STAFF at garden centres across the Wales & West region are celebrating after scooping awards during a presentation evening at Castle Gardens this week (Tuesday, July 23, 2019).

Monkton Elm Garden & Pet Centre was awarded Garden Centre of the Year in the Destination Garden Centre (DGC) category and The Old Railway Line Garden Centre scooped the award in the Garden Centre (GC) category.

Iain Wylie, GCA Chief Executive, said: “Our Wales & West regional awards meeting was a huge success and we’d like to thank all those who attended. It was great to hear our GCA Inspector, Michael Cole’s feedback from his inspections on the centres and now our members can take this vital information back with them to their centres and make any changes needed.

“A big thank you must also go to Castle Gardens, who were fantastic hosts for the evening. We now have a bit of a break until our Scotland and Northern Ireland regional awards meeting, which will take place on August 29 at Klondyke Mortonhall.”

Monkton Elm Garden & Pet Centre were also the winners of the Dick Allen Award for Most Improved Centre, the ifse Award for Catering Excellence for Best Garden Centre Restaurant (DGC) and the Indoor Lifestyle Award for Best Indoor Lifestyle Retailer (DGC).

Mike Lind, Managing Director of Monkton Elm Garden & Pet Centre, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have been awarded the Best Destination Garden Centre in Wales and the West of England by the GCA.

“We won a total of four awards in our annual area awards presentation. A big thank you to our amazing team for their hard work, creativity and dedication and to our loyal customers for their ongoing support of Somerset’s leading family business.”

The Old Railway Line Garden Centre has won the award for Garden Centre of the Year eight years in a row.

It was also awarded the Barton Grange Trophy for Creativity and Innovation, Best Customer Service Award, the Environment and Community Award, the GIMA Award for Best Garden Products Retailer (GC), the ifse Award for Catering Excellence for Best Garden Centre Restaurant (GC), the Outdoor Living Award for Best Outdoor Living Retailer (GC) and the Indoor Lifestyle Award for Best Indoor Lifestyle Retailer (GC).

Director Mark Cleary said: “We are delighted to have been awarded Garden Centre of the Year in Wales and the West for the eighth year in a row. It’s a true testament to our amazing, creative and hard-working team who work tirelessly to both maintain and improve our standards.

“Our ethos is based around creating the best customer experience possible so to be recognised by the GCA for our efforts alongside the customer service award, is brilliant.

“All shop departments and our Railway Restaurant were credited with an award each too, which demonstrates consistency throughout the business. We have a fantastic team who work together to create somewhere for our loyal customers to visit and enjoy.

“We are immensely proud of the team’s achievements at this year’s GCA regional awards and look forward to the national results in January, which marks the start of our 30th year in business celebrations.”

Huw Lewis, General Manager at The Old Railway Line Garden Centre and Wales & West Area Chairman, organised the regional awards meeting.

“Our Wales and West annual regional awards evening was a great success, hosted by Castle Gardens, Sherborne. The meeting was very well attended and was a fantastic showcase of excellent standards throughout the region.

“A big thank you to our hosts and to Michael Cole for an entertaining presentation of highlights from this year’s judging, which provided excellent examples of good practice and inspiration for all in attendance. Thank you to all who made the effort to attend and congratulations to all the winners.”

GCA Inspector Michael Cole was responsible for inspecting member garden centres in the Wales & West area.

He said: “The garden centres in the Wales & West region have gone from strength to strength and all the staff members have worked incredibly hard to make their centres a shining example to others. I am thrilled to say the inspection scores have increased on last year, showing that all the hard work has certainly paid off.”

The full results for the Wales & West region GCA area awards are as follows for the GC and DGC categories:

Garden Centre of the Year: Monkton Elm Garden & Pet Centre (DGC) and The Old Railway Line Garden Centre (GC)

Best Customer Service: The Old Railway Line Garden Centre

Environment and Community Award: The Old Railway Line Garden Centre

The Barton Grange Trophy for Innovation and Creativity: The Old Railway Line Garden Centre

The Dick Allen Award for Most Improved Centre: Monkton Elm Garden & Pet Centre

The ifse Award for Catering Excellence for Best Garden Centre Restaurant: Monkton Elm Garden & Pet Centre (DGC) and The Old Railway Line Garden Centre (GC)

The GIMA Award for Best Garden Products Retailer: Endsleigh Garden Centre (DGC) and The Old Railway Line Garden Centre (GC)

Best Indoor Lifestyle Retailer: Monkton Elm Garden & Pet Centre (DGC) and The Old Railway Line Garden Centre (GC)

Best Outdoor Living Retailer: Cadbury Garden Centre (DGC) and The Old Railway Line Garden Centre (GC)

The GCA represents nearly 200 garden centres nationwide. Through sharing information and its inspection programme the GCA helps members to achieve high standards in customer service, plant quality and reliability.

For further information, please call 01244 952170. Alternatively, please visit www.gca.org.uk, log on to www.facebook.com/pages/GardenCentreAssociation or follow the organisation on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GC_Association.