Amazingly resilient flowers survive storm Goretti

Sat out in the Atlantic the Isles of Scilly are used to dealing with storms and strong winds. It is not unusual for us to have to think about what needs to be secured and put away when a big blow is due. Last Thursday, we had started the routine securing of things as strong winds had been forecasted but as the day went on it became increasingly clear that storm Goretti needed to be taken very seriously.

Even though nobody at Churchtown Farm has a long commute, for everyone it's less than a mile, we closed early to ensure our team could get home in good time. Thank goodness we did. After an eery calm, just after 5pm the wind speed increased dramatically and it was quite obvious that things were on the move outside.

Churchtown Farm house sits in a prominent position with amazing views but it is very exposed. If you are ever on St Martin's glance up our roof, you'll see the gable end roof tiles are clipped down with extra fixings. Very fortunately, these clips did their job and we only lost a handful of tiles at the back of the house.

The next day we were very grateful to have our power and broadband reconnected by lunchtime and were then able to read a steady stream of messages from the outside world checking we were OK. Thank you all very much, we had been feeling quite isolated with no broadband or mobile signal, contact with the outside world was very welcome.

After checking how we were most people went on to ask about the flowers. You might assume that delicate little flowers like narcissi, that are grown outdoors, wouldn't stand a chance in such winds but they are remarkably bendy! Damage from wind tends to show in the head and you have to wait until the flowers start to open before you can see it fully. The damage tends to be much worse when there is wind with no rain. Because the really strong winds of Goretti blew for a relatively short time (seemed quite long when the house tiles starting shifting!) and there was plenty of rain to lubricate the flowers, we were optimistic and a week later on we aren't seeing too much damage.

Another thing that helped protect the flowers is the tall evergreen hedges that grow around our small fields. Some of these took a battering but they certainly did a wonderful job at protecting the bulb fields.

Throughout the Isle of Scilly and Cornwall communities have worked together to look after each other and start to clear and repair the damage. If you want to read more about the clear up on Scilly here is a link to a BBC news item - Isles of Scilly community 'outshines itself'.