Creating and maintaining the spaces
where you enjoy the moments that matter
Creating and maintaining the spaces where you enjoy the moments that matter
Office Team
Chris Stone – Managing Director
Qualifications: NC Hort, Mental Health First Aider, FAA Level 3 Emergency First Aid at Work (RQF), Committee Member of Association of Professional Landscapers.
Drinks: Tea or coffee, white, thank you.
Biscuits: Almost anything, (no nuts) please don’t leave me with the packet though!
All I really wanted was a pickup truck, a mower, and a dog, oh, and a gardening round, what I’ve ended up with is slight deviation to that.
I used to ride around on my Raleigh Flyer, mowing lawns and weeding the local’s gardens in my school holidays. That all fell by the wayside as I grew up, the closest I got to horticulture was a pub garden.
I ended up working for a short stint in London’s money markets and that focused my mind as to what I wanted from life: it certainly wasn’t to put a suit on every day! So, I left the city and enrolled in a course at Merrist Wood College, spending the spring and summer prior to this, working at my girlfriend’s parents, wholesale nursery.
I was in love, and I didn’t care who knew it! Horticulture, had me by the short and curlies. There was no getting away from it, I was hooked.
The year at Merrist Wood flew by in the blink of an eye. I hadn’t really thought about laying paving, brickwork, or fences, it was cool! Nowhere near as cool as plants, but, there aren’t many things that are to be fair.
Whilst I studied, laid paving, and aced plant idents, I built up a maintenance round from my trusty Austin Mini van and then graduated to a rusty old Peugeot pickup (yup, I had my pickup).
Fast forward nearly 29 years (as I write this) and things are very different, I work with my wife, Jo (she was my girlfriend all those years ago) and my brother, David, and we have teams of gardeners and landscapers busy in gardens across Surrey, West Sussex and Hampshire.
My passion for gardens, both the hard and soft elements, has grown even greater, my desire to grow a business in this wonderful industry, and work with all the amazing people within it is as great as ever.
What gives me the greatest pleasure now is seeing the amazing work my tremendous teams carry out, to the joy of clients and designers. It’s seeing the staff grow in skills, knowledge, and confidence, both professionally and personally. It’s seeing them realise that they are doing a job that matters.
In my spare time: I love to work in my garden, walk my 2 dogs: Charlie and Tilly, ideally a long walk on a beach or to a pub and I love to watch football, or most of the time anyway!
David Stone – Lead Designer/Operations Manager
Qualifications: Adv. Dip. Garden Design, FAA Level 3 Emergency First Aid at Work (RQF)
Drinks: Earl Grey with a dash of milk please
Biscuits: You can’t beat a Chocolate Digestive!
David knew he wanted to design gardens when he was 17, greenkeeping for work experience whilst at school led to a couple of jobs at local nurseries before a 4-year stint at 2 major garden centres Merrist Wood and Brinsbury Colleges, and a brother starting up a garden and landscape business it was all coming together. Building, maintaining and designing gardens over the last 18 years has allowed David to realise what works not only aesthetically, but in real life and his gardens are designed to last. A huge dollop of passion coupled with a hard-working ethic and a perfectionist’s streak means he knows how to get the job done and give the client the garden they’ve been dreaming of.
David is also a committee member of the Surrey Garden Design Group.
Jo Stone – Office Manager
Qualifications: Mental Health First Aider, FAA Level 3 Emergency First Aid at Work (RQF)
Drinks: Black Tea please
Biscuits: Something gluten free nowadays, unfortunately!
Horticulture is in Jo’s DNA; her parents are retired nursery owners (the nursery Chris worked on before moving on to Merrist Wood). Jo has been there through it all and is one of the reasons Bushy Business is what it is today. Jo’s background is in office administration, and this included running her parent’s nursery office for 5 years before taking maternity leave when she had their 2 boys, Ben, and then Daniel a couple of years later. Sometime after this, Jo came and worked with Chris and David full time, she has always carried out the bookwork and wages but as the boys grew, she then ran the office and now oversees the financials, as well as constantly reminding Chris to ‘breathe’.
In her spare time: Chris and Jo’s boys are quite self-sufficient now (as self-sufficient as 18- and 20-year. old boys get) so they got an extra dog! In truth Jo doesn’t get a lot of spare time but she enjoys reading and long walks with the dogs, ending at a welcoming pub. If Chris would ever take a break, she would love to travel a bit or even just go on holiday, somewhere warm!
Natalie Frawley – Office Manager (Head of Customer Delight!)
Qualifications: GNVQ Level 3 Business Studies, FAA Level 3 Emergency First Aid at Work (RQF)
Drinks: Tea, white or Coffee, with a sweetener if you’ve got one!
Biscuits: Fruit Shortcake.
Natalie started with us when our office was a summerhouse in Chris and Jo’s back garden, back in 2016. She often recalls that she sat there wondering what she was going to do, the phone didn’t ring, there were very few emails to respond to and it was all a bit quiet. How things have changed! The phone doesn’t stop, the emails keep coming, and she wonders what she was thinking when she wished to be busier!
Natalie’s happy voice is who you will most likely hear on the phone, or she will answer your emails, making sure your enquiries are dealt with as swiftly as possible. She runs the office, booking in appointments, dealing with suppliers, keeps us in check, uniform ordering and supply, her job role is endless!
In her spare time: With 3, sport mad, boys, Natalie doesn’t have much in the way of spare time, she’s always up to something and its almost never relaxing!
Katie Maxey – HR & Risk Advisor
Qualifications: BA Hons in Business Management, Level 4 NVQ in Occupational Health & Safety Practice, NEBOSH General Certificate in Health & Safety, Mental Health First Aider.
Drinks: Peppermint and liquorice.
Biscuits: Anything with Chocolate on!
Katie joined us 3 years ago, with a background in Health and Safety and HR, so we got her to help with the financials! And very adept she was, but maternity leave meant that we had a Katie sized hole and when she returned, we decided that Health and Safety and HR needed someone dedicated to the cause. Her days are now full of appraisals, reviews, researching new legislation, meetings, emails, employment contracts, but she seems to really enjoy it, thank goodness! Katie also organises all of our team alignment days, and staff training days and socials, such as the annual Awayday, Christmas meal and the family BBQ, all of which run seamlessly.
In her spare time: When not dealing with her busy family life, Katie volunteers for the school charity (PTFA) and she says, ‘that seems to take up most of my spare time!’.
Sarah White – Office Assistant
Drinks: Very milky Tea (dishwater looks more appealing!)
Biscuits: Dark Chocolate Digestive will do nicely, thank you.
When we need a website update, a social media post, an advert knocked-up out of thin air, or an update on the England’s cricketers, we turn to Sarah.
Sarah has a wealth of experience in all of this witchcraft (Chris’ words) and conjures up exactly what’s needed, when its needed. As well as this Sarah helps with office duties, collating information and dishing out cheeky comments.
In her spare time: Golf! Thats all you need to know. But there is rugby, oh and cricket, oh and a bit of travel. Theres also volunteering for the RSPCA, and just generally being about as sociable as anyone can be.
Aimee Dunn – Bookkeeper
Drinks: Tea (herbal or normal with a bit of oat milk)
Biscuits: I do love an Oreo!
Aimee has not long joined us, but she is a very welcome addition to the office, and indeed BB, team! With her sound knowledge of bookkeeping she will be kept very busy in her new role, much to Jo’s delight.
In my spare time: I enjoy photography and going on lots of muddy dog walks with my family.
Charlie & Tilly – Guard Dogs!!
Qualifications: Expert at sleeping.
Drinks: Water, chilled.
Biscuits: Anything & Everything.
Charlie is still young although she has a very chilled attitude. She enjoys the relaxed working life in the office, mainly sleeping in the sunny spots when she can find them.
Tilly is the latest and very bouncy addition to the team. She is inquisitive and loves people once she gets to know you. A rather excitable pup but she is only young.
Frank – Part time office dog
Qualifications: Sniffing out mice and anything else he can catch scent of.
Drinks: Water
Biscuits: Anything left lying around or you’ve left unattended in your bag!
