I first visited last year when a raccoon experience I’d booked for my brother was taking place in the wildlife area. It was a wet, damp & extremely dismal day so I was surprised to find the place was packed with minimal parking spaces to be found - they have a lot of spaces. So many people that trying to enter the garden centre was near-on impossible. I wandered around the free farm area section (the drinks hut in the picnic area sells lovely sausage rolls; some of the best I’ve ever tasted) avoiding running/screaming children & people with out-of-control dogs & promised I’d not go back, however, my brother said that the wildlife area was lovely & he thought we should give it another chance at a later date. This we did a few weeks back, however, it was the last day of the school holidays & if I thought it was busy with ferals running about before, it was ten-times worse this time; not the fault of the farm at all, although a member of staff telling the group of lads kicking footballs at everyone sitting trying to eat their lunch at the picnic area would have been nice, as the parents were nowhere to be seen. Whilst I love to see kids playing I don't want a ball landing on my head when I'm eating. We headed into the cafe inside the garden centre where we ate some overpriced food that I’m pretty sure had been heated in a microwave - I say this because my chilli nachos were ice cold in the middle yet burning hot on the outside. Who sells jacket potatoes without offering butter? My travel companion was most disappointed in this. Because of such a busy & disappointing experience we decided not to stop.

Third time though was definitely the luckier time. We were at a loose end in the area with a few hours to spare so gave it another shot & it did not disappoint.

The garden centre area is what it is; a garden centre. The queuing system is non-existent & it’s quite easy for rude, ignorant middle-aged men to push in front of you. A group of elder ladies behind me were very vocal in their dissing of the queue & lack of open tills, however, that’s par for the course in most garden centres, & shops these days so to be expected.

This time we chose to eat in the cafe next to the farm shop. Arriving just past 11am we were too late for the breakfast we were wanting, however, I can highly recommend the chelsea buns, the best I’ve ever tasted. Apparently the iced bun was good too. The tea is a little weak, again, not unusual for cafes but the pot it came in was huge & shared between two of us, both getting three cups full out of it. The queuing system again caused a lot of consternation from other’s waiting as they felt people were queue jumping but the staff have a great system & you get your drinks in the order you paid for them so take note if you’re planning to visit. We sat inside as it was raining but there is a lot of seating outdoors too. I also liked the family area (although the group of women with children who could have used this area decided to seat themselves in the main area even though the family side was empty) & I love that they have a quiet area, however, this was filled with ‘ladies who lunch’ & they were anything but quiet.

The farm shop was stocked with all you would expect - I can highly recommend the cherry pie! The fruit and veg was of good quality. The butchery was well-stocked but the staff all appeared as if they would rather be somewhere else & were happily chatting about their weekend plans in the back whilst two of us were there waiting to be served - they knew we were there too - & it pains me to say it but the meat I bought (pork, beef and lamb) was completely flavourless. A real shame as I use my local farm shop at home because their food & quality is so good. Prices for everything were as you would expect. A lot more expensive than a greengrocer or local butcher, but they have a good range of stock & did I mention how good the cherry pie in the farm shop was?

I can highly recommend the wildlife centre; costs extra but really worth it.