La Vega Estate is well-known locally, but owners of the estate Bertram Bert Manhin and Pat Manhin said business has been down, especially post-pandemic, mainly because of the distance. Though the estate is opened to the public during the weekends and on public holidays, the couple is hoping people put aside their fears of long distances and seek serenity in their nature reserve.
The Manhins bought the estate almost 40 years ago.
The offer of plants for sale and the introduction of many fruits, that are labelled as local fruits, were because of Bert’s hobby that he said went overboard.
Before becoming an avid plant collector and now owner of a nature reserve, Manhin represented TT as a marksman.
While giving Business Day the history of the La Vega Estate at his home there in Gran Couva, he said, “I had a smaller estate in Arima and I just found it was too far to get to Arima, so I was looking for something a little nearer and then a friend told me about here.”
He said he eventually came, saw the place and assumed a mortgage from the Agricultural Development Bank, so he did not have to incur the full price.
“After that we started with a few different things like trying vegetables, we didn’t really have anything in mind and that didn’t particularly work out. But we also have a piece of land in San Fernando, so we opened a little garden shop there – which is still there – and we sort of went into ornamentals.”
The German experience
From ornamentals, Manhin delved into the exportation of tropical cut flowers, but he said that did not work out too well. He explained that in 1986, the couple traveled to countries like Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, the US, the UK and Canada promoting those flowers, but it only peaked when airlines flew directly to these countries’ capitals.
“But on the whole, it’s not an easy business because a lot of times, the people over there, they don’t buy the flowers, you have to send it to them and they will sell it for you. I remember once I was saying, ‘Look at these nice price we are getting,’ and then a couple months after, I got a statement and I saw a figure, but no cheque. So I called the guy and told him there is no cheque, he said, ‘Look at it carefully, you owe us that because we had to salvage the flowers,” said Manhin.
[caption id="attachment_1020135" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Bertram Bert Manhin and his wife Pat Manhin standing by their ripe pineapple from Hawai which Bert planted and took care of to help beautify the place while learning how to properly take care of it. -[/caption]
He added that there was the problem of payments because some establishments went out of business before paying the Manhins or just did not pay them.
“Although we got a court order for him to pay, the German people didn’t enforce it because he was from East Germany and they were sympathetic. But later on he told people to buy from the Caribbean because they would not have to pay.”
Then in 1988, the Manhins decided to build the large green house which is now the Garden Cen
