Winter Food Market is back at popular garden centre and bigger than ever

It's known for its extravagant Christmas displays, but there's much more to Bents garden centre than trees and decorations.

As well as being transformed into a winter wonderland for the festive season, its popular Winter Food Market is back and bigger than ever.

As well as your typical festive food of Bratwurst sausages and giant Yorkshires, there's a separate Festive Terrace where you'll find two Airstream trailers selling traditional fish and chips and pizzas.

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The place, off the East Lancs Road in Glazebury, near Wigan, was quiet as we headed there midweek, but weekends are expected to be packed out as we countdown to the big day.

We managed to get one of the cosy huts to sit in around the edge of the seating area and there are plenty of tables to go at. It's worth bearing in mind that although this Open Skies Glasshouse setting is sheltered, there's no heating, so you still need to wrap up warm, but it only adds to the festive feel of the place.

After grabbing some drinks, we finally decided on fish and chips, which, at £10.99, I didn't think was too unreasonable in today's climate, especially given the generous portion sizes.

We had to wait around 15 minutes for our order, but it was worth the wait and what arrived was piping hot - with perfectly cooked chips and fish coated in golden crispy batter.

We grabbed some sweet treats too, including one of the tasty apple, cinnamon and Biscoff mince pies, £2.49, and a rather delicious Baileys Chocolate Truffle Pop, £3.29.

And there's all sorts of other goodies available from the chalet stalls, with everything from chicken wings, loaded fries and macaroni bakes, to crepes, apple crumble and chocolate fondue.

Some of it's on the pricey side - this is Bents after all - so those crepes for instance will set you back £7.79 with a choice of three toppings, a hot chocolate is £5.49, bottles of beer from £4.99, mulled wine £4.49 and soft drinks £3.49, although at least those are refillable.

There's such a relaxed vibe to the place though and it's a lot less hectic than heading to the city centre markets.

I'm not sure it will stay like that on the busier weekends ahead, but if you do get a chance to call in - or are heading there for one of Bents' many other Christmas events - you won't be disappointed.

The Winter Food Market is now open 12pm to 8pm Monday to Friday, 11am to 7pm on Saturday and 11am to 4pm on Sunday.