Crûg Farm plants rare and unusual plants in safe hands with City Link

09/01/2012

Tucked away in a remote corner of North Wales is one of the UK’s best kept secrets among plant lovers.

A jewel in the country’s horticultural crown the multi award winning Crûg Farm Plants in near Caernarfon has a unique offering, with thousands of varieties of rare and unusual wild plants from all over the world – collected as seed personally by nursery owners Bleddyn and Sue Wynn-Jones.

This nursery is in a league of its own. With a string of accolades to its name, last year alone it picked up a Chelsea Gold Medal and the most coveted of all The RHS President’s Award at the Chelsea Flower Show. This came on the back of an RHS Gold Medal earlier in the year.

Not ones to rest on their laurels Bleddyn and Sue continue to travel the world in a bid to expand their offerings. Among the many places they have travelled to are Vietnam, Japan, the Himalayas, Colombia, Taiwan, Guatemala and Korea - working with botanical experts and  conservation authorities to seek out and protect the rarest and most unusual plants they can find.

The couple bring the seeds back from their native countries to the UK. Customers who order from Crûg Farm Plants are sold plants grown from seeds nurtured by Bleddyn and Sue.

The couple started selling plants just over 20 years ago. Five years ago they felt that the infrastructure required was in place hence moved into mail order.

It was also about this time the UK’s premium express delivery company City Link came on board. The growth in online sales in recent years has resulted in ever-increasing competition amongst retailers. With Bleddyn and Sue taking orders from across the UK, Ireland and Europe on a daily basis they needed a solid, reliable courier that fully understood their business needs and responded accordingly.

The vast majority of Crûg Farm’s deliveries are business to consumer and are handled through City Link’s Next Day service.

But the nursery also takes regular orders from across Europe including Spain, Portugal, France and Germany. The majority are private customers but there are also orders from arboretums, public gardens and nurseries. The European deliveries are also handled by City Link through its NetExpress service, of which it is a founding partner.

Sue said: “We have a great relationship with City Link and we have every confidence in the company.  99% of the time there are no problems with deliveries, but on the rare occasion when there is, the response from the City Link team is fantastic. This of course gives us great confidence in the company as any delays or non-deliveries from City Link also affect our reputation. Hence if they liaise any problems to us, we can notify our customers which is, at the end of the day, what customers expect when things do go wrong.”

She added: “City Link’s customer relations are second to none. In my experience of the company, if there is a problem they address it straight away. It goes without saying it is vital our goods get from A to B, but because they are living plants the way they are handled in transit is also crucial.”

Understanding the transportation needs of Crûg Farm is vital among City Link employees at all levels – from account executives, through to the depot managers and the drivers making the deliveries.  The plants have to be handled with care, kept at a consistent temperature and not subject to heat or cold air. When they are being exported to countries outside of the EU, such as Norway and Switzerland, the driver needs to produce the legal fumigation certificate, proof of Crûg Farm’s status as a certified breeder, so customs officers are satisfied there is no risk of cross contamination or disease through transportation.

Sue said: “As with any business, it is vital to us that our customers receive their orders within reasonable time and in the condition they left us. Of course as with any business City Link do face problems. But in our experience the company’s handling of problems is excellent. We receive very few complaints from customers about non-delivery, or about the condition of the plants when they arrive and this is crucial to us and a good indication that we are in safe hands.

“We have had an excellent relationship with City Link over the past five years and we look forward to that relationship continuing for many more years to come”.