But Jan Wass has managed to turn her life around by setting up an alternative venture, called Free Spirit, specialising in celebration balloons and artificial flowers. She was left heartbroken when she realised she could no longer carry on running her florist's shop in Acton, Wrexham.

"I had to wear dark glasses all the time and I had like a scaling on my neck - but I didn't think for one minute it was caused by the flowers," she said. "It only happened at weekends but the doctor explained that it built up during the week and then it exploded. I was so poorly and the consultant said I was close to suffering an anaphylactic shock which can be deadly. He told me to go home and shut the shop - it was a nightmare. I still can't watch the Chelsea Flower Show because it breaks my heart."

But Jan and husband Phil have now been voted most creative business in Wrexham for the new venture which they run together. "We had always sold the odd balloon if somebody bought a bouquet for a wedding anniversary but never on this scale," she said. "More often than not we combine them with artificial and preserved flowers - I'm OK with flowers that have been air dried."

What a blooming nightmare!

And you thought Day Of The Triffids was scary...

The original was here