Every tree matters at Grosvenor as the garden centre encourages customers to plant at least one tree during the UK’s largest celebration of trees, National Tree Week (26th November – 4th December). 

Marking the beginning of the winter tree planting season, National Tree Week has been celebrated since 1975 and is now an unmissable date in Grosvenor’s calendar.

“Not only does planting a tree in your garden increase your positive impact on the environment and support wildlife, but trees have been proven to offer health benefits too as they promote wellbeing and improve the green space around you,” commented Iain Wylie, managing director.

Grosvenor is marking the occasion by introducing new varieties to its popular range of fruit and ornamental trees, such as Apple Christmas Pippin and Rosette, Prunus Frilly Frock and Sorbus Olympic Flame.  
  
“Our trees are sourced from British nurseries as local to the garden centre as possible with none travelling further than Worcestershire so they arrive and remain in the best condition possible,” stated Pete Davies, plant buyer.

“Each of the new varieties has been carefully chosen for its excellent quality and exciting new distinctive features.  National Tree Week is the perfect time to plant at least one new tree and any of these new varieties would be a great addition to every garden – we even provide a free stake and tie to give all our trees the best possible start,” Pete continued.

A member of Cheshire Wildlife Trust, Grosvenor is highly supportive of any means to encourage wildlife in gardens.  Trees provide an excellent source of food and nutrients and prove an effective way of creating a food source for animals before hibernation.

For further information on Grosvenor’s range of trees (and Christmas trees!), please call Grosvenor’s team of horticultural experts on 01244 625270.

Grosvenor has launched its popular, annual Schools’ Growing Competition to inspire school children from 11 schools in the local area to get growing.

Grosvenor’s Schools’ Ambassador and horticulturalist, James Mabon, is visiting each of the 11 participating schools to deliver the plug plants, compost, pots and plenty of hints and tips required to grow a prize winning Petunia Hot Flame. 

With more than 30 children from each school participating, each child will take their plant home to nurture it before taking part in an individual school’s judging ceremony where James will decide the three best plants from each school. 

The final of the Schools’ Growing Competition will then take place on Sunday 12th June at 2pm at the Garden Centre when one winner and two runners-up will be chosen and presented with a trug full of gardening goodies and vouchers for their schools.

Grosvenor’s ongoing work within the community highlights the benefits and ease of nurturing and caring for plants and each school looks forward to taking part in the competition each year.  

“Here at Saighton C E Primary School, the children’s enthusiasm for planting and caring for their own plant is a delight to see and we all greatly look forward to taking part in Grosvenor’s competition each year,” stated Mrs Alex Gelling, teaching assistant.

With the Petunia always a popular choice, Grosvenor opted for the easy-to-grow favourite for children to grow as their competition entry.

“We should see some great blooms and plenty of fresh buds, good leaf health and an exceptional rounded form from the Petunias over the coming weeks and by the time the Grand Final takes place on 12th June, I am sure I will be spoilt for choice and choosing a winner will be a very difficult task indeed!” said James.

“We launched the Schools’ Growing Competition 12 years ago and we are delighted to have inspired children to grow plants for all these years.  The enthusiasm and interest from the children and schools never diminishes and is a delight to see every year,” said Iain Wylie, managing director.

“Our regular Children’s Plant Workshops held here at Grosvenor during school holidays have never been more popular with children as young as five showing a great interest in the magic of gardening and it really is a joy to see,” Iain continued.

For further information on Grosvenor’s Children’s Plant Workshops, click here and to book please call Customer Services on 01244 625200.

Grosvenor Garden Centre has been named Retail Outlet of the Year by the industry leading Garden Retail Awards, held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London last week.

Celebrating the best in the garden retail industry and rewarding its efforts to achieve excellence across the centre, Grosvenor was a finalist in six categories including Community Involvement and Best Environmental Policy and received two further Highly Commended awards in the Best Planteria and Best Catering Facilities categories.

The awards were presented in recognition of the innovations undertaken by Grosvenor to ensure the centre continues to evolve and create an outstanding destination for visitors with excellence in every area – from the highest service levels to the range of products.  Each entry was judged independently alongside more than 100 entrants from around the country. 

“To be judged the winner of the most prestigious award of the evening, Retail Outlet of the Year, is testament to each and every member of the team here at Grosvenor.  Everyone has played a vital role in ensuring the success of the centre and to win this huge accolade is a great accomplishment,” said Iain Wylie, managing director.

“It is a great achievement to win these great awards especially as we were against ‘the best of the best’ from around the UK and to receive two further Highly Commended awards for the Best Planteria and Best Catering Facilities is the icing on the cake,” Iain continued.

These awards are the latest in a line of award wins for Grosvenor this year including the Garden Centre of Excellence accolade for a record 10th consecutive year and awards for the Greatest Living and Style and Outdoor Leisure sectors, together with Highly Commended status in the High Sheriff’s Award for Enterprise.

Members of the team at Grosvenor Garden Centre have marked National Baking Week (18^th – 24^th October) with a ‘bake and share’ sale to raise money for Claire House Children’s Hospice, the garden centre’s adopted charity for 2010.

The sale offered goodies ranging from cupcakes to fruit loaf, roly poly to sausage rolls - all of which were sold for a nominal donation with a total of more than £140 raised through the week.  

The ‘bake and share’ sale is the latest in a series of fundraising activities undertaken by Grosvenor in support of Claire House this year and follows abseils, coastal walks and the approaching Snowdonia Marathon – all embarked on and supported by staff at Grosvenor.

“The enthusiasm for this week’s sale was unbelievable with more than 30 members of staff kindly donating their time and home baked cakes and savouries towards the cause.  I think everyone enjoyed themselves both baking and eating and it is certainly an initiative that we will continue to adopt again in the future for charity,” said Jenny Carr, Customer Services Supervisor and organiser of Grosvenor’s ‘bake and share’ sale.

“Every year we choose a charity to adopt for a 12 month period and I have been delighted to see so many members of the team here at Grosvenor embrace the worthwhile cause of Claire House.  The ‘bake and share’ sale has been particularly well received in the staff room!” said Iain Wylie, Managing Director.

“What a great idea!  We are always extremely grateful for any donation to Claire House but we have been overwhelmed with the response from staff at Grosvenor by their generosity and ideas to raise funds.  The need for the service we provide will unfortunately never go away and it is with much appreciation that their support just keeps growing!” said Laura Irving, Area Fundraiser, Claire House. 

Grosvenor’s Apple Weekend has been a great success as visitors embraced the British apple and joined Grosvenor, local villages and schools, Eaton Estate and The Chester Grosvenor and Spa to enjoy the entertaining and informative event.

A village Masterchef competition saw Christine Emerson from Aldford, Chris Talbot from Eccleston and Rachel Gunnery from Saighton compete against each other for the coveted title and a winner’s hamper.  The lucky winner was Christine from Aldford with her starter course of filo baskets with brie, caramelised apple and onion with apple crisps and roasted clove of garlic. 

Rachel from Saighton had the hard task of completing a complicated recipe within the allotted time slot of one hour with pork sausages in honey, mustard and apple with potatoes, leeks, broccoli, apples and walnuts topped with a cheese sauce and coated with breadcrumbs.  And finally, Chris from Eccleston completed the three course meal with two fruit pies – one made using Bramley apples and the second with the addition of fresh blackberries.   Simon Radley, Michelin starred Chef from The Chester Grosvenor and Spa judged the competition alongside Scott Whitelam, Café Manager at the garden centre.

“It was a very difficult decision as all courses were equally tasty but the delicious caramelised apples on Christine’s filo baskets were particularly inspired,” said Simon Radley.

Head Gardener of Eaton Estate, Les Armstrong, proved a popular draw to the garden centre as he offered advice on growing apple trees and was able to identify unknown varieties of apples already growing in local gardens.

“I have been completely taken aback by the number of visitors requesting my advice and it has been a joy to see a few varieties of apples that I have never seen before.  I will be researching any left unidentified and contacting everybody with my findings over the coming days,” said Les.

Visitors were invited to try their hand at apple pressing using a traditional press, and took part in a longest apple peel competition with the winning peel measuring an amazing 429cm!  The winner was delighted to win a £50 garden centre voucher.

And there were prizes for the younger visitor too with a ‘Find Annie Apple’ competition and any child who visited the garden centre in apple fancy dress received a Grosvenor chocolate bar.

With nature activities, storytelling and face painting taking place throughout the weekend together with music from Abbey Gate and Eccleston school choirs and the City of Chester band on Sunday, visitors were entertained as they sampled juicy apples and enjoyed tastings in the food department, pork burgers and sausages from the barbecue and a choice of apple desserts in the Cafe throughout the weekend.

“The weekend was a great success with a fantastic response from the local community and the villages of Aldford, Eccleston and Saighton receiving an overwhelming number of apples towards their village juice appeal.  In fact, each of the two crates provided for each village were already full by Saturday evening!” commented Iain Wylie, managing director.

“Our Apple Weekend has seen a great number of visitors to the garden centre this weekend which has helped to create a real sense of community spirit.  I am delighted that by continuing to work with the local community, Apple Weekend was even bigger and better than last year.  We are providing a source of information and advice for anyone wishing to grow their own apple trees and inspiration for producing delicious meals with their own homegrown apples too.  Growing your own fruit not only reduces food miles but the produce is fresher and tastier too,” Iain concluded.

Grosvenor will be hosting a celebration of the great British apple next weekend, Saturday 9^th and Sunday 10^th October, between 11am and 3pm, held in conjunction with the local community of surrounding villages and Eaton Estate.

As part of its Growing Communities initiative, Grosvenor will be showcasing the versatility of this delicious fruit, as visitors can see apple press demonstrations and taste freshly squeezed juice, together with samples in the food department, an apple themed menu in the Café and pork burgers and sausages from the barbecue served with homemade apple sauce.  Les Armstrong, Head Gardener of Eaton Hall, will also be on hand to identify unknown apples grown from visitors’ gardens.

To keep everyone entertained, there will be children’s nature activities, storytelling, face painting and live music from the school choirs of the local villages and City of Chester band.  

With competitions for all ages to enjoy, visitors can try their hand at peeling the longest apple peel, hunt for Annie Apple and there will be a prize for everyone who visits Grosvenor dressed as a Granny Smith, Pink Lady, Red Devil, or any other apple variety - and there are plenty to choose from with more than 3000 varieties grown here in Great Britain!  

The village schools of Aldford, Eccleston and Saighton have also been learning about apples and each has produced an apple-themed display on view at the garden centre throughout the weekend. 

And everyone can help to raise funds for local villages by bringing along apples from their gardens to add to containers at the front of the centre, the contents of which will then be pressed into juice locally before being bottled to sell at village fetes and functions over the coming months to raise funds for community projects.  

“Our Apple Weekend last year proved immensely popular with everyone ready to embrace the versatile great British apple.  It is testament to the community spirit here in Chester that local schools and villages are supporting Apple Weekend and we hope to be able to raise even more funds for local villages and our own adopted charity for 2010, Claire House Children’s Hospice, who will be here throughout the weekend,” commented Iain Wylie, managing director. 

Grosvenor will be celebrating British Food Fortnight with a special menu offering a selection of the most popular dishes here in Great Britain - all made from fresh, local, seasonal and British ingredients in line with Grosvenor’s philosophy of supporting the local community wherever possible.

Available every day in the Café at Grosvenor between Saturday 18th September and Sunday 3rd October, visitors can choose from steak and kidney pie; classic lamb hot pot and fish, chips and mushy peas amongst others with British Food Fortnight the perfect chance to sample traditional foods and the finest ingredients from the region.

Fresh, seasonal, local and British is also Grosvenor’s ethos when it comes to sourcing ingredients for its Café and food department with seasonal fruit and vegetables providing a significant benefit to health with the added advantage of reducing carbon footprint and food miles. 

Grosvenor’s sourcing policy in both its Café and food department works towards supporting local farmers and producers to offer the finest foods.  The fortnight will also present many opportunities to sample popular foods and ranges in Grosvenor’s food department where many of the ingredients used in the Café are available to buy for visitors to enjoy at home.

“Our efforts to provide visitors with good quality ingredients are well known and it is beneficial to both the national initiative behind British Food Fortnight and to our Café to raise awareness of the excellent produce available locally and from within Great Britain,” commented Scott Whitelam, Café Manager.

“British Food Fortnight is the perfect opportunity to encourage children in particular to eat more fruit and vegetables and to try the Best of British here at Grosvenor,” Scott concluded. 

Despite the weather, we were out in force at Tatton today to see all that is great in the world of gardening here in Cheshire.

And what a great day it was too!  Brilliant planting schemes had been used to great effect in the Show Gardens with ‘Breathe’ our particular favourite, showcasing plants that clean the air around us by converting carbon dioxide to oxygen and filtering pollution.  This message fits perfectly with our work in conjunction with the Colour your Life initiative (For more details please visit our Grosvenor Garden Centre community page), previously known as the Green City Town and Country Community Award, of which we are proud to have won for both years it has been in existence.

From there to the back to back gardens and from the weird to the wonderful with the Garden of the Crystal Skull and a gothic theme, to the Handbag of Harmonies garden and let’s face it, which lady doesn’t love a good handbag?

All in all, the quality of the plants shone throughout the Show with bamboo featuring heavily alongside greenery, purples again (as seen at Chelsea too) and some fantastic floristry arrangements.

It was also pleasing to see the Eurofleurs competition begin with 12 entrants from across Europe competing against each other in five tasks.  Their efforts were already taking shape and looking fantastic as we reluctantly left them to finish their first mission.  Obviously, we are rooting for Joe Massie from Liverpool who has won the RHS Young Florist of the Year for two consecutive years, but the other entrants were looking hard to beat!  Come on Joe!

See http://www.rhs.org.uk/Shows-Events/RHS-Show-Tatton-Park/2010 for more information.

And if you are off to RHS Tatton this year, we would be delighted to hear your thoughts too.  Do you agree with our comments?  Did you notice something you think we would be interested in?  If so, please comment here.

Grosvenor Garden Centre’s Real Food Festival held last weekend was a great success with many stallholders selling out fast!

Marking a celebration of the tastiest, freshest produce from the region with producers including Elwy Valley lamb, Rowlands Red Poll beef, Jamie Ward’s free range pork and newly launched Cheshire Chips who re-stocked three times on Saturday alone, Grosvenor’s Real Food Festival was a continuation of its support of local, artisan producers.

“Whatever we sell today (Sunday) is a bonus,” said Alison from Alison’s Homemade Treats,

“We really did not expect to sell so many jams and cheeses yesterday and we will definitely be back next year!” Alison continued.

This sentiment was echoed across the 26 stalls with many expressing interest for the third Real Food Festival at Grosvenor next summer.

“With queuing visitors and selling out of burgers and sausages on the barbecue, we would not have believed it could be possible for our second Festival to outshine last year’s inaugural event by a country mile!” said Iain Wylie, managing director.

By offering the chance to meet each producer and taste their goods before buying to enjoy at home, visitors to Grosvenor’s Real Food Festival arrived in their hundreds and kept coming all weekend despite the weather!

Visitors could choose from hearty, homebaked pies and pasties, cakes and handmade chocolates, cider, jams and chutneys, fresh fruit and ice cream – all naturally made, reared and picked locally.

“We have been thrilled at the response to our celebration of local produce here at Grosvenor Garden Centre. Our support of producers from Cheshire and North Wales is just another step forward in our efforts to work closely with the community and boost small, artisan producers.  By hosting a Real Food Festival, we can help visitors to Grosvenor in turn support these producers too and this work continues all year long in our Food department and by sourcing local ingredients in our Café,” commented Iain Wylie, managing director.

“It has been a fantastic weekend here in the food department with many of our new lines seeing much interest from the visitors to our Real Food Festival,” said Dave Maguire, Food Department Manager,

“Seeing customers old and new and explaining the provenance of our goods here in the food department has ensured that people who came here looking for real food got what they wanted with a real emphasis on ‘local’,”Dave concluded.

“Our Real Food Festival will be back next year and thank you to the success of this year’s Festival, we will be able to expand the show to be even bigger and better,” said Events Co-ordinator, Claire Binns.