The 'delightful' Essex garden centre with amazing customer service named the best in the UK
A garden centre is a fantastic way to immerse yourself in nature, grab some lunch, and have a pretty cheap morning or afternoon out. Essex has plenty of brilliant garden centres worth a trip - but one has been recently recognised the best, not just in Essex, but in the whole of the UK.
At the Garden Centre Association annual awards gala, Perrywood Tiptree was placed 1st in the Garden Centre Association’s Top 100 League Table. This makes them only one of ten Garden Centres of Excellence in the whole of the UK.
Additionally, Perrywood Tiptree won a Ruxley Rose award for Best Plant Area (Destination Garden Centre category), the Ian Boardman Award for Best Indoor Plants Retailer (Destination Garden Centre category) and the GIMA Award for Best Garden Products Retailer. It also won The Barton Grange Trophy, the Customer Service Award, second place in The Paul Cooling Award for Environment and Sustainability and third place in the Catering Award (Destination Garden Centre category).
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The GCA carries out an annual unannounced inspection of all its members and uses this to compile the league table. The association scores several elements, including customer service, merchandising, sustainability, creativity and innovation, quality, range of products, and much more.
Perrywood Garden Centre is a family-run business with three garden centres. Its vision is to inspire people to get more plants in their lives. Its everyday mission is to offer a memorable garden centre experience, delivering amazing customer service and giving employees, customers, suppliers and our local community "a reason to smile," they say.
They are extremely passionate about protecting the natural environment and work hard to make our business and gardening in general, more sustainable. It aims to make a positive contribution to the community – environmentally, socially and economically.
Simon Bourne, Retail Director, comments: "The UK is home to some truly outstanding garden centres, which makes it even more exciting that both our centres have been named in the top 10! This incredible achievement is all thanks to our phenomenal team's unwavering passion, dedication, and hard work.
"From our beautiful plant displays to our carefully curated gift shops, every detail is designed to delight our customers. We couldn't be prouder!”