@Hostafan1 maybe it’s a female thing because all the women I know like a cup of tea and a cake as part of a trip just about anywhere. And an afternoon tea is Heaven for lots of ladies but seems to leave the gentleman unmoved?
I LOVE afternoon tea, especially at some stately home or lovely garden (or even, if I'm honest, just when I'm walking the dog at Wollaton Park) so no... it's not just the ladies!
I primarily use a local nursery, it has a coffee shop but I've never stepped foot in it. If I want more of a day out with family we go to the garden centres, they look nicer, they sell other stuff and we can have a cuppa and cakes.
Quite often the presentation at the fancy garden centres encourages interest in certain plants. If the price is reasonable I'll pick them up there, if not I'll head to the nurseries.
A sheltered nursery on a hillside that feels like an exuberant garden, with a wide and interesting range of plants, shrubs and trees. Tanned staff, plant lovers with dirty finger nails and exceedingly knowledgeable about plants. Reasonable prices that are certainly lower than those of my local big chain nursery (that I still quite like). Always busy with plants, but very helpful - I've just described Beeches in Ashdon in Essex, near Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.
A sheltered nursery on a hillside that feels like an exuberant garden, with a wide and interesting range of plants, shrubs and trees. Tanned staff, plant lovers with dirty finger nails and exceedingly knowledgeable about plants. Reasonable prices that are certainly lower than those of my local big chain nursery (that I still quite like). Always busy with plants, but very helpful - I've just described Beeches in Ashdon in Essex, near Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.
Our local independent GC used to have a coffee shop , it just wasn't profitable enough and a bit OTT really for the size of the place. These days, there is a small area with a few chairs, a couple of those enormous thermos flask things with tea and coffee, and an honesty box. I have never seen anyone in there. The plants are healthy, the staff friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. Good selection of compost, etc. The only thing l have noticed is the increase in plant prices, but l suspect this is outside of their control, as they are bought in, not grown on site as they were 20 years or so ago.
Micearguers, if you like Beeches at Ashdon you will like Langthorns Plantery in Little Canfield just outside Dunmow, parking is decent and they have a larger range of perennials, some quite unusual and slightly cheaper than Beeches. However Beeches scores on ferns.
There are 3 local businesses where I have regularly bought plants: The nearest has a really good range of plants, never many of each, they clearly propagate quite a lot of their stock on site and then they buy in some specialist and larger ones. The plants I've bought there have all done well - which is my chief criterion - and the staff are very friendly and have a reasonable knowledge of the things they sell. No coffee shop, no tat, just plants. And they have a good selection of the things like grit, bark chips, etc all of which you can get your car right up to and they always help load them up. It's also the cheapest of the 3. Next nearest is bigger, has a coffee shop and tea room. I went in the door once but left again without buying anything - it caters to the granny coach party market with dull sandwiches and over-iced sickly cakes. It does have fridge magnets and cards and a few nick-nacks but it is plant led. Again, the plants I've got there have all been really good. There is obviously someone there with a good eye for plant combinations because I've frequently seen a display and thought - hmm - they look good together. think I'll buy some of those. Good range of herbs, too. The biggest I would say is 'pot led' rather than plant led - they have a huge range of pots and a good selection of the sorts of plants you can grow in them, including some interesting and unusual ones. They have a dog friendly cafe selling a decent lunch, so we have been there a few times, especially when OH was working in that town so I'd pop over to meet him for lunch. Far too much tacky plastic stuff and clothes. But the best of the three for pond plants.
None of them are perfect. I go to the first one most often
I buy trees from Thornhayes Nursery. It's a bit of a drive but definitely worth it when investing a bit more money in a plant. That is a proper nursery - specialist and very knowledgeable.
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I don't drink coffee or tea. So long as I can't smell the coffee, I don't mind if there's a coffee shop. I like the alphabetical gcs but they're few and far between.
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Quite often the presentation at the fancy garden centres encourages interest in certain plants. If the price is reasonable I'll pick them up there, if not I'll head to the nurseries.
I have never seen anyone in there.
The plants are healthy, the staff friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. Good selection of compost, etc.
The only thing l have noticed is the increase in plant prices, but l suspect this is outside of their control, as they are bought in, not grown on site as they were 20 years or so ago.
The nearest has a really good range of plants, never many of each, they clearly propagate quite a lot of their stock on site and then they buy in some specialist and larger ones. The plants I've bought there have all done well - which is my chief criterion - and the staff are very friendly and have a reasonable knowledge of the things they sell. No coffee shop, no tat, just plants. And they have a good selection of the things like grit, bark chips, etc all of which you can get your car right up to and they always help load them up. It's also the cheapest of the 3.
Next nearest is bigger, has a coffee shop and tea room. I went in the door once but left again without buying anything - it caters to the granny coach party market with dull sandwiches and over-iced sickly cakes. It does have fridge magnets and cards and a few nick-nacks but it is plant led. Again, the plants I've got there have all been really good. There is obviously someone there with a good eye for plant combinations because I've frequently seen a display and thought - hmm - they look good together. think I'll buy some of those. Good range of herbs, too.
The biggest I would say is 'pot led' rather than plant led - they have a huge range of pots and a good selection of the sorts of plants you can grow in them, including some interesting and unusual ones. They have a dog friendly cafe selling a decent lunch, so we have been there a few times, especially when OH was working in that town so I'd pop over to meet him for lunch. Far too much tacky plastic stuff and clothes. But the best of the three for pond plants.
None of them are perfect. I go to the first one most often
I buy trees from Thornhayes Nursery. It's a bit of a drive but definitely worth it when investing a bit more money in a plant. That is a proper nursery - specialist and very knowledgeable.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I like the alphabetical gcs but they're few and far between.