Podington by Cherry Lane

Went here today as they are one of the few places that have night sky, & circus sky petunias, beautiful deep blue, & pink, with white marks, that look like stars, (Google them). First rate plants, well watered, & good prices, excellent prices on everything we looked at, well stocked, had a good makeover with lots of items to choose from, from plants, ornaments, pet food, tools, bath products, & sweets. Will be lovely when the cafe can open, & we can have a browse, & a coffee & cake,🌺🌼🍰. Been back again since cafe is now up & running, hot chocolate and cake is really good, more beautiful plants purchased.

Staff in cafe very friendly and helpful. Lovely range of plants and goods to buy. Enjoyed our experience, which was slightly marred by the cashiers poor attitude when we gave her feedback. Visited 03.10 at 14.05

Went for a birthday lunch Tuesday and waited half an hour in a queue, no menus out because they didn't have much available from the menu. Couldn't find out what was available until we reached the till. Very few items were available. We waited another half an hour for the food to arrive. We ordered soup & sandwich, jacket potato & beans, chicken pie. The sandwiches were dried out and starting to curl, jacket potato, dry and not cooked enough. We then wandered around, we found the whole place scruffy. There were empty plant tables all over. The Christmas display was very disappointing. There was no point complaining to the staff in the return you could see they were stressed and trying their best. It's all down to bad management.
We won't be going back.

Sorry to say but the food was terrible. Chips dry as a bone. The Quiche was rubbery and had clearly been warmed In the microwave. The coleslaw was as small as a teaspoon and the salad looked old. Sad because we've had much better times there. Won't eat there again after such a long wait to be served and such poor food . Very disappointed.

We enjoyed a fabulous morning with our Grandson having breakfast with Santa, or rather with the elves and Santa popped along at the end. The Elves Karen and Alfie were awesome, so friendly and entertaining, Karen was so good at remembering the names of the children and got them all involved, we will definitely bring our grandson again next year 🎅🎄🎁

Every time I have been there for food, there is a queue that never gets shorter quickly.
Why? Because they should have one member of staff taking orders, another making drinks and another waiting the tables, but they don’t because they are always short staffed. This is why their menu varies with products unavailable. Why are they short staffed? Because they don’t pay their staff enough.
This whole business would perform better if it was managed efficiently. It doesn’t take much to see from the outside that it’s not.
Are they serious about improvement? It would appear not.
A great location with lots of wasted potential.

The service at the cafe is the slowest I've ever experienced.
I didn't end up getting anything as after standing in the queue for 20 mins, my daughter needed the toilet so I had to leave the queue. I couldn't face getting back in it. There was never less than 6 people in the queue at a time. Only 2 people behind the counter, one on the till, one making drinks. No urgency whatsoever. You'd think during busier periods they'd get more staff on. I usually love coming to this garden centre as it's so local but this has put me off. Left feeling hungry and thirsty.

Nice garden centre but ....
A cafe on site, although it tends to get really busy and is quite basic.
The cafe has an outside eating area in the warmer months although this is very small.
Small range of furniture.
A clothing area.
A pet area which is a nice size.
On reviewing this in Jan 2022 the outdoor plant section is extremely sparse, and in some spaces the benches holding the plants are dismantled and / or broken.
I am of course hoping this is a glitch and the plants will be replaced!!
The garden centre does have several sections of varied items, but each section seems quite limited... small section of candles, small section of outdoor furniture... etc etc.
Worth a visit if you're passing through but I wouldn't go out of my way to visit..