Today we’d like to introduce you to Erica Gamble.
Hi Erica, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Daphne Hill grew out of a dream to create something beyond the traditional floral design business — a place where people could slow down, connect with nature, and experience the beauty of the changing seasons.
For more than a decade, we’ve been creating beautiful spaces and experiences through Sophie Felts Floral Design. Over the years, we’ve dreamed of having our own property where we could grow flowers, host gatherings, and bring people together in a more meaningful way.
When the opportunity came along to purchase a beautiful 30-acre farm in Montgomery County, Maryland, we knew it had the potential to become something really special. We saw an opportunity to combine our love of flowers, farming, design, and hospitality into a place that could evolve and grow with us.
We opened Daphne Hill to the public in the fall of 2026, beginning with a pumpkin patch, sunflower gardens, seasonal retail, local food vendors, live music, and family-friendly experiences. Our vision was to create something a little different from the typical fall attraction – somewhere that felt beautiful, relaxed, and welcoming, where families could spend an afternoon without feeling rushed or overwhelmed.
The response from our community has been incredibly encouraging. It’s been exciting to watch people discover the property, make memories here, and begin to see what we see in it.
We’re still very much in the early chapters of Daphne Hill’s story. We have big dreams for the property, from expanding our flower farming and seasonal offerings to hosting workshops, celebrations, and experiences throughout the year. Ultimately, we want Daphne Hill to become a place people return to season after season, where the beauty of the land and the simple pleasure of gathering together are at the heart of everything we do.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It definitely hasn’t been without its challenges! While we’ve spent more than a decade building and operating Sophie Felts Floral Design, stepping into farming and agritourism has been an entirely new adventure for us.
One of our biggest challenges has been navigating the learning curve of bringing a working farm to life while continuing to run a busy floral design business. We’ve had to learn everything from growing pumpkins on a larger scale and managing crop health to figuring out parking, staffing, infrastructure, and all the little details that go into welcoming hundreds of people to a property each weekend.
We’ve also had to be creative about working within the limitations of the property and making thoughtful decisions about where to invest our resources. With 30 acres and so many ideas for what Daphne Hill could eventually become, it’s tempting to want to do everything at once. We’ve had to remind ourselves that building something meaningful takes time and that we don’t have to realize the entire vision in our first season.
And of course, there’s the unpredictability of farming and running an outdoor business. The weather can completely change your plans, and there are so many variables outside your control. We’ve learned to be flexible, adapt quickly, and not get too attached to any one plan.
But one of the most unexpected rewards has been how personal the experience has become. Sophie and I have spent years working together, and Daphne Hill has given us the opportunity to bring our two families together in a completely new way. Getting to spend our fall weekends at the farm with our kids, watching them explore, play, and grow up alongside this little dream of ours, has been incredibly special. There’s something really meaningful about building a business that our children get to be part of, where they’re making memories right alongside us.
We’ve also loved watching our team embrace something entirely new. We’re all learning as we go, and every weekend teaches us something about what works, what doesn’t, and what we want Daphne Hill to become.
We’re proud of what we’ve created in such a short time. It hasn’t always been easy, but seeing our families, our team, and our community enjoying the property has made all the challenges worthwhile. And in many ways, we feel like we’re just getting started.
As you know, we’re big fans of Daphne HIll. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Daphne Hill is a 30-acre farm and gathering place in Montgomery County, Maryland, created by the team behind Sophie Felts Floral Design. At its heart, Daphne Hill is about bringing people together through beautiful, thoughtful experiences rooted in nature and the changing seasons.
Our background is in floral design, so creating beautiful spaces and paying attention to the little details comes naturally to us. We wanted to bring that same design sensibility to a farm experience – somewhere that feels welcoming, inspiring, and a little different from what you might expect.
We opened in the fall of 2026 with a pumpkin patch, pick-your-own sunflowers, seasonal gardens, and a thoughtfully curated retail space called the Garden House. On weekends, we welcome local food trucks, coffee vendors, breweries, musicians, and small businesses for pop-ups and special events. We’ve also begun hosting workshops, fitness classes, private gatherings, and other experiences that bring people together in unexpected ways.
What sets Daphne Hill apart is the atmosphere we’re trying to create. We don’t want to be the biggest or busiest pumpkin patch. We want to be the place where you can take your time, wander through the gardens, find a beautiful pumpkin, sit on a blanket overlooking the fields, enjoy something delicious from a local vendor, and spend an afternoon with people you love. We believe there’s something really valuable about creating spaces that encourage people to slow down.
We’re also passionate about supporting other small businesses. One of our favorite parts of this first season has been collaborating with local makers, farmers, food vendors, and creatives. Rather than trying to provide everything ourselves, we love inviting talented people from our community to become part of the Daphne Hill experience.
From a brand perspective, we’re most proud of how naturally Daphne Hill reflects who we are. We care deeply about aesthetics and creating beautiful environments, but we also want the experience to feel approachable, comfortable, and genuine. Nothing should feel overly precious or intimidating. We want families with young children, couples, groups of friends, and people of all ages to feel equally welcome.
And while pumpkins have been our introduction to the community, they’re really just the beginning. Our long-term vision includes expanding our flower farming, creating seasonal markets and experiences, offering more workshops and classes, and becoming a destination for intimate celebrations and gatherings throughout the year.
More than anything, we want people to know that Daphne Hill is a place we’re building with a lot of love and intention. We’re still growing, experimenting, and discovering what the property can become. Our hope is that over time, Daphne Hill becomes woven into people’s traditions- a place they return to year after year, where the experiences are beautiful, the atmosphere feels special, and the memories are lasting.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
I think entrepreneurship requires a certain comfort level with risk, but we’ve learned that taking risks doesn’t necessarily mean being reckless. For us, it’s about having a clear vision, doing the work to understand what we’re getting into, and then having the courage to move forward even when there are still unknowns.
Purchasing the 30-acre property that became Daphne Hill was undoubtedly one of the biggest risks we’ve taken. We already had an established, successful floral design business, and expanding into farming, retail, and agritourism meant committing significant financial resources, time, and energy to something we had never done before. We were essentially starting a second business in an entirely new industry, while continuing to operate the first.
There were so many questions we couldn’t fully answer before making the investment. Would people come? Could we grow enough pumpkins? Would the community connect with our vision? Could we manage the demands of two businesses simultaneously? And perhaps most importantly, could we turn this beautiful property into something financially sustainable?
I think one of the biggest lessons we’ve learned as business owners is that you can research, plan, and run numbers endlessly, but at some point, you have to trust yourself enough to take the leap. There is rarely a moment when everything feels completely certain.
At the same time, we’re very conscious of protecting what we’ve already built. Sophie Felts Floral Design represents years of hard work, and we don’t take that responsibility lightly. We approach big decisions with a combination of optimism and practicality. We want to dream big, but we also want to build something that can sustain itself for years to come. That’s meant being intentional about expenses, starting with a relatively simple first season, learning what our customers respond to, and allowing the business to evolve rather than trying to do everything at once.
What’s interesting is that some of the biggest rewards have come from things we couldn’t have fully anticipated. We knew we wanted to create a beautiful farm experience, but we didn’t know how meaningful it would be to watch our children spend their weekends there, to see our two families come together around this new venture, or to feel the excitement of the community embracing something we’d only imagined.
I’ve come to believe that there’s also risk in *not* pursuing something you feel genuinely called to create. The years will pass either way, and we’d rather look back knowing we gave ourselves the opportunity to build something extraordinary than wonder what might have happened if we’d been brave enough to try.
We’re still very much in the middle of this particular risk, and we certainly don’t have all the answers yet. But that’s also what makes it exciting. We’re building something we believe in, learning constantly, and trusting that the combination of hard work, creativity, and a willingness to adapt will take us somewhere really special.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.visitdaphnehill.com
- Instagram: @visitdaphnehill
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61592059514986
