CHOOSE GARDEN CENTRES BY COUNTY BELOW
This independent review of Cherry Lane Podington Garden Centre was written by David Marks and was last updated in August 2025.
This is an in depth review by a real human as a result of visiting this garden centre, no Artificial Intelligence is involved!
We reviewed the inside and plant sales areas, took pictures (see lower down this article) and checked out the cafe. The cafe check involved ordering and tasting the food and reporting our findings for you to judge.
Podington is a small village three miles south of Wellingborough and it's a surprise to find a large garden centre in such a rural setting.
Podington Garden Centre life began way back in 1976 started by Colin and Norma Read as a plant and vegetable nursery and has undergone a series of developments into the large garden centre you see today. In 2013 it was bought by Wyevale Garden Centres
Serious design effort was spent on the plants area by Wyevale with island beds and carefully arranged plant displays providing an attractive and engaging space.
In June 2019 Wyevale Garden Centres sold the freehold of Podington Garden Centre to Cherry Lane for £3.31 million. It was renamed Podington by Cherry Lane but is more frequently referred to as Podington Garden Centre. This was the fourth garden centre acquisition which Cherry Lane made over 12 months, with their total portfolio then at 14 garden centres.
Cherry Lane are owned by the QD (Quality Discounts) Group who own garden centres and retail stores in the East, Home Counties and the East and West Midlands. In 2025 QD operated 17 garden centres in the UK.
Read further down this page for an in depth and independent review of Cherry Lane Podington Garden Centre. In summary though this is a large garden centre which is aimed at discounting the items it sells. From our visits however prices overall are not that much lower.
Read on through this article for more detailed information about Cherry Lane Podington Garden Centre.
Entrance to Cherry Lane Podington Garden Centre
IS CHERRY LANE PODDINGTON GARDEN CENTRE DOG FRIENDLY? Yes, Cherry Lane Podington Garden Centre is dog friendly. Dogs are allowed in all areas of the garden centre including a designated area of the cafe. It was not clear to us which area of the cafe is designated as dog friendly.
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Milton Ernest Garden Centre
SIZE: The Watering Can Cafe at Podington Garden Centre is medium to large with two separate areas.
FOOD TYPE: The cafe serves standard type food for a garden centre. Breakfast service ends at 11.30, lunch service begins at 11.30. Service finishes at 3pm each day.
There is a good range of food on offer at this cafe and most people will find several choices which suit them. There is a dedicated children's menu.
There is also a dedicated "Senior's" menu which has a good choice. We were particularly impressed by the price of one "Senor's" lunch time choices, £8.95 for soup and a sandwich - that's unbeatable value!
The complete menu can be found here. Surprisingly their menu doesn't indicate which choices are vegan / vegetarian because we know some are after we visited the cafe.
FOOD QUALITY: We sampled a ham sandwich priced at £5.95 and an Americano coffee which is cheaper than most other garden centre cafes. See the picture below.
Ham Sandwich at Podington Garden Centre
The salad which came with the sandwich was attractively presented and tasted good. The sandwich itself was rather dry with only one side of the bread buttered although the ham / gammon itself was fine. The coffee was tasty and hot. So all in all for the price it was fine.
DECOR: The decor was basic with simple plastic tables and chairs but it was a pleasant area for a meal. Quite where the dog friendly area was I never understood.
Cafe interior view
There were two separate seating areas in the cafe and both were very clean and tidy, the cutlery was also perfectly clean. In fact, compared to the state of the outside plants area and the interior sales space the cafe was remarkably good.
OUTDOOR SEATING: There were two outside seating areas, both had a couple of large umbrellas but they had all semi-collapsed giving the areas a run down appearance. At the time of our visit there was no one sitting in these areas, most likely because, in common with other garden centre cafe outside areas, there was a wasp problem.
Outdoor seating at Podington Garden Centre
SERVICE: We visited on a Saturday at peak lunch time but there was almost no wait time for our order to be taken at the counter. We were given a marker with our order number to place on our table.
At the counter there was a sign indicating that the waiting time would be around 30 minutes and our sandwich was delivered after 25 minutes. Service was pleasant.
VALUE FOR MONEY: Given the quality of the food, the service and the decor, we reckon this cafe offers good value for money.
The cafe at Podington Garden Centre was awarded a Food Hygiene Rating of four out of five by Bedford Borough Council in January. Click here for full details.
SIZE OF PLANTS AREA: The size of the plants area was not the largest but was a good size. When we review this garden centre at the beginning of August on a sunny Saturday at around midday it was almost deserted with about 15 customers in the entire area. Certainly not what we have observed in other garden centres at similar times.
The concern is that the locals obviously don't visit the plants area in any significant numbers.
PLANT SELECTION: The range of plants on offer was sufficient for most people's needs. The condition of many, plants are on as OK, but too many were suffering from neglect and many were lying on their side.
Plants in poor condition
LAYOUT: The basic layout of the plants area is fine but it is spoilt by its unkempt appearance. Weeds are too often growing through the paving slabs, leaves are left lying on the paths and too many hoses pipes are left lying around when not in use, plants are on their side when there had been no recent wind.
The whole plants area is on the level with paths wide enough for wheel chair access. There are signs to help you locate where plant groups are located and the shrubs are laid out in alphabetical order.
View of outside plants area
VALUE FOR MONEY: Prices are on the low side with, for example, clematis and shrub roses both starting at £15.00. But it is necessary to watch out for the quality of the individual plants you choose. Cheap prices with poor quality may not be the best deal.
When we visited Podington Garden Centre we saw no evidence that their hardy plants have a guarantee. When we look on the internet we can find no information about a hardy plant guarantee (other than the AI overview which is very unreliable as a source of information) so I would assume that there is no guarantee - rather concerning.
SIZE: The size of the interior sales area is large.
LAYOUT: Chaotic is the best word to describe the indoor sales space. This not a particularly pleasant area to browse. The placing of goods appears random with very little thought behind it. The choice of goods for sale resembles a poor quality discount store in many areas.
Random food items for sale
There are some very odd omissions as well as far as garden related goods are concerned. For example, the garden furniture section is very poor, badly displayed and lacking in choice. The garden furniture which was for sale appeared to be low quality, almost at reject level quality.
VALUE FOR MONEY: I would not shop at the Podington Garden Centre interior sales area if value for money was my concern. Cheap does not always equate to value for money.
Very good.
ADDRESS:
High Street
Podington
Wellingborough
Northamptonshire
NN29 7HS
OWNER:
Cherry
Lane Garden Centres
TELEPHONE NUMBER:
01933 353656
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