People
du Plessis Brothers
23rd August 2025
Author: Richard Hosking
One of the great pleasures I have had in my life is the time I had with the du Plessis brothers Dan and Peter.
They were very close friends with my father Fred Hosking together with his brothers Reg, Harold, and Bernard. All of them were true members of Landulph Church.
Dan and Peter together with their wives Faye and Eileen were tenants at Lower Marsh Farm owned by the Duchy of Cornwall. As a young boy I would visit and in the early days there would be a small dairy herd, pigs and market gardening and corn.
In latter years the dairy herd and pigs were abolished and cauliflowers, anemones and daffodils were grown.
To this end the daffodils would be priority. The brothers would grow around a thousand varieties of which flowers would be picked for market and harvested by local folks from this village.
In 1981 I started my own horticultural business in Botus Fleming and at the time after giving up full time employment was unsure if I had made the right decision! Having purchased 2.5 acres at Moditonham along came Dan du Plessis with wonderful words of wisdom and help I will never forget. In the early days if I wanted anything borrowing machinery, help or advice Dan and Peter were by my side.
Dan introduced me to the NFU and taught me flower judging along with the late Jack Cloake.
Peter was the backbone of Lower Marsh Farm and would prepare all the land for bulb planting and all the jobs that needed attention. Dan although worked hard attended many meetings regarded to the business including Rosewarne EHS and the then Elmbridge EHS.
Dan and Peter, sadly no longer with us, retired and they went to live at top of Church Lane together with their mother Mrs du Plessis who we called Granny who lived to the ripe age of 101. Truly wonderful people that I greatly miss but so honoured that I had them as an extension of my family.
