A garden centre is celebrating its 60th anniversary with a specially designed mug.
Otter Garden Centres marked this milestone with an exclusive limited edition Royal Worcester mug, collaboratively designed with popular artist Hannah Dale.
Ms Dale is the acclaimed artist behind the award-winning brand Wrendale, known for its unique greeting cards, stationery, and giftware.
Excited about the collaboration, Ms Dale said: "I was excited to be asked to conceive the artwork for Otter Garden Centres special mug.
"The brief was to try and paint something that spoke about family while taking inspiration from a Coleridge poem and of course, the otter.
"I loved working on this and am so pleased with how the finished mug has turned out."
The centerpiece of the design is a lively otter with its family, amidst a scatter of delicate forget-me-nots.
These subtle floral accents hint at the renowned Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, born in the same town where Otter Garden Centres started, Ottery St Mary.
The forget-me-nots draw inspiration from Coleridge’s well-known poem, The Keepsake, symbolizing enduring love.
The artwork also features a smaller cameo illustration at the back of the mug - a playful otter popping out from the water which the team believes symbolizes the River Otter running alongside the garden centre.
Otter Garden Centres' managing director, Jacqui Taylor, expresses her gratitude for this artistic milestone.
Ms Taylor said: "We want to say a huge thank you to Hannah.
"We’ve been stocking her delightful designs at our garden centres for a long time, and they are always a big hit with customers.
"We feel this is a really special way to mark our anniversary, collaborating with a renowned British artist using prestigious Royal Worcester fine bone china to produce a truly homegrown product that celebrates our connection with wildlife, the environment, and, of course, the plants we grow."
The garden centre will be commemorating this anniversary year with a series of events, including committing to perform 60 good deeds throughout the year with initiatives including support for local community and school gardens.
The unique limited-edition mugs were first given out to team members across their seven branches including Lymington, the branch which joined the Otter family in 2002.
The mugs are now available for purchase instore at £12.99 each.
The Otter St Mary centre has grown significantly in the past four decades, expanding to seven garden centres in the South West, and three growing nurseries.
Around 80 per cent of the plants sold are grown by the centres themselves.
The establishments have taken significant steps towards adopting more sustainable and greener practices including the installation of solar panels and biomass boilers.
Family-owned and operated, Otter Garden Centres is run by the founders' daughters and grandchildren.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here