A family owned garden shop that has been based in Wiveliscombe for 32 years with three generations involved, is to finally shut its doors on Christmas Eve.

And owner Donna Hawkins, who ran the shop with her mother until she retired, and with website help from her son, is “heartbroken to be stopping.”

But rising costs and greater online shopping generally have meant the shop – which sold everything from gardening goods and plants to pet foods – will in future only trade online, selling purely its most recent line of wool and crafts.

The North Street Garden Shop was previously based in several other buildings in the town, including the current vets and the chemist shop.

“I think it was going for about 50 years or more, before we bought it 32 years ago,” said Donna, who has lived in the town all her life. Her mother and co-owner, Sylvia Hawkins, is now retired, while her son George Foster has his own website business and helps out with the shop’s one.

For Donna, the words on the shop’s website said it all. “Our little shop blossomed into a cherished community hub, where passion for gardening and a love for nature are at the core of everything we do.”

The owner of the North Street premises Nigel Hims, who used to have a garage on the site, said he has no plans for the property yet, he is waiting to decide on its future after the garden shop’s rental comes to an end.

He ran his garage for 24 years from 1986, also working as a retained fireman in the Wiveliscombe fire service, before moving to a garage in the village of Waterrow when Donna and her mother took over the site in 2010, and it was turned into the garden shop.