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Smith's Nurseries have been in business, and in the same family, for over 70 years. When the current owner's grandfather was in the process of developing the business he installed central heating for the plants in his greenhouse before it was installed in the family home. Now that really does show determination to succeed in the horticultural business.

Nowadays Smith's Nurseries still remain true to their roots, they are a real plants nursery and this allows them to concentrate on producing top quality plants and competitive prices.

The plants area has one of the highest percentage of covered area that we have ever seen. It makes it truly an all-weather destination with around 65% of the nursery being under cover. There is another less obvious advantage to the covered area, it allows tender plants such as geraniums to be raised outside of the normal heated greenhouses. The result is stronger, healthier plants which have already been partially hardened off before you buy them.

The paths are mostly hard paved with some reasonably solid gravel areas elsewhere. The plants are arranged in small display bays set at angles with some of the larger plants attractively displayed on the floor - see the picture on the left. The plants area is made more attractive by the clever display of the larger plants for sale. Quite clearly lots of design thought has been put into the layout.

The majority of the plants are slow-grown in the adjoining plant nursery. At Smith's you are buying slow grown English plants and the resulting quality shines through.

Because the majority of plants are home-grown all the prices are kept low. Two examples are roses starting at £7.99 and clematis at bargain start price of just £6.99. This is a medium to large sized garden centre and because the vast majority of the area is dedicated to plants the choice is very large.

You can find all the common plants at this nursery and some not so common ones as well. The range of evergreens, Japanese Maples, shade-loving and larger specimen plants is particularly good. In season there is a large choice of bedding plants and hanging baskets.

The shop area is relatively small however they restrict the items they stock to almost exclusively gardening items. This means the choice of gardening accessories is relatively large. The average gardener will find all the fertilisers, pesticides, tools etc. that they need at Smith's Nurseries.

Recently they have opened their new "Garden Cafe". Currently it is open on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays although plans are in progress to extend the opening hours.

We didn't get a chance to sample their fare because our visit was on a Thursday but we can confirm that it is a very attractive place to sit and have a coffee or tea break. There is a seating area inside the cafe building and more seats in the outside covered area