A Telford man who inherited a former country garden nursery business from his late mother is planning to follow her dream of reopening it to the public.

Tim Mears, of Rushmoor Nursery, is also hoping it will become a place where mentally and physically disabled adults can work.

That was another of the hopes of his mum, the late Jenny McCusker.

Jenny and her son took over Rushmoor Nursery on the outskirts of Bratton two years ago, but then she sadly passed away in March last year after developing cancer.

Jenny had three sons, Tim, Patrick and Martin, who is mentally and physically disabled.

Jenny and Tim sold plants, bushes, shrubs and bulbs at Shropshire markets while basing their business at the closed nursery site.

Now Tim, who still does the markets, is determined to go ahead with her plans for it.

He hopes to raise enough funding to also have it classed as a social enterprise.

He’s joined forces with a group supporting mentally and physically disabled children called Ten, which is based in Horsehay, Telford.

Together they are planning to apply for funding for the project from Telford and Wrekin Council.

“The social enterprise is the ultimate goal,” said Tim, who is renovating the nursery with help from his stepfather Kevin McCusker and girlfriend Kerry Swinton.

He hopes to relaunch Rushmoor Nursery in April as a mainly organic enterprise.

As well as selling everything for the gardener, he hopes to sell preserves and goods made by arts and crafts members of the website www.madeinshropshire.co.uk.

He eventually hopes to also have a building on site from which to serve refreshments.

“We’re prepared to spend time talking to people. I want to keep the personal and informal approach we have at the markets.”

The nursery has parking for at least 30 cars and lies in a lovely quiet position of Rushmoor Road.

It has two 50ft greenhouses on site which had weeds in them chest high when Jenny bought the business.

Tim said: “We stumbled upon the place by accident about two years ago. In fact, I heard a conversation in a pub about it. Within four days we’d signed a lease.

“There was a hell of a lot of neglect and mum was a full time teacher before retiring.”

Speaking to Tim before Christmas, he was busy preparing a business plan for the nursery to give to the council.

His plans include having disabled children being able to work around the nursery with the help of a teacher, repotting and looking after plants, but this is still a long way off and it’s yet to be finalised.

In the meantime he’s busy spending every spare moment working on the nursery.

The renovation work includes replacing glass in the ancient greenhouses, where he plans to propagate his own plants, and rebuilding benches for them.

He’s also been preparing beds, resoiling and retreating and cutting back.

He hopes to be able to grow fuchsias and geraniums, bedding plants and begonias.

He said: “We have grown them before but not on such a large scale. We used to grow them in a polytunnel in our back garden!”

While you wait for the nursery to reopen, Tim can be found selling at weekend markets at Shrewsbury, Craven Arms, Much Wenlock, Church Stretton, Bishops Castle and at events at Attingham Park.