From their seven acres in Cropthorne. Maureen and Jimmy Carter are keeping alive a long-held tradition - the family business.

Seventy-five years ago Jimmy's grandfather William Joseph Rowlings decided to try his hand with a plant and vegetable stall in Birmingham's Bull Ring. The stall, which still goes under the name of WJ Rowlings, is there to this day, and is manned by his great-granddaughter, Victoria.

MAUREEN Carter's hands dance skilfully between the plants.

She picks and plucks, counting under her breath as she puts together a customer's order for several hanging baskets. Amazingly, she does this with a telephone wedged under her chin, breaking off from her conversation now and then to check her order note.

The Birmingham accent is all but gone, but the Brummie warmth in her voice is still evident even after a 15-hour day.

"A couple of late orders have just come in and we've two farmers' markets tomorrow," she explains.

"I was up at 6 this morning and I haven't stopped."

The time is now after 9pm and Maureen also hopes to squeeze in some watering before the light goes.

"I'll do these orders and try to get up some plants for one of the markets but I think I'll leave the other market till the morning."

It's a decision which will mean a 5am start but Maureen's not in the least bothered.

"It keeps me out of mischief. It's always like this when we have a farmers' market the next day. All our plants are lifted the day before and when our tomatoes are ready, which should be any day now if the sun keeps shining, they are picked the same way."

Since Easter, the Carters have been busy with plants. Maureen estimates that she will make up between 300 and 400 hanging baskets over the next few weeks - nearly all of which are sold at farmers' markets.

"We don't encourage customers to come to the nursery. We just couldn't cope. Most of our orders come from word of mouth."

Although Maureen's baskets and tubs are popular, it's her tomatoes that cause most excitement at market.

"Customers tell us that they know when we've bought our tomatoes because they can smell them as soon as they get to the market. And they are passionate about them, we can't sell them quick enough.

"They say supermarket tomatoes are simply not the same. They don't have that distinctive tomato smell. That's because they are usually picked when they are green and refrigerated. We pick our tomatoes the day before."

The tomato plants - 2,500 in all - were painstakingly planted by Maureen in March. Tending them is no easier.

"Growing tomatoes is a messy business. They need to be strung and then side shooted and then there's that smell."

Maureen has just planted the Carters' second summer crop - 500 cucumber plants . They should be ready in two to three weeks.

"You must keep tomatoes and cucumbers in separate glasshouses. Cucumbers like a warm and humid atmosphere while tomatoes prefer to be hot and dry.

Maureen had never intended to go into the plant and vegetable business. She had left school and was enjoying working for a hairdressers when fate intervened. Her mother was taken ill and she was called upon to look after the family.

"When I eventually got another job with a hairdressers it just wasn't the same. I left and took a job on the Bull Ring stall and that is how I met Jimmy.

The stall had been taken over by WJ Rowlings' daughter, Marge, who had married Charlie Carter, Jimmy's father.

"I've loved this life. It's a hard one but it's wonderful if you can honestly say you enjoy what you do and we can. When the children were small they would come to work with me and fall asleep on the sacks. They could play and I would work.

"We've got four children in all. Victoria studied horticulture at Pershore College and she and Nicola are particularly involved in the business now. Thomas our son is training to be a chef and Hayley, who is 15, helps out in her spare time. So we all pull together. Victoria has really come into her own recently and Nicola loves the farmers' markets.

"We all have our role to play. I'm the grower, while Jimmy's the organiser. He knows what varieties are what and keeps an eye on everything. We've got a great partnership."

For more information on WJ Rowlings phone 01386 860793.