Ferndale Garden Centre, Sheffield (page 2)

HOUSE PLANTS

There was a reasonable range of house plants for sale and most were healthy. The plants on offer included many peanut plants and these were clearly suffering from mildew or a similar infection. Very soon after our visit we learned that the peanut plants were removed from sale and returned to the suppliers for a refund.
The prices were average. The layout of the indoor plant area was good although the plants were not grouped by growing conditions.

AQUATICS
Buckingham Aquatics stocks a reasonable range of tropical and marine fish. Coldwater fish are also sold when they are in season. There is a full range of accessories including feeds, pumps and tanks.

CAFE

At the counter of the cafe was their motto "we don't sell fast food, we sell fresh food as fast as we can". We can confirm that the food and the service lived up to this motto extremely well. So well in fact, that we consider the cafe to be well above average. The food was indeed fresh, of high quality with a good range available.
Excuse the quality of the picture on the left, it does not do justice to the cafe food.

The cafe area was attractively laid out with three palm trees in the centre. It was very clean and the whole area was light and airy. There was also a small outdoor seating area. We queued for about five minutes at peak time. We easily found a table but it is clear that this cafe is popular with the locals. Finding a seat in the peak season might prove more difficult.

Click the pictures to see the menu more clearly. The range of specials were excellent main meals. Hot food was served to your table. The coffee / tea and cakes were particularly good.

OTHER SALES AREAS
Ferndale stock a good range of gardening accessories and most of your gardening needs can be satisfied here.

A large part of the indoor sales area was devoted to gifts, cards and books. On the date of our visit the indoor sales area was being re-stocked and rearranged so we could not form an accurate view.

TOILETS
The toilets were very basic although functional. The ladies had an obscured glass window which left our female reviewer feeling "rather vulnerable"! There were no baby changing facilities.

DISABLED ACCESS
Apart from some gravelled areas in the outdoor plant area, disabled access was good. There were no disabled toilets and we doubt the other toilet facilities would be acceptable for a wheelchair user. Wheelchairs were available at the front door for free.

CAR PARKING
The car park was level, dry and there were sufficient spaces.

DIRECTIONS AND CONTACT
The address is:
Ferndale Garden Centre
Dyche Lane
Coal Aston
Sheffield
South Yorkshire
S18 3BJ

A map can be found here.

Tel: 01246 412 763
Email: There is an email form on the web page below:
http://www.webexpressguide.com/sheffield/directory-listing.php?id=266
Website: We could not find a web site for this garden centre although the link above does give some more information.

SUMMARY
The jewel in the crown of the Ferndale Garden Centre is definitely the cafe. The quality of the food is excellent. There is a good range of quality plants on offer with shrubs having a commendable three year guarantee.

Overall, this garden centre is certainly worth a visit, especially if combined with a snack or main meal at their excellent cafe. The focus on the less experienced gardener another good reason to visit for many of us.

COMMENTS
We have reviewed other nearby garden centres if you wish to visit more than one garden centre in the local area (see our review index page here).

If you have any comments about this review or wish to have a garden centre reviewed then send an email to us by clicking the link below:

webmaster@gardenaction.co.uk

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