Interview with Rozz Darlington
An interview with florist, flower grower and MAFS contestant Rozz Darlington
If you’re a fan of the Channel 4 show Married at First Sight then you will no doubt agree that it was fabulous to watch Rozz Darlington’s journey this past season. We loved her very real and honest participation as she embarked on the journey of marrying a stranger on one of the UK’s most watched reality shows. She shone as one of the most genuine participants from the 2023 cast. During her time on the show she helped shine a spotlight on floristry and flower growing, and we wanted to chat with her about her experience, her floral businesses, and her plans for the future.
Rozz is a florist and flower grower based in Cheshire, she runs her businesses, Rosaline’s Flowers and The Flower Paddock, side by side from her family home near Crewe. When given the opportunity to make use of some space on her family's converted dairy farm she grabbed it with both hands and went all in on her flower growing and floristry businesses.
It’s been great watching you on the recent series of MAFS, you did so well, we love how honest and open you were throughout. We’re sure your MAFS experience was a far cry from your day to day life as a florist. Tell us, how did you get into the industry, where did your floristry journey start?
“Ahhh thank you, gosh where to start…well I didn’t really know what I wanted to do after I left school, so I went to college and just followed others really, I've always been one of those people that follows, I just didn't know what I was going to do or what direction I wanted to go in. I was never good at making my own decisions. My friend went on a childcare course and I thought it sounded good, something I’d enjoy, so I went into that. I actually became a nanny, and I loved that job. I was lucky with who I worked for, it was very me, it was in the countryside, they had horses and chickens, and the lady I worked for was really into her garden and flowers. But after a while it became a bit too much, yes I had a nice car, I was earning good money, but I was never seeing my family or doing what I loved doing. So I thought about what else I might want to do, I chatted to my Dad about it and with his help I came up with the idea of exploring the flowers. I loved flowers, so I made the decision to be a florist. I worked in a florist shop and then eventually set up Rosaline’s Flowers.
Covid hit and that's when I decided that I needed to jump in and go fully self-employed, now or never! Looking back it was terrifying actually, making these big decisions, and that was one of my actual own decisions! I did question myself, worried because no one had advised me to do it, I kept asking myself ‘is this the right thing?’, but I got brave and started buying my flowers from Holland.
That was hard, with Brexit and Covid etc that felt quite overwhelming, all of the costs and so on, and things just weren’t coming in right, so I started to question how I can make it work better for me and how it could be more sustainable. I made a business proposal to my dad about becoming a British flower grower, and that's how The Flower Paddock was born. My dad would only consider it if I came with a business plan, “it needs to be profitable if you're going to take land”. My dad's pretty serious when it comes to business, even from when we were younger, with budgeting etc, we all had spreadsheets! We all know how much money we need to earn, how much our bills are and what’s going out, so we're quite responsible with money, but you need that in business don't you, and in life in general?!”
Absolutely! Sounds like you have some great foundations for starting a business. And how has it gone since then, how have you found building the business up to now?
Yeah it’s been good, it’s been hard and a bit crazy but it’s built up so well. I don’t have a walk in shop, so I don't get the footfall, and work really all comes from social media, so I found I had to keep putting myself out there constantly, always posting and sharing things. People really don't see that it’s like a full time job in itself, it was madness sometimes how much I was having to post and share on my stories. I did build it up over time, but yes it's a lot, it’s like constantly pitching. I do enjoy the social media side, but that's obviously grown so much recently so I'm now finding it a bit hard to keep on top of.
It's hard when you’re first starting out, it's difficult trying to find your feet, you've got to be brave. I’m lucky I had the opportunity to start as I did but you've still got to go for it, you can’t do it half heartedly. You’ve just got to try. Even though the land belongs to my parents I still had to try hard, I still had to give 100% and go all in. Which I think is important, you have to don’t you? And I think we really should encourage more young people to do that and go into business. Business is a scary thing, especially when you have a house and bills to pay and things to cover. When you start employing people and need more help it can be hard, but it’s really good fun, and you’ve just got to keep going and be brave, and believe it’s going to work out.
I didn’t actually have any horticulture experience when I started The Flower Paddock, but I just think if you've got drive, if you’ve got charisma and an ability to learn, then you can do anything. I learnt as I went along. I joined Flowers From The Farm who helped me so much, I soon got to know that my soil can grow ranunculus, and I know I'm not that good at anemones! But never be too disheartened with the failures, you’ve just to keep trying things. I love that you can look around and actually see your growth, the beds are coming on more, the plants are coming through, you can see how far it’s come. I do find it’s a bit harder in floristry, I feel like everything just goes out, so you can't compare it in the same way.
We now work with other growers in the summer, and a lot of my time is spent in the paddock, which is just incredible once it gets going. Christmas time is pretty mad with classes and wreath orders, we do lots of postal wreaths, and DIY kits. It just all goes a bit crazy, and you've just got to try and make it through, I was cutting foliage at 6am this morning in the dark. But I just thought, ‘well it's just what you've got to do’. Then we have weddings during the summer months, and then the paddock is so amazing from spring all the way until late autumn. We do more classes in the summer, over Mother’s Day etc, and we get to use the flowers from the paddock which I love.
Social media! You’ve obviously moved into a completely new world with this recently since appearing on the show, what’s your take on it? Do you enjoy it? Do you do it all yourself??
“Yeah I do! Well for now, it's just all about time! When I first started doing flowers I had time, well not loads, but it seems like now when I look back I think, God, I had time!
It can feel a bit overwhelming because I'm running my social media for The Flower Paddock, Rosaline’s flowers, and my Rozz Darlington account, which has been a bit crazy, so it can feel quite a lot, but I do enjoy it, it’s your connection to people isn't it?
Social media is huge, and it's just getting bigger all the time, you've got to be on it haven't you?
But I love to delegate, and sometimes I get a bit of help. Ella who works for me is young and really likes social media so I ask her ideas about things to post. I do like reels, and I normally know exactly what I want. I just post as if I’m talking to people, they know how I write, how I talk, so it’s easy.
We’re probably mostly on Instagram and Tik Tok now, more than any other platforms. We’re just always looking for new ways to make it fun, fun things to do and post.”
It stood out to us instantly that to go on a national reality TV show you must be a pretty brave and bold person, with plenty of ambition and drive, do you think that comes through in your business also?
Probably! My parents have always had businesses, we grew up around that, and they did so well, we watched them build it up. It's hard because as a child you see them as so successful, then I think ‘can I get there?’, it does give you something really high to aim for, which is good because it does drive you. Although you do kind of build it up and build it up, always striving for more, and I still feel like I'm literally at the bottom of this massive mountain. But then actually I am sat here having this interview with you, and you don't always stop to recognise that do you? We don't tend to look back enough really and see what we've done. We don't like to look back, we only want to look forward because that's a positive. But sometimes I think no, look back and just see how far up the mountain you are.
What have you found is your biggest challenge when it comes to running a floral business?
“I think my biggest challenge is probably my mindset, and comparison, it’s not healthy is it? Just trying not to compare things in your business, and actually in your life in general. You're on your own path, you're on your own journey, and it really doesn't matter as long as you stay focussed. I try to keep my mind straight, know which direction I'm going in and be focussed on that and stay honest with myself. Being realistic about what's right for you and what’s not. I think I learnt that and showed it well on the show. It can be scary and hard to follow your own decisions but it’s right, and that’s different for everyone.”
What’s next for you and your business?
“I’m not entirely sure yet, it’s all a bit up in the air at the moment. It’s been really busy with events and things after the show but I’ll obviously always have my business and carry on building that. I think when it comes to the business, I’d like to maybe take on more help, maybe a head florist, so I can also take on new things and everything can carry on running as normal even if i’m not always here.
Maybe for Valentine's we could look into teaming up with Ann Summers, or something like that, obviously I'm very sex positive, so we could do bouquets and then maybe give an extra little treat! I love that it’s something a bit cheeky, to encourage a happy, healthy relationship.
I don’t really know what will come from my time on MAFS yet, but I would love to bridge the gap between rural and more of the celebrity lifestyle, maybe some presenting. I want to show others that you can do both! It doesn't have to be one or the other.
I’d like to encourage a younger audience to be more involved in the growing side of business, and to show them that they can do business. Maybe bring a younger audience to more rural shows. I also think it’s important to encourage young girls to believe they can do it, and can do it successfully, and to believe in themselves. You don't need to be the brightest one at school, you just need to have drive and a passion for something.
But obviously I'd really love to just encourage people to be honest and be open and not be scared of saying exactly how you feel, because that's the right thing to do. Rather than just hide under a blanket and think that you're a woman, so you should just be a certain way, instead I’d really encourage younger people that you don't have to travel in the same directions as everyone else. I definitely felt the pressure, I was thinking I'm now going into my 30s, I should be having kids, I need to find a husband, that's why I went on to the show. But actually it’s okay, and I’d now say take a minute, look at yourself in life and think ‘you’re actually doing okay’.
I’d like to bridge that gap between flower farmer and business, and show that you can still be a flower grower and still be pretty, enjoy a bit of glamor, you can be a hard worker, but you can still strive to be ambitious and do well.”
And we have to ask, what’s your biggest takeaway from your MAFS experience?
Oh gosh! I think I'd have to say making my own decisions, being able to watch back and see that, and being able to look back at how far I’ve come. I think I've just learnt so much from the show.
I never made decisions before like I had to in there, there was no family, no close friends that I could trust to tell me what they think, so I had to make my own decisions. There was no direction, so in those moments where I'm really stuck and struggling with my feelings and how things were working out I just had to trust myself and be honest and go with my own decisions. I've always had people close by who I’d turn to and ask what they think, whereas now I feel like I could ask for people's opinions and then I’d make my own decision.
When I watched myself back on the show I realised that I’d made that change, and it actually felt good, that self-recognition. I thought ‘you know what, you're actually doing all right, you're a kind, well-rounded person, an honest human being that knows right from wrong, even when it’s hard. You're brave enough to tell the truth, and you're honest enough to not lead someone on when you know it’s not right, you can do the right things even when it’s scary and hard.’That’s been huge for me.
Plus I’ve definitely learnt that I'm really lucky. My life is truly incredible with or without the show. It’s magical and I'm really grateful for that. Coming home felt like I’d stepped out of some kind of crazy world, but then I’ve come back home to a lovely life. You could see on the show when I came home, and everything changed, that it felt good for me to be home, back around my animals, my dogs and my business being here. I like a bit of the city, but maybe half and half, I know my heart will always be in the country, that's where I belong.
I wouldn't change a thing, it was harder than i thought but i’m so glad i did it, I met some amazing people and I learnt so much about myself.
We hope you’ve loved this insight into Rozz’s journey in business and in life. Her authenticity and openness shine through, and from meeting her it’s clear why she was such a stand out contestant from MAFS 2023.
Rozz's reflections on the challenges of running a floral business really highlight the importance of mindset and avoiding unhealthy comparisons, something we really celebrate here at The Freelance Florist. We also loved that Rozz's biggest takeaway from her MAFS experience was the newfound ability to make her own decisions confidently, reflecting on her growth as a person and her gratitude for the life she leads. Her positive outlook, determination, and authenticity shine through and we hope it’s inspired you as much as us! She really embodies what it is to embrace your uniqueness and follow your passions. We can’t wait to see what she does next!
Follow along on Rozz’s journey:
https://www.instagram.com/rozzdarlington/