Nottinghamshire's 'best' garden centre is so busy they're adding a second café

Fish, toys, jewellery, clothing, soap, plants and food and drink - Trowell Garden Centre is a veritable one-stop shop with free parking as a bonus. Customers say its many attributes are the reason why they'd rather shop there than the high street.

Its popularity has led to the garden centre, off Stapleford Road, Trowell, being named the best in the county for the second successive year in Nottinghamshire Live's recent poll. Mark Jones, who is part of the family business, said a big part of the success is down to the people who work there.

"I think it's the staff. They're very approachable, knowledgeable, always ready to help," he said. "We try and mix things up a bit and put different products in that you might not find in your everyday garden centre. We have a great team of buyers and managers.

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"The displays the merchandising team do, just the whole thing. The staff and management team we've got are great and customers are unbelievably supportive so it's just a winning team."

Being a family-run business, founded 48 years ago by David and Barbara Henshaw who are still involved today, is another factor that helps to make it a winner.

"Being an independent does help, people are supportive of local business so we are very lucky we are one of the very few independent garden centres left in the country and are quite large. I think customers appreciate that which is great," said Mark, whose wife Lizzie is responsible for jewellery and clothing, while his brother-in-law Michael Henshaw is in charge of the website.

Recently a new canopy was installed outside the 260-seater Digg Café so shoppers can enjoy a cup of tea, breakfast, fish and chips, or one of the best-selling scones al fresco. With the food and drink side of the business going from strength to strength, a new lounge-style café bar is being built to complement the existing café. It is hoped it will open in October.

"It will be a little bit different but the same staff and the same good feel hopefully. It will be coffee, cakes, and maybe some cheese and meat platters. There will be a bar as well if anyone wants a celebration.

"We are a weather-dependent business so it has been a tough start to the season but we have great customers who come and support us. The café is always the one thing that's positive. It seems to go from strength to strength which is a credit to the team. Filomena, the manager, and the team have done fantastic things."

The rain means the demand for garden furniture and barbecues has been poor but Mark is hoping that an Indian summer may bump up sales later in the year. Aside from the weather, the conflict in the Middle East has caused issues when it comes to to deliveries. Houthi attacks in the Red Sea have meant delays and higher shipping costs.

Mark said: "A lot of stock comes from abroad. It affects our containers going through the Suez Canal, they are taking a lot longer to come here. Normally it takes four or five weeks, but it's eight to ten weeks and some have been cancelled. It's caused a few issues and the prices of containers have skyrocketed. They are five times what they were so obviously that makes the products inside more expensive so it's tougher to sell.

"I am looking at the weather forecast two weeks ahead so we can see what's around the corner and I can see there's a lot more rain which is unfortunate. Maybe we'll have an Indian summer."

Traditionally April and May are the busiest months for plant buying but this year's rain mean has pushed it back to May and June. Once again green-fingered customers are snapping up geraniums, lobelia, petunias and lavinia. Amanda Price, the plant area manager, said: "People always want trailing things as they love their hanging baskets. Lavender has been massive.

"I have noticed a lot of people coming in and asking for astilbe. I think people are watching Gardeners' World and stuff like that and they make recommendations for plants that tolerate wet. It's quite a plantman's plant and yet we've had a lot of people asking for it. It's pink or white, fluffy flowers, but they like their feet wet."

Rudbeckia, which flowers late summer/early autumn, is another popular one this year, while chrysanthemums and dahlias remain old favourites. Sometimes customers ask for the impossible.

Amanda said "We get a lot of requests for something that flowers all year, is evergreen and all that kind of thing, which doesn't actually exist, but we carry a range of plants that satisfies some of those criteria. People want to know does it look good in a pot? I want something that is going to last. I have a boggy area what do you recommend? We have a massive selection of plants."

The wet conditions are not all bad news. "As gardeners, we have noticed that some things have actually done very very well because of the weather. Hostas get eaten by slugs all the time but they are absolutely stunning this year. Shade-loving and they tolerate a lot of different situations. But the slugs love them. A lot of people are asking for slug pellets and alternative ways so we sell copper tape you can put around the pots to stop them crawling up."

The demand for house plants has increased since lockdown. Peace lilies, mother-in-law's tongue and Boston fern continue to be snapped up. Mark said: "House plants have been a growing area for us for the last five years. From lockdown, obviously people were at home and got more into plants, house plants especially. It's an area that has taken off massively.

"A lot of younger people are into that. We get a lot of students in their accommodation that like a few plants to make it a bit more homely."

It might only be June but the 2024 Christmas range was ordered months ago and will be delivered to the garden centre during July and August. "We have all our plans in place, what's going where, all our different themes. We hope the furniture season extends a little longer so we might put Christmas out a little later this year. There are some trends but we always keep them secret until we unveil it. There's some good things to look forward to," said Mark.

Another attraction at the garden centre is Maidenhead Aquatics, which is celebrating 40 years of fish-keeping. As well as selling fish, tanks and all the other paraphernalia that goes with the hobby, there's a large open tank where kids can feed the koi carp.

Mark said: "Today a garden centre is like the high street, a one-stop shop with free parking. There is something for everyone. The buyer Jo sources everything inside and she's fantastic."

Shopper Christine Windmill, of Long Eaton, said: "We've been coming here years. It's convenient and lovely. We go to other garden centres but we do like to come here. We used to go to another garden centre but found it very hectic and expensive.

"It's usually a weekly visit. There's lots of choice, the plants are beautiful, and now they are doing it up as well, that's quite interesting. We keep coming up to see what they've done. We usually visit the cafe and have toast and a coffee.

"It's quite cheerful in here and a reasonable price. They sell up-to-date things, all the new things coming out, you've always got a choice. The customer service is great and you can park here."