Blue Diamond Garden And Home - Bingham

Had afternoon tea yesterday as a big group celebrating a 70th birthday. Being coeliac I did wonder what I would be given but was pleasantly surprised and didn’t feel disadvantaged at all. Jess Godfrey did a great job of welcoming us all and ensuring all those with food allergies were catered for. Thank you for a great afternoon.

With all the Grandkids was a first class Soft Play Centre, wonderful cake and coffee, friendly staff, great facilities.

The disabled toilet had a wet sticky floor with toilet rolls over it. Went into the restaurant and was told it was a 40 minute wait for 3 coffees!! The shopping and service at the checkout was really good though

A Sunday visit to a fabulous venue, Great service with a large variety of products and value propositions, finishing our visit with a fantastic meal.

We visited on Saturday 11th November and the car park was rammed, found a space eventually. Walked around the garden centre for a good hour first. It’s the first time we’ve looked around. The quality is that of an M&S type store, very high quality, with prices to match mind, but that’s to be expected of garden centres generally. We then decided to visit the cafe for a hot drink. At first it’s not obvious there’s a queue on the left for drinks and cakes, and further down a table service restaurant, but we worked it out. Maybe a clear sign above the area for drinks and cakes is needed. Also a sign listing what drinks you sell. There was no sign with prices anywhere. The queue for drinks was about thirty people long, but from experience in other local garden centres we thought it would soon go down. However, we in the queue for a good twenty minutes, despite several staff behind the counter. We soon found out why someone asks what you want, then makes the drinks, with maybe one other person taking the next persons order a few minutes after. Then someone on the till asked us what we’d ordered, which slows things down even more. What happens in other cafes is that you order at a till, which then is picked up by someone who makes the drinks. Often two people or more. Speeds things up and makes it much better for the customer. So, this part really let itself down. Such a shame as the cafe is gorgeously decorated, just a poor slow system in place. Rather pricey too. £4.40 for a ‘luxury’ hot chocolate. Overall a really nice garden centre, but will most likely have a drink elsewhere in a cheaper more local pub next time.