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Re-established in 2017 in the beautiful village of Styal, the nursery is run by wife and husband team Caroline Dumville and Andrew Keay. Both the name and much of the tradition of the nursery have been retained from our previous family business which traded in Moss Nook for 83 years.
We remain one of the last few independent retail nurseries in the area and, as growers, are always happy to offer horticultural advice. Just tell us about the garden you would like, and we’ll do our best to suggest the best plant combinations to make it happen.
At Primrose Cottage Nursery is it all about the plants!
Despite the traditional nature of our business, we focus on keeping our plant range bang up to date, making sure it includes all the latest introductions so that we can offer an interesting and dynamic choice of plants whatever the season. Many of our plants can be found listed in the RHS Plant Finder.
Our nursery is situated next door to the wonderful Earlam’s Community Shop & Cafe and opposite to the welcoming Ship Inn.
A few minutes walk from the nursery will take you to National Trust Quarry Bank, with its gardens, estate, mill, Apprentice House and other attractions.
Parking is available further along Altrincham Road where there are no restrictions. There is also plenty of free parking available in the main National Trust (Quarry Bank Mill) car park . The nursery is only a short walk away and customers can pull up at the front of the nursery to collect purchases which they don’t want to carry
A Potted History
Primrose Cottage Nursery was established on Ringway Road, Moss Nook, in 1934 by James Dumville. The name comes from the old cottage which still stands there. James, or Jim as he was known, fought in WWI and had to stay on in Germany for a couple of years after the war had ended. On his return he married Laura who, after serving at York barracks during WWI, had moved to the area from her home in West Hartlepool to take up a post as a doctor’s maid at Cheadle Royal hospital.
The nursery was one of many market gardens in Moss Nook and neighbouring Hey Head at that time, all taking advantage of the excellent soil, most of which is now sadly lost beneath the development of Manchester Airport.
Jim grew vegetables and flowers for cutting, and used to borrow a neighbour’s Shire horse to plough the fields.
The nursery had already lost land to the airport rail link in the early 1990’s and the advent of the airport relief road meant that further land would be taken along with all passing trade as Ringway Road effectively became a cul-de-sac. Brian had recently retired and Keith and Caroline had the opportunity to take over another, smaller nursery in Styal village where they moved in 2017. Keith, by then in his 80’s, was sad to leave the place where he was born and had spent all his working life, but supported Caroline with the move and the task of completely clearing the new site and setting up the existing nursery.
Brian passed away in 2018 and Keith in 2022, but their legacy and that of their father Jim, lives on.
