Aberfeldy Nurseries Ltd. has been bought by businessman and owner of Bermuda General Agency and The Phoenix Stores, Wendell Brown.

In an exclusive interview with The Royal Gazette, previous owner J.C. (Kit) Astwood revealed that the deal was signed and sealed on Friday following Mr. Brown's preliminary inquiry three years ago.

Mr. Astwood said he was sad to sell up a business he had run for about 20 years, but hoped that the future would be bright for his former staff under Mr. Brown's leadership.

He said the reason behind his decision to sell the nurseries was down to ensuring the livelihood of its employees.

"Aberfeldy Nurseries has an excellent team of 26 excellent and long-serving staff who are all fully trained and knowledgeable people. Because of that and the good benefits such as pensions, health care and holiday allowance, I am actually selling now just to protect them and give them a bright future in the hands of a younger man in the form of Wendell Brown and I am sure he will give his best as he has done with previous acquisitions," he said.

Mr. Astwood's uncle, Will Onions, started the business from scratch with manager David Gill in 1950 as a hobby at first, but that passion soon grew into a fully-fledged operation when Sir Jeffrey Astwood stepped in to take charge.

The company passed through the family to Mr. Astwood, who assumed the role of chairman of the board, and his friend Bobby Baron, who were working together at bicycle rentals JB Astwood & Son Ltd. and has gone from strength to strength ever since, expanding from a workforce of four to 26 employees today.

"The nursery grew very strongly at the start and, of course, it is a long-term business — you have got the soil and the earth and as long as you do the right things then you cannot go far wrong," said Mr. Astwood.

"The result is that we have been able to keep on top of the needs of the customer."

Mr. Astwood, who started up 38 companies in Bermuda during his career, with Aberfeldy Nurseries one of the most important and significant of those, ran the nursery growing and selling hedge plants like Oleander and Hibiscus from his back garden at Aberfeldy in Somerset to begin with, before setting up the retail and wholesale side of the business at its current site in Pomander Road, Paget, while continuing to produce stock at its greenhouses in Somerset.

And he is confident that Mr. Brown will continue that tradition which has proved so successful over the past 20 years.

"I see a very good future," he said.

"The important thing is that the nursery owns the land on which it sits, which is made up of three acres in Paget and three acres in Somerset.

"The hard part will be saying goodbye to the staff who have been so loyal to me over the years and it will be quite an emotional matter, not just for me, but for Mr. Baron as well, who has decided to become a consultant to the company."

New owner Mr. Brown was not available for comment.