Our story and team
HCT Turf is a partnership established in 1973 by Vernon Hockley and George Cann, to supply turf and topsoil to homeowners, landscape gardeners and building developers.
Our story and team
HCT Turf is a partnership established in 1973 by Vernon Hockley and George Cann, to supply turf and topsoil to homeowners, landscape gardeners and building developers.
The story continues…
25 years later as the business expanded Vernon’s son Richard became an integral member of the team. And more recently George’s daughter Stephanie has also come on board. Originally based at Aylesbeare, we moved to our current premises in Topsham in 2012.
Our current workforce of 4 consists of our delivery drivers James and Robbie with Paul and Rich maintaining and producing the turf.
In 1988, responding to the demand for a more professional finish to landscaping projects, the partners researched the production of much finer seed grown turf. For the past two decades, that knowledge has enabled us to produce seeded amenity turf which is hardwearing and smart containing a mixture of dwarf perennial rye grasses and fescues.
‘Nice locally grown Devon turf. Really helpful family run business. Cut it one day, delivered it the next so really fresh. A week later and looks great!’
Our Team
With over 30 years of experience
Vernon
Vernon started the business with George and Christopher Trower in 1973. These days he visits and calls customers and deals with new business larger pieces of work. Now in his 80s Vernon is working just a little bit less and in his spare time likes looking after his spaniels.
George
One of the original partners with Vernon, George has also farmed his whole life. George works more on the operational side, managing the turf growing and machinery. He still has his farm but does less with it now. In his spare time he enjoys shooting and spending time with his grandchildren.
Richard
Richard is Vernon’s son and has been at HCT since 1995. He has been a partner for 20 years. He started off driving the delivery lorry. Now he is mostly in the turf field and also managing the turf growing and visiting sites. He enjoys spending time with his family and friends in his home town of Bovey Tracey and is a keen skier.
Stephanie
Stephanie is George’s daughter. She started helping out from home in 2000 and in 2013 transferred to working in the HCT office, managing the orders and financial records. In 2015 she became a partner alongside Richard. Outside of work Stephanie enjoys spending time with her children.
James
James spends most of the week driving our big lorry delivering larger orders, using the Moffett forklift to unload. He has worked at HCT for 14 years, some of which time was with his father who worked here until he retired. James enjoys spending his spare time with his young family.
Robbie
Robbie drives our little tipper lorry which carries smaller turf orders and topsoil. In his spare time Robbie enjoys waking and camping.
Richard B
Richard mainly works in the turf field harvesting the turf and sometimes drives our lorries. In his spare time he likes to ride his motorbike and takes it abroad for adventures.
Paul
Paul joined us in 2013 with a background of farming and forestry. In 2014 he took over as our main tractor driver after his predecessor Donald retired. Outside work Paul keeps horses.
Joe
Joe is Richard B’s son and like his dad is a huge rugby fan, both watching and playing. He is being trained up to drive our lorries and is working mostly in the field producing and loading turf.
#ILoveMyDevonGarden 2022
Our FREE TO ENTER photo campaign #ILoveMyDevonGarden 2022, raising money to help disabled people in Devon enjoy the great outdoors, has just finished. Want to find out more? Follow the link below:
Contact us
01392 231040
sales@wesellturf.com
Office address
HCT Turf
The Old Stable
Clyst Road
Topsham
EX3 0DB
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