Four Oaks Nurseries was set up on a 2 acre greenfield site by brothers Stuart and Arthur Coutts in 1964 for the production of bedding plants. The brothers pioneered the use of supplementary lighting in seedling production, working closely with Manchester University’s Botany Department at Jodrell Bank and Norweb, the local Electricity Board. The first “Four Oaks Open Day” was organised in 1971 by Norweb to promote the use of growing rooms in commercial horticulture. Over 400 local growers visited and 4 trade exhibitors had a presence.

By 1979, there were around 80 exhibitors and at this stage Four Oaks took over the organisation and it became the “Four Oaks Trade Show”, with Pat Coutts (pictured) at the helm. The 1980s were the boom years. Huge numbers of small growers and grower retailers were the backbone of the industry and at this stage the show was one day only. Two years of preview evenings proved the need for an extra day and in 1991 during a recession the show became a 2 day event which was a turning point. This brought in the European exhibitors with masses of hardy stock, mature trees and Mediterranean plants, changing the profile of the show.

The business was bought by Richard Harding (pictured) in 2002 which secured the future of the site and a period of investment followed for both the show and the nursery. Upon the sad death of Pat in August 2021 the management of the show has been transferred to Christina Walker and Karen Kelly, both of whom have worked on the trade show for many years.

2022 will now be the 50th anniversary year after the prolonged restrictions of Covid-19 led to the difficult decision to postpone the 2020 and 2021 events. In the interim the site has been improved with investment in glasshouse electrics and fibre optic Wifi. Now the hard work begins to make the 50th anniversary event truly the best ever, bouncing back after the Covid-19 pandemic and as a fitting tribute to Pat.