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One of the most rewarding garden features is a pond, and we now have everything you need to build a brand new one, or to improve an existing one. Enjoy the sound of running water with a fountain or waterfall, encourage wildlife with our range of plants and water treatments and relax watching your ornamental fish.

Pond Supplies

As previously reported we now have an aquatics department here at Woodside. We stock the Oase range of pond pumps to suit a range of features, from a solar powered pump for small ponds and barrels, to large pumps to create a stream or waterfall, and everything in between. We sell Gordon Low Greenseal liner by the metre, so you can buy as much or as little as you require to suit your design. For existing ponds we have a range of water and fish treatments including organic barley straw pellets to keep your water clear. Look out too for “Water Bombs” which are a bacteria filled capsule which will kickstart your filter system to create a healthy habitat for pond fish and wildlife. We’ve just had a fresh delivery of water plants, including water lilies and oxygenators to enhance your pond.

Ornamental Fish

NEW for this weekend is a range of pond fish, including Sarasa Comets, Golden Orfe, Shubunkins, Blue Orfe, Golden Tench and Goldfish, and we also sell fish food to keep them happy and well fed! Garden lighting helps you make the most of your evenings in the garden and our range is suitable for submerging in the pond or for lighting up other garden features. Stephen is our resident expert in all things aquatic, and he is happy to take appointments for you to come in and discuss your requirements. – just phone in first to check his availability.

We are looking forward to a very busy Bank Holiday weekend with plenty of plants in stock and the tea room open. If you want to book or want to speak to Stephen please call us on 01835 830315.

Due to limited internet access and spending time with our customers at Woodside we may miss any messages via social media. If we don’t answer, just leave a message and someone will get back to you.

You will be delighted to know that the tea room will re-open for sitting in on the 26th April in line with the Government timetable. Due to social distancing measures we will have limited capacity within the tearoom, so we are happy to accept bookings for indoor seating from the 26th onwards. There is plenty of space outdoors for sitting in the garden, and we have spread out the picnic tables to give you all more room. You can also bring your own folding chairs if you wish.

Take Away Service

In the meantime our tea room is open for takeaways, so you can enjoy soups, sandwiches, cakes, traybakes, scones, and hot and cold drinks, as well as daily specials such as pork pies or quiche. As the takeaway service has been so popular, we will continue be continuing to offer this service to customers even when the indoor space is open.

Tea Room staff required

We are looking for a new member of staff to join our hard-working tearoom team. Ideally we would like to recruit someone with cafe experience, but more important is the ability to quickly adapt to learn new skills, good customer care qualities, flexibility to work any days required and a cheerful manner. You’ll need to be available to work regular shifts which will include both some weekdays and weekends, and have a willingness to cover for holidays and staff sickness. A good level of fitness is also a requirement – you’ll be on your feet all day! If you are interested give me a call on 01835 830315 for a quick chat with either myself or Helen and we’ll take it from there. If we are busy, the answerphone will pick up – please do leave a message with your name and number so we can call you back.

We were delighted to be able to open to the public again on the 5th April and to be able to launch our new aquatics department in the walled garden area. You can now buy pond pumps and filters, coldwater fish food, pond plants and oxygenators, pond treatments and pond lighting. Pond liner should be in stock by the end of this week and coldwater fish will be available later this month.

Birdhouse Tearoom

The tea room is now open for takeaways, so you can enjoy our delicious cakes, scones, traybakes, soups and sandwiches with hot or cold drinks.

We have some plenty to tempt you in the plant centre too: roses, peonies, rockery plants, trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants, herbs, climbers, seeds and much more. Don’t forfet our stoneware, including statues and bird baths or our Errington pots and planters for added interest in your garden this summer.

Grocery Store

Following the success of our grocery shop over the last 6 months, we are now committed to keeping this opne daily. Items include fresh fruit, salads and vegetables, frozen ready meals, lentils, split peas, organic stock cubes, naan breads, curry sauces, dried fruit, nuts, free range eggs, local honey, dried mushrooms, brioche baguettes, oatmeal, polenta, semolina, gnocchi and much more.

Remember that we get freshly baked sourdough bread every Wednesday and Saturday.

We still have to stick to the rules regarding Covid-19, so please:

• Wear a face covering in all indoor areas
• Maintain 2m social distancing
• Sanitise your hands on arrival

Please be patient with us – you may have to queue during your visit as we will be limiting the amount of people in at any time. We also have two new members of plant centre staff, a new till, new products and a new lay-out, so things will take a bit of getting used to!

We are very pleased to be welcoming you back to Woodside, and we hope you have a relaxing, enjoyable and safe visit.

Good news at last! The Garden Centre will be re-opening on 5th April, so we are now busy making sure that your return to Woodside will be the best possible experience. We have been busy unpacking new stock for some weeks now. To allow us to fully prepare, the call and collect service will be ending on 31st March. However the grocery shop will be open every day, including all the Easter weekend. From 5th April we will also be offering a takeaway service from the tea room for drinks, cakes, scones, sandwiches and soup. Our summer opening hours of 9:00am to 5:00pm will also start on 5th April.

Garden centre stock

We are delighted to be offering an extended range of potting shed essentials this summer – these include the new range of bamboo pots and seed trays  – an excellent sustainable alternative to plastic plant pots that will last approximately 5 years and are then compostable. Another new product are the Vigoroot planters – these are fabric planters that enourage vigorous rooting, helping them be resistant to harsh weather, pests and diseases.

We have also had a delivery of pots and planters from Errington, Reay and Mims and it will be so much easier for you to chose the perfect pot once the garden centre has re-opened. Last year we introduced a range of Green Man wall plaques which were so popular we have extended the choice this year.

We have some excellent starter shrubs in stock as well as rockery plants, bedding plants, bulbs and seed potatoes.

If you would like to receive regular updates on new stock as it arrives, plus offers, please sign up to the newsletter.

As our regular visitors will know we have added a grocery section to the plant centre. We sell a great range of fresh fruit and vegetables and we have a delivery twice per week. The selection is seasonal, so may include, potatoes, leeks, celeriac, parsnips, carrots and onions – all perfect for warming soup. We also have broccolli, sprouts, beetroot, squash and salad items available and apples, pears, bananas, oranges and satsumas.

Our grocery section also includes local honey, free range eggs and stock cupboard items such as nuts, dried fruits and pulses.

Christmas deliveries

There always tends to be a bit of a rush to get fruit and vegetables in the run up to Christmas. We will be getting a delivery on both Tuesday 22nd and Tuesday 29th, so you can stock up for the two holiday weekends.

Our grocery section means that you can get your weekly fruit and veg shop at the same time as you do Christmas shopping for gardening friends, treat yourself to something fort he garden and pop in for a Christmas lunch. If you are hardy you can even meet up with another household in our outdoor seating area – blankets are provided!

The Christmas Lunch Menu in the Birdhouse Tearoom has now been launched and bookings are being taken. We are serving  them from this week right through to Christmas week. Please bear in mind that this lunch is for bookings only, and you can only book as a maximum group size of 6 people from two households, according to current Covid restrictions. While we’re unable to meet in each others houses, this seems like a good way to get together with friends and family that you might be missing.

Birdhouse Tearoom Christmas Lunch Menu

Smoked Salmon and Oatcakes
Honeydew Melon
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Traditional Turkey lunch with roast potatoes, stuffing, pigs in blankets and vegetables
Mushroom, Cranberry and Brie Wellington with seasonal vegetables
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Christmas Pudding and custard
Chocolate roulade with cream
£19.95 per person  – Please book on 01835 830315

Ready Made Meals

We are so pleased that you are  enjoying our new range of ready frozen meals. Following on from your feedback we now have some new gluten free meals available:

• Posh Fish Pie with Gruyere cheese and capers
• Mushroom Stroganoff, Honey
• Mustard Pork Casserole and Ginger
• Lemon and Chilli Chicken.

These are available at Woodside, subject to demand or can be delivered to you along with our garden products, plants, fresh fruit and vegetables.

Our delivery of trees has arrived as planned with a good selection of fruit and ornamental trees now available. Looking particularly good are the Cotoneasters and Crab Apples (Malus) which are both full of fruits and berries. As our trees are all container grown you can plant all year round. I’d recommend planting in a good compost with added fertiliser and rootgrow. Taller trees will need staking and securing with a tree tie, and we can show you how to do this – just ask in the plant shop.

Apart from our excellent range of trees, we also have a good selection available of shrubs and herbaceous plants, including Pieris, Skimmias, Salvias, heucheras, Cotinus, grasses, and much more. New stock is still arriving each week, to keep our selection fresh and interesting, with a new batch of herbs arriving later this coming week.

Compost

After earlier problems with compost supplies, we now have good stocks of:

• Multi-purpose compost
• General Purpose Wool Compost
• Wool Compost for salads and vegetables
• Lakeland Gold Claybreaking compost.

All the wool composts are peat free and certified organic.

We are expecting a delivery this week of both Ericaceous Compost  for all your acid loving plants such as Pieris, Skimmias and Rhododendrons and Farmyard Manure for improving vegetable gardens and to feed and mulch a wide variety of plants.

Face Coverings

As the use of face coverings now becomes more widespread we are pleased to be able to offer you a choice of attractive designs. So if you’re fed-up looking like you’re about to start surgery, or looking like a bandit, we now have a selection of “pretty” face coverings at just £4.99 each. Designs include rainbows, bees, flowers and birds, and our face coverings are available to purchase from both the tearoom and the plant shop.

We also stock re-useable face shields (the clear plastic visors) which have been made by the local “Men’s Shed”. These are in packs of 5 and are £15 per pack (£3 each), to cover costs, and the cash for these goes directly to the Men’s Shed to enable them to make more. So if you would like to get a pack and distribute them around friends and family, this is a handy way to do this.

We hope you are enjoying the summer and embracing the recent rain as the gardens did need it! We have plenty of plans for the rest of the year, including workshops, so please sign up to our newsletter if you haven’t already done so to find out more. In the meantime we are still getting more plants in to brighten up the summer and autumn. This weekend’s highlights are:

Penstemons available in 2 litre pots £8.49 each. Choose from Huskers Red, Heavenly Blue, Garnet, Purple Bedder, Sour Grapes and Snowstorm.

Patio Dahlias – ideal for brightening up tired looking planters and borders. They come in various colours – Pink, Orange, Red & White, Pink & White, Pink & Yellow or Yellow, and are in bud and flower and looking very colourful. These will now flower non-stop until the first frosts of the winter, so will keep going for ages yet.

Please feel free to enjoy the space here in the walled garden and perhaps have some refreshments from the tea room. The herbaceous beds are attracting a lot of butterflies, so lovely for a wander.

Next week we will have more herbaceous plants ready and hopefully more garden furniture in stock. And at the beginning of August we will have a new batch of fruit trees available.