Squires Chertsey Garden Centre is one of the most attractive garden centres belonging to a large garden centre chain we have seen for a long time. Normally, it's the independents that produce a garden centre with character but Chertsey Garden Centre is one of those that break the rules. It is a medium sized garden centre that has been designed to delight and inspire their customers.

The plants sales area is hard paved throughout with wide paths making access around the area easy, even for wheelchair users.

This garden centre has small plant bays to display their plants which is one factor that makes the area inviting. The second factor that marks out Chertsey Garden Centre as interesting is their use of the plants and garden features they sell. They cleverly integrate large specimen plants, arches and other products into focal points of interest.

This isolates you from the outside world and enhances the feeling of being in a "gardening world". An old house from the 1800s is in the plants area and this has been incorporated into the design to good effect. Much of this is difficult to achieve in Chertsey but this garden centre manages it with style.

Clever design like this is not only interesting, it draws customers into the plants area to explore more of what is for sale. It's difficult sometimes to analyse exactly why any garden centre is better than the others however another feature we identified as adding to the "atmosphere" was the fact that most of the outside sales area is enclosed by well trimmed high trees and hedges.

Plant quality is excellent with many of the plants being grown in Squires own nurseries and they are proud to advertise this. Top this off with a three year hardy plant guarantee and you have sure recipe for success. Finding specific plants is easy because of the clear signs to major plant groups and the alphabetic ordering of the plants within a group.

Chertsey Garden Centre has a good range of sheds and other garden buildings by MB Garden Buildings. They also stock paving, fencing and an unusually large choice of garden features including arches, pergolas and planters.

There is a small to medium sized interior shopping area which sells the basic gardening needs. It also sells garden ornaments, planters and pergolas and metal ware.

One feature that particularly impressed us was the recycling facility near the entrance to the garden centre. Used pots and trays were stored in a container and you are free to deposit more or take some of the existing stock for free. Even more impressive were the stack of used wooden pallets which you can take, again for free. These pallets are ideal for forming a medium sized compost heap - an excellent idea by this enterprising garden centre.

Example prices at this garden centre include 60 litres of Westland multi-purpose compost at £5.99 or two for £10, clematis and roses start from £8.99, typical shrubs such as potentillas are priced from £10.99.

STAR RATINGS CHERTSEY GARDEN CENTRE

We rate different aspects of each garden centre and then give an overall rating. We adjust the ratings for garden centre size and purpose. So for example a small nursery which is average compared to other small nurseries will be awarded two and half stars. A large garden centre which is average compared to other large garden centres will also be awarded two and a half stars.

Note that the price rating below is based on a limited range of sample prices.

CHERTSEY GARDEN CENTRE RATINGS

FACILITY BEING RATED	RATING
Plant quality
Outside area layout
Interior sales
Cafe food quality	Not applicable
Cafe decor and atmosphere	Not applicable
Prices
Overall rating