A blossoming sustainable flower business has taken a family farm "full circle" - returning commercial blooms to its fields for the first time in 40 years.

Louisa Butcher and her husband Will Sands launched their colourful venture last year, based on an eco-conscious ethos of seasonality and "low flower miles".

It is a short supply chain, growing and arranging blooms for bouquets, christenings, birthdays, holidays and funerals.

The company is called Brunstead Blooms, using the locals' preferred name for the parish also known as Brumstead, near Stalham.

And it is based on the 650-acre family farm which Mr Sands said used to grow tulips for bulbs until 40 years ago.

This year the business, which began as a flower patch to encourage more pollinating insects, has been expanded with a dedicated cutting field and polytunnel.

Ms Butcher said sustainability is a key selling point for the company, which this week has supplied Platinum Jubilee blooms to florists and Ingham Church's flower festival.

"People come to us because they want seasonal flowers, but they also want sustainable flowers," she said.

"Importing flowers is unsustainable. It involves transportation, mileage, and not knowing who is growing your flowers.

"Because flowers are so beautiful and because they grow everywhere in people's gardens, some people cannot fathom the environmental impact they can have.

"This also feeds into seasonality, because you cannot have sustainable flowers without having seasonal flowers."

Ms Butcher said her sustainable "showstoppers" at this time of year include ranunculus, cornflowers and delphiniums, while later in the season there will be dahlias and hydrangeas. The majority are used in her own arrangements, with about 20pc supplied wholesale to other florists.

The flowers are grown without artificial chemicals, using peat-free compost and organic fertilisers, using flower food and mulch made on the farm.

And they are nurtured with the help of 28,000 litres of stored rainwater, recycled from the polytunnel and shed roofs.

Ms Butcher said she has loved gardening "ever since I can remember", which prompted her to start the business alongside her part-time job as a senior associate in the agri-business team at law firm Mills and Reeve.

"I used to help my mum in the garden all the time when I was little," she said. "But flower farming is not gardening.

"Gardening is making something pretty and leaving it. With flower farming, if you see a nice flower, all you want to do is take your snippers to it.

"I love growing and I love flower-arranging so this has combined both things. It is a business, and I am serious about making it work."

While Ms Butcher sows, cuts and arranges the flowers, Mr Sands has used his arable expertise and equipment to work the soil and scale-up the venture.

He said the blooms business recalls the days when the family farm previously grew tulips.

"One of our tractor drivers has worked for us since he was 16 and he is now in his late 50s," he said. "He remembers coming here as a boy with his mum to grade tulips.

"So it is funny that we are almost going full circle with the flowers after 40 years."

Brunstead Blooms is a member of the Flowers from the Farm network, whose online listing helps people find local flower farmers.

The farm will be offering a pick-your-own opportunity to the public as part of the Flower Farmers' Big Weekend from August 5-7.