Inspired by the invention of Christopher Cockerell’s hovercraft several years earlier, it was in 1964 that Karl Dahlman’s hover mower design won a gold medal at the Brussels Inventors’ Fair, thereby marking the beginning of one of the best known brands in British gardening. Full-scale production of petrol-powered Flymo hover mowers was in place by 1965, based in the new factory at Newton Aycliffe, County Durham. A few years later the first electric hover mowers were launched and a whole new world of mowing was available to the British public. Flymo hover mowers have been finding homes in British garden sheds ever since.
The Flymo hover mowers brand has gone from strength to strength since these early days and it is hard to imagine visiting a garden centre now and not seeing the bright orange machines lining the aisles, with tools varying from battery powered grass trimmers to electric garden vacuums. Now part of the Electrolux Group, Flymo can rightly claim to sell over one million products within the U.K. during a financial year. They also boast a considerable export market; in doing so they have received multiple Queen’s Awards for their achievements.