The Potting Shed is at Burtown House on Sundays

When Ciara Durham from Carnalway in Kilcullen set up her Potting Shed stall at the Sunday Burtown House Food & Craft Market last week, it was the latest stage in an aptly organic growth of her business, writes Brian Byrne.

The stall, selling plants and decorative plant and floral arrangements, was the last thing she had expected to be doing just a year ago. But like for so many others, the pandemic had necessitated a directional move from the workshops small business she began developing from her home some four years ago.

"They were wreath-making workshops, organised around times like Christmas, which I had to stop doing when the pandemic hit," she says. "So I began making wreaths for people to order."

That led to a pop-up shop last Christmas which was very successful. At Easter she did similar seasonal arrangements to order, and then branched out into funeral flowers and bouquets. The reaction prompted her to try out a stall, and she had such a lovely day last weekend that she's back at Burtown House this Sunday.

Ciara has lived in Carnalway for 20 years, having moved to Kilcullen from Dundrum. Her background was in retail, merchandising and marketing, and her lifetime love of gardening and having a potting shed at her country home provided her with place to 'escape' to while raising her family of three.

"They're now grown up and busy and I have more time, which gave me the opportunity to develop this business. I hadn't expected it to go this way, but we'll see how it develops."

The Sunday market at Burtown House has been operating since May. A small but special group of stall-holders have been attracting visitors from the south Kildare locality and also from further afield. With the famed gardens available and the weekend dining at the Green Barn booking solidly, it's a nice option for a Sunday morning.

And meanwhile back at The Potting Shed, Ciara will be, as regulations allow, continuing with the seasonal gardening courses and craft workshops where her business all started. 

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