Hey everyone! This is our first proper post so please be patient while we find our bearings with what we’re doing.. because who knows really.Â
On Friday we took a trip to Green Pastures, a garden centre just outside of Norwich which none of us had visited before.Â
It was easy to find via signs on the main road and had a huge car park which made social distancing nice and easy.Â
Chaelyn’s first thoughts was that it looked quite small, and it wasn’t super clear about which was the entrance and exit (implemented because covid). On the front of the main building was signs about winning awards (garden centre of the year!!!!), and also had a post office and a farm shop - lush!Â
Once we figured out the entrance, we were surprised how big the outside area actually was! The plants were laid out well, everything was in categories so it was easy to find what you were looking for and there was plenty of different varieties.Â
We didn’t go with anything specific in mind that we wanted to get, but it was a good place for a browse. Chloe got a reduced white lavender which was actually in great condition at 50% marked price, meaning it was £4.50 and Ollie got an ornamental grass, it wasn’t labelled but it was also half price and cost somewhere around a fiver which is perfect for next to his new pond (more to come on that soon, I’m sure). Chaelyn bought a ceramic pot which again was half price, so we must have caught them at a good time! Regardless of the reduced items, we felt that in general they were reasonably priced throughout their plants, and everything seemed great quality.Â
Chloe absolutely fell in love with a few of the dahlias that they had in stock, which again were reasonably priced and great condition. It was nice to see something a bit more striking, and she is pretty passionate about Dahlias.Â
Indoors had the normal selection of tools, seeds and tat. The tools weren’t cheap, but no more expensive than anywhere else - standard prices for branded tools. There was some cute niknaks, some were a bit tacky, but we did enjoy the bird house that looked like a pub 👌 (but maybe that’s just lockdown kicking in). Definitely a good spot to buy gifts for your mum.Â
Tiny houseplant section, nothing particularly unusual, but not really the sort of place you’d go for houseplants anyway so no love lost there.Â
Service was nice, the lady was polite and friendly but felt a bit bad for her trying to serve as well as ‘police’ the queue to keep them 2 metre apart on her own!Â
Ash and Chaelyn popped into the farm shop after we paid. Covid meant that there was a strict one way system, but that didn’t spoil anything. As soon as you walk in there is loads of fresh, local fruit and veg. The place is packed with typical ‘farm shop’ stuff, as well as local teas, booze, bakery items and Chaelyn’s favourite - soaps and cake! Prices were really reasonable for the quality and service was friendly. All in all, really enjoyable.Â
Introducing the team, Chloe, Chaelyn, Ash, Ollie & Harriet (occasionally Suzie the Mexican sausage).Â
Chloe is a long-time garden and plant obsessive and a bit of a green witch.Â
Chaelyn is new to the gardening game but has embraced it practically full time.Â
Ash is king of carnivorous plants and loves gardening for wildlife.Â
Ollie makes fairy houses for a living and is finding his roots with his vegetable plot.Â
Harriet is 3 and is exploring her senses through plants and play!
Suzie is a Sausage dog cross Chihuahua and really loves sitting on top of dahlia plants🙄.Â
Chloe and Ash are a couple and Chaelyn, Ollie, Harriet and Suzie are a little family. We all live next door to each other and bubbled together through lockdown to keep ourselves sane! Panic set in when the supermarket shelves were empty, and Ollie got to digging his veg patch whilst Chloe and Chaelyn rescued reduced plants from the shops, and that’s where it all began.Â
When garden centres started opening again, we cautiously popped out if and when we felt safe to do so, and with it being the only thing open for a while it became a topic of discussion! We’d be talking about which had the better selection of houseplants, where had the more helpful staff, where was good for a bargain etc, and it lead us on to an idea.. Garden Centre Review Blogging™!
We’ve all got different areas of interest so there’s bound to be something you can relate to! Stick with us to find out what’s what and where.