Garden centre of the universe

We visited Bents Garden Centre with Shaz on Sunday, not far from her house in Stockton Heath. It was quite monumentally big and very very well designed and manicured. As well as the obvious plants and gardening paraphernalia there were several eating options within an umbrella canteen with different seating areas - all food made from scratch on the premises which is pretty cool. I had a morrocan pancake stuffed with spiced veggie filling and a huge plateful of salads - Jon chose halloumi and bacon quiche with piles of fresh veggies and Shaz had a vegetable crumble - George had bits from each of us on a side plate although truth be told he wasn't very interested in eating anything until he saw the ice cream van as we were leaving and had a 99 with flake and raspberry sauce!
There is also a large play park for kids with not only slides and things to climb on but also various trikes and ride on's to enjoy. George spent a lot of time on the slides, using a red scuttlebug and bouncing on these sprung boards. This is set alongside a large pond - or small lake and ornamental fountain watched over by enormous willow woven deer.
The prices for all things horticulture were a little on the steep side especially compared to our slightly rough around the edges local garden centre Gordon Rigg, but you could easily go here and spend nothing while your kids play to their heart's content. Somewhere I'd definitely go again.