New Hopetoun Gardens is celebrating a ground-breaking employee-ownership deal as Dougal and Lesley hand over control of the successful business they set up over four decades ago to their valued and experienced team. They feel this is the ideal way to retire gracefully, in the certain knowledge that the fledgling local garden centre they established over 40 years ago and its customers will be in the best possible hands for the future.

The message for now is that it's very much ‘Business as usual’ as Dougal and Lesley transfer a majority ownership of the business to their employees and begin a gradual retirement over the next 5 years or so.