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Woodlands Garden Centre, Leicestershire
Woodlands Garden Centre, Leicestershire
Click the picture to enlarge it.
The entrance to the Woodlands Garden Centre in Stapleton, Leicestershire.
This is a totally independent GardenAction opinion of the Woodlands Garden Centre in Leicestershire. It's clear, as soon a you go through the front entrance that plenty of help is available if you require it. There is a large and well-staffed help desk in the main sales area.
It's also clear that this garden centre is undergoing a major upgrade. In the next few months the facilities will be upgraded to include a 50 seat coffee shop which will also serve a variety of wines. The flower shop (Florista) will be expanded in size to 15,000 sq ft, the Food Hall will also be expanded and parts of the Car Park will be resurfaced. The existing sales area is 93,000 sq ft which makes Woodlands very large by any standards.
PLANTS
At the heart of any garden centre are the plants and
our examination showed them to be healthy, well-watered and set
out well. The high-level and clear signs allowed us to easily
locate the plants we were looking for. Especially helpful were the
signs showing plant types (shade loving, sun loving and lots
more).
The information shown for individual plants was useful and exactly where you wanted it, right by the plants. Click on the picture to the right for an example of the information provided.
There was no information centre in the plants area with
reference books or similar. 
Woodlands offer a one year guarantee on all hardy
plants. Many garden centres offer no guarantee, so the one year
guarantee is commendable. This is not the longest guarantee in the
garden centre world but it should be sufficient.
Woodlands also offer a gift wrapping service for plants at a small cost.
PRICES Standard prices at the large garden centres such as Woodlands are very similar as our small shopping basket below shows. Woodlands appeared to be slightly above average as far as standard prices were concerned but see the special offers information below the table.
Rose, 3 litre pot �5.99 (see below)
Common shrub (e.g. potentilla) �6.99
Potted fruit tree (various rootstocks) �24.99
Growmore, branded, 3.5kg �4.99 (see below)
Growmore, branded, 1.5kg �2.99
Miracle Gro, soluble plant food, 1kg �3.79
Evergreen Complete Lawn, 3.5kg �7.99
Woodlands scored well on special offers at the time we reviewed it. Two
offers which affect the standard purchases in our shopping basket were exceptional value. One rose for �5.99 is average, the special offer of three roses for �10 is almost irresistible! The same goes for the buy 1 get 1 free offer on the 3.5kg Growmore.
