In The Afternoon After Polhill,

we drove for a few miles,

and arrived here at Coolings Garden Centre,

a quick pose,

and we were inside, 

admiring the Christmas tree in the entrance,

as soon as we walked in there were a few water features,

on display,

and a nice selection of hanging baskets,

cyclamen,

orchids,

succulents,

and cactus in the main area,

as well as a nice selection of palms,

and so many Father Christmases,

and other decorations,

some of them quite a size,

into the outdoor section, looking to the right,

and left,

beware, 

of the bear!

I thought this was really neat,

a ready made bridge if you want a ornamental garden pool to really stand out, there was no price on it, but by shear happenstance one of the workers with a badge 'Manager', on his jacket walked past, so I asked how much the bridge was, he shrugged his shoulders and in a prefect mid-European language answered me, I am guessing the translation was "I do not know",

 

moving on,

lots of Christmas decorations for the garden,

as soon as we saw this telephone box we knew we were next to the restaurant, as it happens the telephone box is equipped with a defibrillator, which is a nice thing to know, as it happens garden centres like this do attract a large percentage of the elderly, I guess key members of staff are trained how to react in an emergency and how to use it,

into the restaurant, table found,

Diana ordered the food with our table number,

and arrived with our drinks,

coffee for myself,

hot chocolate for Diana,

toasted sandwich for Diana,

a ham and cheese sandwich for myself,

Diana had a side of chips as well, 

meal over time for a look around,

 back outside,

where it almost appeared,

that the nursery had cornered the market on pansies!

there were so many displays of them,

the spring bulb collection,

Diana had a closer look at some of them,

in this glasshouse,

more decorations,

as well as plants for sale,

all aboard, 

for the Santa Express,

we started our walk back to the indoor area,

looking in at Mr. McGregor's garden shed,

who was asleep guarding his prize possession,

we were both intrigued by this plant,

with its bright purple berries,

it is a Bodinier's beautyberry, (callicarpa profusion),

from China,

we made our way past the last of the outdoor beds,

and past the pet section,

to the clothing area,

one berry to go!

these seen to be popular,

 terrariums to grow plants in,

not sure what these are, but they interested Diana,

the greenhouse decked out with artificial flowers,

on the right,

left,

and these by the entrance, 

back to the car, 

and home where it was feet up for a coffee before we were out again, 

but before that a short video of some of the Santa's and mobiles, in the evening we were out with Mike, meeting him to go to a concert by Think Floyd, if you would like to see our evening, please press the 'Older Posts' button at the bottom right of the page.