Bridgemere Show Gardens in Cheshire

 In Brief.

The Bridgemere Show Gardens bring together a collection of gardens that have been developed for, and that have often won prizes at, garden shows, such as the Chelsea Flower Show. In total there are 15 diverse and compact gardens located around several lawns.  The gardens are designed to be at their best at different times of year, so not all of them will be in top form at a single visit, but in June many were colourful, and the variety is refreshing. This is all attached to the largest garden centre I have ever seen, so if you have a garden project in mind, there are plenty opportunities to go home with more than you brought.

The cottage garden.

What's Here?

My first surprise on arriving was the scale of the carpark; think theme park more than country house or garden. It quickly became clear that most people do not visit for the Show Gardens, and that the intimidatingly large garden centre (or perhaps the other shops, the cafe or the restaurant) is the main draw.  Everything about the garden centre is beyond the normal scale; even the entrance (pictured) seems to stretch on for ever. Typically garden centres sell some non garden-related tat, and indeed you can get a metal chicken for your garden here if you must, but both the number of plants for sale and the scale of the associated retail spaces mean that this is playing a different game from the usual.

The garden centre stretches far and wide.

The Show Gardens, in contrast, are compact and typically understated.  There is one garden that was made on a larger scale than was intended due to confusion between metric and imperial measurements! The gardens can be visited by number on a map, starting from the Cottage Garden (shown) and proceeding through a variety of spaces including a peaceful Pond and Waterfalls garden, a civilised Folly Garden and an elegant Victorian Garden. 

The Victorian Garden.

The cafe was quite quiet on a weekday, and included a cake mezze (pictured) to provide the energy for garden visiting (or shopping).  I suspect that it will be much busier on a summer weekend.

The cake mezze.


Practicalities.

Distance from Manchester Town Hall: 47 miles

Drive Time: 1 hour 10 minutes.

Price: $

Parking: On-site parking is included.  

Food and Drink: There is a cafe, featuring a patisserie, and a restaurant.

Retail therapy: In addition to the huge garden centre, there are shops selling all sorts of household items, clothes, books and food.

Child Friendly: There is a soft play near the cafe.

Toilets: Yes.

Do it justice in: 2 hours

Inside-Outside: 30:70.


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