Dawlish News
45
1
People would draw up in their carriages to inhale the scent of violets wafting along the seafront, as porters loaded the ‘flower train’ that brought Devon violets from Dawlish to London Paddington and thence to Covent Garden.
From the 1890s, nosegays of violets – selling for only a ha’penny locally – fetched premium prices in London and were Mothering Sunday favourites.
Some 200 acres around Dawlish were planted with violets – even the smallest growers could send a couple of boxes to the capital.
