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Dobbies Garden Centre Atherstone
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Click the picture to enlarge it. |
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Dobbies at Atherstone (West Midlands) claim on
their website to be the largest Garden Centre in the UK.
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It's
certainly "big", 118,000 sq ft of sales area and a total site size
of 53 acres. But does "biggest" mean best? We visited Dobbies at
Atherstone and tried, the plants, the restaurant, the toilets, the
aquarium and pet centre, the disabled facilities plus several other
features to see what it was really like. Our 100% independent results
are set out in detail below for you to decide if this is a garden centre
for you.
As you go through the main entrance at Dobbies, there is a
well-staffed Help Centre immediately on your left. The staff are
friendly and informative. If they can't answer your question, they use
their company mobile phones to contact someone who can.
PLANTS
The plants were well-kept, well watered and looked healthy. The
selection is undeniably large. Most hardy plants were labelled well with
site and care information. Remember though that even the largest
garden centre is not able to compete with a specialist nursery for their
particular plants.
The layout is not the best we have seen for locating the
plants you want, the sign-posting is lacking. However, some sections are
arranged with plants in alphabetical order which helps locate your chosen
plant.
| Dobbies guarantee all hardy plants bought at their
garden centre for five years. Click the picture on the left to see
the guarantee. Not many garden centres offer this sort of
guarantee and certainly not for five years. Very reassuring. |
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PLANT INFORMATION
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In the middle of the plant area there is the well-equipped
Dobbies Plant
Information Centre. It does not always have staff available, but
often does. The centre has reference books with an area of tables
and chairs for reading. On the walls are a large selection of
useful charts showing such information as the eventual sizes of
fruit trees grown on different rootstocks. |
PRICES
The prices of plants and common gardener's needs were average for a
garden centre. Example prices are listed below:
| Rose, 3 litre pot |
£5.99 |
| Common shrub (e.g. potentilla) |
£5.99 |
| Potted fruit tree (various rootstocks) |
£24.00 |
| Growmore, branded 3.5kg |
£4.99 |
| Growmore, branded 1.5kg |
£1.99 |
| Miracle Gro, soluble plant food, 1kg |
£3.49 |
The pricing on some items was not quite what you would
expect. For example the small 1.5kg Growmore at £1.99 was better value
than the larger 3.5k Growmore at £4.99. Same brand, no special offer,
strange.
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DOBBIES GARDEN CENTRE AT ATHERSTONE
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