yet diverse. They reared sheep and pigs, grew potatoes and other produce to sell locally. Today, Copas Farms is larger and more specialised, growing wheat and oil seed rape for global markets.

Geoffrey mentioned that his seven-year-old grandson George, a tenth-generation Copas, has a 'huge interest in our tractors, diggers and the combine'.

Geoffrey added that he has kept the first tractor his ancestors bought (pictured), and two wooden cherry picking ladders, each with over 50 rungs.

Cherry trees still grow at Copas Farms but are pruned to ensure the cherries can be reached from ground level.