BANQUETS & BOUQUETS
A creative florist delivering hampers of fresh flowers, fruit and vegetables
Peer inside an austere former Victorian laundry in Battersea and you will be met with the unexpectedly joyous sight of burgeoning bunches of British sweet peas being wrapped in brown paper and packed into boxes along with resplendent kitchen-garden summer produce. This is the studio of Lucy Vail (below), an independent florist who is fast becoming London’s woman of choice for imaginative installations: Princess Eugenie asked her to adorn the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party-themed marquee at her wedding in 2018; the Lord Mayor has commissioned her to be his official petal-provider this year, including creating floral displays for the annual Guildhall banquet; and her free-form arrangements appear in institutions across the capital, from Wild by Tart to Claridge’s. Now, by dispatching hampers of fresh ingredients and flowers, she is bringing her blooms to city-dwellers staying at home, too. charlotte brook Lucy Vail Floristry (www.lucyvailfloristry.com).