Haskins Forest Lodge Garden Centre Reviews Summary

Plant and Product Variety

Pros:

• "A great variety of plants, trees, shrubs, everything you would need for the garden."
• "Lots of beautiful plants, well laid out."
• "Very open and light, good layout and incredible collection of trees and other large plants out back."
• "This place is pretty stocked for garden plants, trees, shrubs, herbs and all kinds of gardening you require."
• "Amazing garden centre with a vast colour sorted variety of Christmas decorations, Christmas village shop miniatures, plush toys, cards and kids books."
• "This garden centre has expanded since last I visited and has a whole new area for designing your garden."
• "Great selection of indoor plants, outdoor plants, shrubs, trees. Big selection of pots."

Cons:

• "The garden centre doesn't have as much to offer both indoors and in the plant section as Longacres and Redfields."
• "Plea to of other garden centres around, that also have a larger range than the pitiful selection."
• "A lot of the stock indoors appears to have very little to do with gardens, which is puzzling for a garden centre."
• "Nothing outside. But inside, you have the usual stuff."

Staff and Customer Service

Pros:

• "Helpful and friendly staff."
• "Well worth a visit.. really friendly helpful staff.. very comprehensive stock.. really good for gift ideas."
• "Very well done for customer service to Sandra, Paul and the delivery driver. We thoroughly recommend Forest Lodge."
• "Exceptional customer service by Sandra, always happy to help and go extra mile, very pleasant and polite - clearly very experienced."
• "The staff were really lovely and helpful."
• "Staff are very friendly and obliging."
• "Very knowledgeable and helpful staff."

Cons:

• "We found the staff to be most unwelcoming, unfriendly and not at all helpful."
• "Then again miserable cashier served products. Smiles don't cost anything."
• "The staff who seemed to be clearing were so slow there are surely quicker glaciers."
• "Sadly have returned and now the total reverse receiving astonishingly poor service."
• "The cafe is pretty poor service."
• "It is also disappointing that dogs are not permitted inside in a separate part of the cafe area especially when the weather is inclement."
• "Business might claim to be dog friendly - perhaps they should ensure that their staff are as well as the lady we encountered today in the outside plant area was downright rude."

Restaurant and Food Quality

Pros:

• "Lovely to go and have a look around over the Christmas period."
• "We had a super meal at their coffee shop, very good value for money."
• "Prices slightly higher than other shop's, but excellent quality both furniture and food."
• "The roast pork I had with cracklings are absolutely delicious. Thank you Forest lodge and staff."
• "Canteen/cafe area super clean, serving lovely food enjoyed in a bright and cosy all-glass sitting area."
• "Had fish'nchips here today. Nicely cooked but only lukewarm by the time we had bought our drinks, paid for it, asked for condiments and sat at our the table."
• "The restaurant is excellent - we have only tried the breakfast on a Sunday which was fantastic."

Cons:

• "Avoid the afternoon tea!!"
• "The food and the coffee is only warm."
• "The cafe is pretty poor service."
• "Not overly impressed with my Salted caramel cake from the Cafe at 11am... it was very dry."
• "The restaurant looks lovely but cold food from the self service means we probably won't have lunch again."
• "Terrible carvery lunch at the restaurant. Meat was dry, the potatoes were burnt and so hard it hurt my gums."
• "The cafe was terrible. Felt a nuisance for visiting!"

Value and Pricing

Pros:

• "Good quality garden centers are hard to find, this is well worth travelling the distance."
• "Excellent value for money will recommend."
• "Agree with other peoples' comments that this is the best garden centre. Selection of items is great and prices are reasonable."
• "Highly recommended for food quality, value and customer service."
• "The range of items for sale is extensive & all realistically priced."
• "Best garden centre I have been, worth the slightly higher prices observed."
• "The restaurant / cafe is also very popular with locals and has very generous portions for a very reasonable price!"

Cons:

• "The garden centre is good, wide variety of plants and garden accessories, pricing on the high side."
• "One to avoid now- over priced and poor service (both instore and backend customer services)."
• "Nicely laid out. BUT expensive!!!"
• "The restaurant is quite expensive and not as good as it was before the makeover."
• "Huge variety of plants and stuff, but extremely expensive!"
• "When it was Forest Lodge it was a joy to visit. Now it is owned by Haskins, the price of plants has increased considerably."
• "Expensive for what is."