Abi started propagating plants in her parents' Cumbrian garden from a young age and clearly had a flair for working with seedlings or cuttings and cajoling them into pots where they would flourish. The growing of our plants is down to Abi and her team. Abi will constantly scour plant catalogues and look out for exciting new introductions that she feels the nursery and garden should include.

Tom also started working with plants in his parents' garden but working in a traditional Cumbrian nursery galvanised this passion. He formally trained at Edinburgh and Kew before taking on formal head gardener posts in the Lake District and Lancashire. After a short spell lecturing at Newton Rigg College in Penrith and at the Lakeland Horticultural Society in Ambleside, the opportunity to take on the site at Halecat with Abi presented itself. Tom runs the design side of the business and jointly manages the garden and display areas with Abi. Tom writes regularly for the Westmorland Gazette, Cumbria Life and Living Magazine. He has written for the Garden Design Journal, The Garden (RHS) and Gardens Illustrated.