Some who read my blogs regularly will know that I I have an interest in reviewing new places for eating, including breakfast, and this one is one such along those lines but with a twist.

Recently, we had a makeover of part of our garden. And as a result we need to put things into the beds plus pots and what not to show off our garden its best effect. We’re mindful that August is not the month where you want to plant new stuff. But we wanted to get ideas for when we get planting. One friend suggested we go to the garden centre called Morleys, situated in nearby Wakering, not far from where we live, and that we go and check out what they had to offer So a few days back, when it was sunny, me and my wife decided to make that visit.

Over the years I’ve visited many what we call these days garden centres and it occurs to me these are becoming increasingly popular, for after all we live in a country where people love their gardens and want to them it at their best and, according to your budget, garden centres offer a facility where people can get shrubs and flowers that they can plant and other stuff that can go into their garden. With that in mind we decided to visit a place I hadn’t been to for many years. The first thing that struck me was how big the place was, but it was relatively easy to navigate even for an old dodderer like myself.

We arrived in a weekday toward the middle of the day and already the car park was fairly full. Interestingly enough, the disabled bays were all full. It was quite clear that a lot of old dears, about which I include myself, were amongst those that visited on that day for what I imagined would have been a pleasant day’s outing. As I walked round the site, I realised that there was so much there. It seems to me that if you have a garden and wanted to put things in it, maybe sheds and benches, maybe ornaments, maybe water features, as well as shrubs and plants and trees and anything else that one might see in a garden, Morley’s is the place to go. We spent a pleasant hour looking around and getting inspiration. In fact, there was so much that we liked that there was enough there to fill our garden 10 times over, although this time we didn’t get go away with much but we did go away with a good impression and lots of ideas and certainly have it down for another visit with the intention to buy.

Now I come to my restaurant review. I dare say, one of the attractions of Morley’s is its Tea Room, which was very nice and also quite buzzing with lots of people in it. And we decided that we would have our lunch and a cup of tea and and just enjoy it sitting in the Tea Room. The menu isn’t very extensive if you’re wanting a full-blown meal but there were lots of cakes and sandwiches. My wife went for one of the cakes which was delicious. I decided to go for a full English breakfast and I wasn’t disappointed with what they served. If I have a criticism, it is that it took a long time to come and longer than what I’m used to. But there was no complaint in what they served up. The service, ambience and price were good. Our eating experience at Morley’s well complemented our walking around the site and checking out what Morley’s had to offer. It’s certainly on our list for a return visit.