Ings Lane Garden & Water Garden Centre — Attraction in Woodmansey

Well, where do I begin?

Firstly, I’d suggest you grab a cup of tea or coffee or whatever your favourite drink is. You could pop along to this garden and water centre and have a drink there whilst you read this review. You may need it. I’m a bit of an old dinosaur. A Yorkshireman who likes to moan and groan. I’m sure you’ve all met and know me very well. This isn’t a sprawling garden centre with a mosaic of concrete floors or roofs that look as if they wouldn’t remain fixed if the wind got up a little. Nope. It’s not got oodles of items stacked on pallets, nor the latest bargains at knock down prices.

But … • The staff are all; o very friendly o extremely knowledgeable – beyond anything I’ve experienced in all my, way too many, years o unbelievably patient o polite, happy, relaxed, helpful, considerate, thoughtful, o kind, very kind indeed

• The Café and food is; o competitively priced o hot o delicious o served promptly – they bring your drinks to the table before your food arrives o very clean, very tidy, exceedingly pleasant

• The incredible bits; o tea is served in a large porcelain tea pot. Yup, one that doesn’t pour five gallons of water on the table. Oh, my word, pure heaven. o the porcelain cups are large and a pot of tea for 2 people has a smaller pot of hot water for top ups

• Did I mention; o how kind and friendly all of the staff are o the large porcelain tea pot that doesn’t leak

There’s a well organised section for each of the items they stock. Their knowledge of tropical and saltwater fish is, quite frankly, to be envied. There’s plenty of room to move around and explore each area.

This specialist outlet has remained firmly focused on the core retail fundamentals;

• good friendly knowledgeable service • clean, tidy with space to move around and browse

It doesn’t “stack em high and sell em cheap”. In my, somewhat humble opinion, with the value I’ve alluded to above it doesn’t have to.

As many of you will know, it takes a Yorkshireman a good week to find his wallet, and another week after that to remember the code to its lock. We’re not easily pleased when asked to spend our hard earned brass. Leaving a 5 Star review is as rare for me as it is opening my wallet.

But … 5 Stars it is, not only with my thanks and appreciation but those of my better half and daughter.

I’d like to leave you with my final words, if I may please. If you live local and enjoy a decent cafe or need support with your fish this garden and water garden centre is...

Nice and clean fish tanks and good selection of fish, but aftersale service very poor. We have bought two fish tanks from them and plenty of fish over the last year but on a recent purchase of fish one died just over 24hrs, we went into the shop explained the issue but was told these things can happen, and you must let us know ASAP within 24hrs as they are only guaranteed for this period. Also need proof and fish to be frozen if can not get next day. As we are full time at work this was only time we could go into the store 4 days after purchase, we have never been told about the 24hr gap and all other fish are fine so this fish was not OK when bought , the man we spoke to did nothing to try and assist or even consult a manager to replace the less than £5.00 fish. No good will gesture or anything, just anything else you require so had to buy another replacement fish, plus spent over £40.00 on other fish. We always go here for our aquarium supply's and they know we go in a lot I honestly thought they would of done more how wrong could I be... I would of given 5 star but customer service is always the top of any business to get good reviews and feel looked after.. reply to last response from owner did have receipt you did not ask and also we purchase todays fish after discussion with member of staff the conversation started as intended about the dead fish also wish to correct you on not everyone has a mobile phone my parents don't. I also did not ask for a free fish..... was seeing what...

Guppy’s got dropsy, neons got ntd, minnows got bloat, gouramis got a fungal infection, plecos idk but they dead every fish ive bought from this place has died or been seriously ill, all of my other fish are perfectly fine it’s just the ones from this place that seem to have problems. The only fish from here thats healthy is a male betta but was in a right state when I got him. This is over the past 3-4 months and realized it’s not worth coming back here again. Then the staff ask you daft questions and treat everyone like they’re a 10 year old getting a fish tank which is good to see they’re making sure the fish goes to a good home but adapting to your customer will make more customers appreciate the service. All it tells me is they know how to take care of the fish but clearly aren’t since it doesn’t make a difference if they’re going into the biggest, healthiest tank or a Chinese tub because they’ll be dead in a short space of time either way. This is what happens when a garden centre tries to run their own fish shop to keep up with others, yeah you can hire knowledgeable people but are they doing the right things they should be when they get a delivery or is it the management knowing nothing about fish at all, it’s one or the other either way I'm not going back and of u want healthy fish go...