'Romantic' sunflowers help to save newborn babies
It was not open to the public initially but before too long, families emerging from the Covid lockdowns, keen to get back in touch with the outdoors, were asking for a closer look.
Four years later, Crewe Green Sunflowers, at Park Farm near Crewe, Cheshire, grows almost a million flowers covering 10 acres, with hundreds of visitors picking or walking among them every summer for the few weeks it's open.
Owner Alex said the idea was born from a "romantic" idea suggested by her husband Simon and it also marked 100 years of the family's farm.
"It's really intense but the public reception is amazing," she said. "Everybody comes with smiles on their faces and leaves with smiles on their faces.
"The only smiles that we don't have are from the children who are upset because they don't want to leave."
A portion of the proceeds collected through donations and visitor charges go to the neonatal unit at nearby Leighton Hospital, with £25,000 raised so far.
It is a cause close to Alex and Simon's hearts, following the traumatic births of their children Dexter and Penny.
Dexter, 10, was diagnosed with suspected meningitis after he was born and was in the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for eight days.
He went through numerous lumbar punctures, a test involving a needle being inserted into the lower spine, and several courses of antibiotics, Alex said.
"As a first-time parent, being in the NICU was absolutely harrowing but the nurses were incredible," she added.
About three years later, Penny, now seven, was born 11 weeks early after Alex became ill with HELLP syndrome – hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes and low platelets.
Penny weighed just above 2Ibs and she spent several months in the NICU until she was well enough to go home with her parents.
"It [NICU] just became like a second home," Alex said. "A lot of the nurses we met with Dexter were still there, with Penny, and it was evident that funding with the NHS, as with anything, was really stretched."
After Penny recovered, Simon signed up for the London Marathon the next year, marking the first bit of fundraising the family did for the unit.
Alex said they never kept track of how much they raised and they were "amazed" when the hospital contacted them after reaching the £25,000 milestone.
The money has been used to buy hospital equipment, including a £13,000 video laryngoscope, which helps with intubation procedures.
Alex said she would be "forever grateful" to the hospital's staff for helping her children, adding: "They're like extended family now.
"They work massive, long shifts and deal with emotional people, it is very difficult. They all go above and beyond."
Read more Cheshire stories from the BBC and follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
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Mid Cheshire Hospitals Charity
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