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Amblecote
Estate Holly Farm
The farm at "Amblecote" was started by the late Gaylard Hadwen who came to
Canada as a young man from England and France after graduating from Lé Lýcee at Lílle
in 1885. Upon arrival in Canada, Mr. Hadwen entered the Ontario Agricultural College at
Guelph and following graduation he came west to Vancouver Island and established a 100
acre form on the shores of Quamichan Lake. Located about three miles east of the town of
Duncan, British Columbia. He named his new farm Amblecote after the family's home in
England. In addition to the development of lush pastures and prize livestock, young holly
trees from the family gardens of Amblecote in England soon found their way to the new home
and farm being established in Canada. It is from this stock that the remainder of the
orchard has been developed. Holly from these trees was first cut and sold to the Canadian
market in 1886 and increasing amounts have been sold every year since. The orchard has
grown in size from just a few trees to about 1,400 which it has today, making by far the
largest holly farm in Canada.
In 1946 it passed to his daughter Suzanne and her husband Alan Stewart who carried on
until 1987 when they in turn passed it to their oldest son Gaylard and his wife Helma, who
are the present operators.
In order to produce top quality holly, all the trees at Amblecote are fertilized,
sprayed, irrigated and generally very carefully cared for all year round. Harvesting is
started in early November and continues until mid-December. At this time 15 to 20 pickers
are employed in the orchard cutting from the trees. An additional 15 people are employed
in the processing plant, sorting and packaging the holly for florists and supermarkets for
the Christmas trade. During that period shipments leave the farm daily by truck transport
and go forward by air freight, air parcel post and ground transport. Amblecote Estate
operates its own sales organization and offers a selection of seven different packages,
ranging from cartons of bulk and bagged holly for the wholesale florist trade, to deluxe
gift boxes for exclusive Christmas favours. It enjoys marketing outlets in every Canadian
Province and also ships to the United States, and in smaller amounts to many other places
throughout the world. The first overseas shipment was made in 1936 and consisted of some
500 pounds of bulk holly for Honolulu.
Holly has for so long been a part of the Western World's Christmas scene that many of
us tend to take it for granted. The joys and traditions of holly for Christmas might very
well have been denied to Canadians and many other people throughout the world if it were
not for the mild West Coast marine climate of the Duncan area on Southern Vancouver
Island, so necessary to its successful production. Each year after Christmas, letters come
to Amblecote from many far away places telling how the holly said Merry Christmas
in a very special and friendly way.
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