Wheatcroft Garden Centre, Nottingham

Garden Centre Reviews

Wheatcroft Garden Centre, Nottingham

Click the picture to enlarge it.

Wheatcroft is named after the former owners, the Wheatcroft family. Now owned by Notcutts, the indoor sales area was doubled in 2003 making this a large garden centre. We visited them to review the plants, cafe and lots more.

This is a totally independent GardenAction opinion of the Wheatcroft Garden Centre in the Nottingham area. Click any picture to enlarge it.

PLANTS AREA

The outside plants area at the Wheatcroft Garden Centre has been laid out in an attractive and engaging fashion. There are lots of displays which break up the straight paths and provide interest.

The range of plants for sale is large with an especially good range of architectural plants and fruit trees. The signs are clear and indicate the main plant areas.

The quality of the plants at the Wheatcroft Garden Centre was good, better than some other Notcutts garden centres.

But they still have an irritating habit of displaying a few plants which are definitely not in good condition. See the display of brown leaved clematis on the left (click to enlarge). Clematis is another display were however, in good condition.

INDOOR SALES AREA

The large indoor sales area sells a full range of gardening goods, more than enough to satisfy most gardener's need.

The layout is pleasant with lots of gifts, cards, books, clothes and more on offer. As the picture on the left shows (click to enlarge) there is also a medium sized food hall on site selling a good range of cheese, meat and delicatessen foods and drinks.

CAFE

The cafe is in a separate, specially designed area of the garden centre. It is attractively decorated with a high wooden beamed ceiling and basic but homely looking wooden tables and chairs.

Main meals cost around �7, toasties �4.25, and jacket potatoes from �4 to �5. Most hot food is served to your table.

They also have a range of breakfasts from �4 to �6. The Wheatcroft Garden Centre website claims that the cafe stocks a "Gourmet range of locally sourced produce". We tried a dew of the meals and would rate the quality of the food as only slightly below average.

It's difficult to judge if something like chicken is locally sourced but we doubt very much that the cheese in the toasties was sourced locally. In some other cafes, it clearly is. But at the Wheatcroft Garden Centre cafe the cheese was stringy in the extreme and lacked flavour. There are some excellent cheeses produced in Nottinghamshire, for example the range of Cropwell Bishop's cheeses and the Colston Bassett cheeses. Why not use them instead of serving tasteless processed cheese?

Aside from the ingredients, the service in this cafe was prompt, very pleasant and with a smile. The presentation of the meals was also good.

PET CENTRE
A full range of pet accessories with a reasonable range of live, small pets.

AQUATICS
The aquatics department was provided by Maidenhead Aquatics and was excellent as always.

GARDEN SHEDS / GREENHOUSES
We only saw a limitedrange.

WATER FEATURES
A small range of water features.

SPECIALITIES
None

TOILETS
Ladies, gets and disabled facilities in good, clean condition.

CAR PARKING
More than adequate parking is available immediately adjacent to the main entrance.

DIRECTIONS AND CONTACT
The address is:
Wheatcroft Garden Centre,
Landmere Lane,
Edwalton
Nottingham NG12 4DE

Tel: 0115 921 6061
Email: info@wheatcroftgc.co.uk
Website: http://www.notcutts.co.uk/wheatcroft/

A map can be found HERE

Our sat nav got us there based on post code then Landmere Lane.

DISABLED ACCESS
Disabled access is good both inside and outside. It is only let down by a few obstructions such as large hosepipes in the outside area. Wheelchairs are available at the front door for no cost.

OPENING HOURS
Monday to Friday 9am to 5.30pm
Saturday 9am to 6pm
Sunday 10.30am to 4.30pm

SUMMARY
Wheatcroft is basically a good garden centre with a large range of mainly healthy looking plants. There is a large indoor sales area selling a wide variety of gifts and other non-gardening goods.

The cafe looks attractive but the food is marginally below average for the quality of the food. The service is excellent.

STAR RATINGS
The lowest rating is 1 star, the highest rating is 5 stars.

AREA RATED STAR RATING

Plants