Chilton Garden Centre in Vale of White Horse

Great improvement to the decor with the addition of the roast carvery. We have been twice and both times roast potatoes empty! On both occasions we decided to wait the 20/30 minutes for the roast potatoes to be cooked but we felt sorry for customers who had plated their dinners and were waiting patiently for the potatoes when one customer asked the server if she could replenish only to be told they had a problem with their supplier and the potatoes wouldn’t be ready for 20 minutes! If this is the issue then customers should be informed the wait for roast potatoes when they purchase their carvery tickets! It’s bad kitchen management, it’s very popular now and everyone enjoys it but the kitchen needs to make sure there is a steady flow of food to replenish! Besides the roast potatoes it’s beautiful food and we enjoyed it although we’ve learnt to check the carvery to make sure they have roast potatoes or how long it will be before they are replenished before we buy our carvery tickets and then queue up.

Very disappointed, the young lady on the till was very nice but the food was terrible. We ordered 4 meal's the first one came out a good 10 minutes before the next 2 and the 4th 5 minutes after that. The jacket potato was ok but the coleslaw was much to big, should definitely have been chopped smaller. 2 children's chicken nuggets the beans were so dry my grandson could not eat them they did not look at all appetising. My husband had the round Cumberland sausage and that was the worse meal by far. The sausage was so hard you could not cut it so he broke the end off and it was cooked that much there was no sausage meat left inside, and again the beans were dry and looked like yesterday's. I did take the sausage back to the young lady on the till because this coast us over £40 and I was annoyed by this time. They brought my husband another sausage out, it was a slight improvement on the last one, at least he could cut this one. I don't think I have had such bad food in a garden centre before.

Was served by Jackie S today, her knowledge and passion for gardening really shone through. She was such a kind, warm lady and really left a smile on our faces! Thank you

Food in the cafe was lovely and the atmosphere is great. Speed of service is very slow though.

Really smart and tidy shop with excellent service and friendly staff

Wow, this place has changed since the Antique Centre moved out. There is a tea room (sorry didn't go there) and the usual mix of clothing : Cotton Traders and another similar offering. There was the usual expensive garden furniture and garden tchotchkes, but lots of plants! Staff were as friendly as they used to be and the plant and garden area was pleasingly chaotic.

Lovely, well presented stock with helpful staff. Never been here before, but we were passing and decided to have a wonder about. A boot full after!! Good prices and plants and seeds have all been healthy and thriving.

Looking forward to an early coffee and tea cake. Been here a few times for lunch. Very few people in the restaurant and quickly ordered. Coffee came quite quickly. It was hot but tbh quite expensive for the amount . Waited 15 minutes for tea cake… was just going to ask for a refund when it arrived on a v hot plate so that the butter had melted. I also noted that two tables near us had to wait a ling time before they received their food , the gentleman had a word with the staff when leaving, and a lady on the other side of the restaurant returned 2 hot drinks. Quite frankly the service in the venue was poor today, there was no reason as there seemed to be plenty of staff . I made my feelings known to the person in charge who informed me that she didn’t realise there was a problem in the kitchen!! I do hope this to be a one off as I have enjoyed my previous visits and have recommended Chilton Garden Centre to a number of friends…Unfortunately, I won’t be doing this again.

There is quite a large selection

Lots of plant variation and good prices Garden tools are limited and pricey, better to shop online

They don’t sell turf. It’s a garden centre. Make it make sense!

Friendly welcoming. Resturant is exceptional and the English breakfast was the best ever. All reasonably priced.

Had a carvery for mothers day with my daughter it was lovely.

Good range of products, garden needs and furniture, but neither robot mowers nor jacuzzis. The antiques shop has been replaced by a much larger cafe.

A nice garden centre and the restaurant has been refurbished nicely. Ordered a carvery but very disappointed that we had to queue for 50 minutes just to get our food. The food was good but the wait was ridiculous and many people in the queue were complaining. The carvery staff were exceptionally slow at serving.

Had a very long wait at till to get tickets for the carvery, when we got to the carvery only one small piece of gammon was left and a dried up piece of what it looked like was beef, this was at 1.30pm an hour before the carvery was supposed to close. We asked if there there would be any more meat, and were told NO! We therefore went back to the till to ask for a full refund, which we did get. We then ordered a pot of tea for two which came quite quickly, but only just warm. This is our second visit, the first time wasn't great and this is now our last

Great selection of bedding plants

Went for brunch and unfortunately the food quality was very subpar. Will not be coming back as there are much better alternatives.

Went for the carvery, and it was superb. Everything tasted as it should delicious. Staff all polite and helpful with smiles on their faces.

We've been regular customers as they have some decent stuff; however, we had a very unpleasant experience today and won't be back. We were treated in a very condescending way, and after paying for our soil, we made the fatal mistake of asking where to collect it outside—only to be met with the same dead-eyed 'over there' response four times while clearly we didn't know where it was. If you enjoy being treated like an inconvenience for simply existing, this is the garden centre for you!

Well worth a visit, we hadn't been for a long time and were impressed by all the improvements including the restaurant.

The cafe has been refurbished.. Great food especially the carvery any day of the week 👌

Nice place, reasonable prices, excellent restaurant/prices

Food was nice but service very slow. 45 minutes to get toasted sandwiches on a Friday lunchtime.

Very smart and cool environment

The place could use a bit of a facelift, but the cafe area is lovely, the food is of a high quality, and prices are good. Service and staff in restaurant are also great. The area of the cafe for dog owners is separate from the cafe, cold metal chairs, and not very warm area either, I think this should be better.

Queued for 30 mins to pay for a carvery, queued again for a further 40 mins in the carvery queue, only to be told as we neared the front that they ran out of meat and potatoes. I'm sure the food is lovely if you manage to get it, but it's so badly managed and organised.

Large and well run Garden centre, The carvery is first class.

Makes a pleasant break while travelling on the A34. Very good facilities, (cafe updated in 2024!) Good choice of food, Reasonable prices, Pleasant staff.

Extremely slow service. Family's food arrived while another was standing and waiting for carvery. The carvery took so long that the rest of the table had finished. Food is nothing to rave about either.

Lovely venue , good sales in the garden area, love popping over there

This is the second time that I have brought our visitors to your carvery with disastrous outcomes. The first time there was no meat and the second time hardly any meat and not much veg.despite there being over 1.5 hours of service time left.This is very disappointing. We have been using the restaurant for quite a long time but since the carvery opened there seems to be no organisation or food planning.We love your garden centre but the carvery is letting it down.

Went to purchase items from Bon Marche.

Called in for breakfast this morning good service food was very good

Excellent premise, convenient parking. Excellent food, cafe and interior design. Other products like Bonmarche outfits, garden products, home scents , interesting items. Would go her for the cafe and carvery

Excellent food and good service. Great garden centre too.

They do a great carvery 7 days a week & it's a nice place to visit on a wet winters afternoon and has some shops like Cotton Traders and Bonn Marche within

They have done so much to improve here. The new restaurant is nice, though very busy.

We went for a Sunday roast and then bought some plants

We did not really know what to expect having seen some of the reviews but our experience was a very good one. Good food choice for lunch at very reasonable prices with a nice atmosphere and attentive staff. It seems to us improvements have been made after, perhaps, some early teething problems following the relaunch. Love the decor and alternative styles of seating too. We will be back. Well done

Recently updated and enlarged garden centre. Very smart now, we'll worth a visit.

Visited the new restaurant today, very nice and well organised. Our meals were lovely.

Not dog friendly. Dog tolerant maybe, or just dog aware. Sit either in an unwelcoming conservatory or fenced off from the lovely main restaurant in the aisle outside, amongst the clothes shop. Very much an afterthought and feeling like a third class ticket. We’ve been coming here for years and whilst the previous arrangement was smaller, you could at least pretend like you were in the restaurant. The dog area is even carpeted whilst the main restaurant is wipe-clean hard flooring! The staff were friendly though and the food was decent.

Lacking in choice and 'new' restaurant is a joke. They don't seem to know how to make coffee hot

Have to accept the dog area in the conservatory is just not fit for the job. Sat in the cold miserable area with my dog . Several people popped their head round the door. & commented how horrible it was. So the only alternative is to Sit outside the restaurant in the shop amongst the shoppers. Dog friendly Chilton is not.

We came back for a return visit just before Christmas. The last time we came there was a queue and the turkey had run out, but I expected this to due to be then just having opened. The food was just as lovely and was hot and plentiful. They have changed how you queue and this did speed things up, the only point was that they could do with the sauces being at both ends rather than in the middle, but this is easily rectified. They also now have little signs you can leave on the table to show that you are just collecting food so no one thinks the table is free. The service is good, and staff friendly and helpful. A wonderful asset to the community and a lovely place to go and eat in a nice environments can’t wait to come again. Thank you

Newly decorated restaurant, beautiful. The restaurant was extremely busy during Christmas time, but the food arrived on time and the service was spot on. The manager and staff are very friendly and attentive. Amazed by the quality of the good. Fantastic value! We loved it. Highly recommend.

the service was rubbish meal.was cold no drinks offered just awfull the manger and staff really do not know what they are doing need to get another job just very poor serving other serving other people before us just being being left

Based on a previous visit to the carvery, we as a family, decided to book for the Christmas lunch. Our meals were pre-ordered and paid for with no changes to advertised menu. We arrived in plenty of time, we're seated quite promptly and we waited.......and waited ........and waited. 30 minutes after our booked time we were finally served by the only staff member that seemed to be working our section. Food, although tasty, was luke warm and on cold plates. After our main meal was eaten we had another wait for table to be cleared and dessert served. After 2 hours with desserts finished and no sign of coffee we decided to leave as we were getting cold.

Had a most delicious and well cooked carvery. Thank you to Deborah and the team. Merry Christmas to you all.

My sister and I booked for Christmas lunch. We arrived for our 12 noon booking . Although we had filled out an online form when booking stating our meal choices and tha one of us was dairy free due to allergy, we were asked what we'd ordered and again I pointed out I was dairy free. Waitress then had to go and check what I could have. We waited 50 minutes for our dinner to arrive. I was told the veg dish was mine because it had no dairt and I was given a small jug of gravy. When I asked if the gravy was dairy free the waitress said that if I can normally have gravy then it was fine. I pointed out that some chefs add butter to their gravy but she said she doubted he would. I had to ask her to go and check which is unacceptable and dangerous to people with allergies. The dinner itself wasn't up to much and I swear the veg was frozen veg, and particularly the brussel sprouts. Dinner was cold after a few minutes. Another 30 minutes went by and we had to ask for our desserts. My dessert was nice but the the trifle was very runny. By this time 4 or more tables of people, approximately 30 people, were still waiting for their meals an hour after they arrived. Staff were again asking people what they had ordered. Everyone was moaning to each other. Clearly there was no organisation and not enough staff to cope with the demand. Really disappointing. I don't think I've ever given anyone a bad review, but after being recommended to me I feel let down. Absolute chaos.

Since the refit, this place has come into its own, we had a wonderful carvery and then shopped for some gifts, excellent place

New restaurant is a gem (replaced the area where the antiques were and are no more), especially the carvery (small, regular or large) no booking required. Garden centre now has Cotton Traders and Bon Marche plus the usual garden stuff!

Expanded since the last time I visited with lots more outlets.

Just visited the new restaurant/cafe. Looks great. We ordered bacon and brie ciabatas. Very disappointed. Virtually cold, brie was still a slice unmelted and the bacon had to be searched for. At £9 a go I will not be going back.

Had the carvery today and it was amazing! At first I thought it was expensive but actually for the quality it was really very nice, lots of kids choices too for fussy eaters. No need to book, really friendly staff. I’m sure we will be regular visitors! The only comment I would say is that it would be good if there was more dog friendly seating.

Had a lovely lunch today at the refurbished restaurant. Definitely visit again.

I found what I was looking for, despite the time of the year. Will return for more plants in Spring. Good place for shopping with friendly people.

I went for cooked breakfast. Very good, except there was no orange juice available. Breakfast does not work without Orange juice!

To good.2 go bags r amazin. The whole place in general is lovely. A special shout out 2 lalita(?) In restaurant who made a huge fuss of my lil boy

Went in for a birthday breakfast with my partner this morning, we arrived just after 9am so it wasn’t busy, seemed to wait an awful long time for 2 cooked breakfasts, and they forgot my toast, which ended up coming out after I had finished the breakfast! Plus had to ask where my coffee was as it didn’t arrive until the breakfast did. There seemed to be plenty of staff on duty so not sure why this simple thing was overlooked? Had great expectations for the new restaurant, but was a little bit disappointed to be honest. The Thatcham one is much more efficient and cheery.

I always find the staff knowledgeable and helpful.

Ate breakfast here with my 89 yr old mother. The loaded omelette was very nice, reasonably priced and plenty of it. Plenty of other things to buy! Including Bonmarche 😁 Wheelchairs were available to use and disabled parking available. A bit of a longer walk to get out via the tills but we waited for a customer to come in then left via the entrance.

Good selection.first class restaurant

My Favourite garden centre. Has everything you need at good prices with friendly and helpful staff. The restaurant is a added bonus.

Great for lunch. Nice shop and garden centre.

Excellent food the roast is absolutely banging can't recommend enough staff were polite and happy

Massive transformation over the past 18 months or so. From a drab garden centre to a very interesting and varied centre. The new food outlet looks excellent and was full when I visited.

Wow, we haven't been here for a while ,such a makeover has been done, and the new restaurant is just awesome, the staff all wear very smart uniforms, the carvery was perfect ,really good selection of good and cooked to perfection, what a credit to all that work there ,highly recommend you visit this garden centre , really good range of products and christmas decorations

Typical garden centre if you like that sort of thing.

Had a lovely carvery there today. The shop itself is lovely and had some nice gifts. A big let down was the toilets which were a disgrace. How can this be?

£12.99 for the lasagne, and an extra couple of pound for chips with it. Lasagne, looked burnt, didn’t taste burnt, but did look it. It was only about an inch deep so you don’t get much for £12.99 here. Tasted good, but not really worth it. Also ordered a pot of tea. What I got would better be described as a small mug of tea with a handle, lid and spout that only held enough to fill the cup provided 1 1/2 times. Won’t be rushing back, that’s for certain.

Great place to get food good restaurant and lovely staff

My meal was very nice and filtered coffee. Everything was absolutely great when I visited on Monday

Going through a lot of changes all for the better, the cafe is now amazing and is well worth a visit for its carvery

Renovations a big improvement and food in new restaurant good. The roast dinner was much enjoyed, would certainly try it again. But what about the toilets??? They are badly in need of modernisation and let the whole place down. Are there any plans for this?

They have built a large restaurant since our ladt visit, good menu, I think you can have carvery as well which they had on the Sunday when we visited, or just coffee and cake. Large garden centre, large outside area for plants, worth a visit.

Nice place to go on a sunday afternoon but like most garden centres now quite expensive. The restaurant looked lovely tho didn't visit this but will do at some point soon

Great new restaurant just opened

This garden centre has certainly improved over the last few months. Keep it up.! Nice new restaurant area, what a difference. Only had a cuppa and cake, but carvery looked good!

Wow, the refurb is truly amazing. Totally unrecognisable from the previous cafe. You need to go for yourself to see how much things have changed. Stunning decor, vast menu, friendly happy staff. I totally recommend this restaurant/cafe for coffee and cake or even your brekky and lunch. Well done to the team for this brilliant transformation 😃

Very nice little garden centre, cafe is currently closed for refurb but there is a good van outside instead. Chicken burger was really good. Also found a sale rack of indoor plants by the tills!!

Great stock / reasonable prices. People at the tills were quite rude and inattentive. Would have been 5* had customer service been better.

They sell plants with fair price

The restaurant is currently closed for renovations. We checked online first and didn’t see anything so all drive from quite a while away and were disappointed that it was closed. But merely posting this review so others know the restaurant won’t be able until (I believe) November

Lots of nice plants to choose from, a few unusual ones as well.

I understand that today is the last day before the restaurant closes for refurbishment. However, my comments are neither about the quality of the food or the fabric of the restaurant. Today we ordered two toasted sandwiches (from the menu) and after nearly 30mins we asked if they would be served soon, 5 mins after that someone came out from the kitchen to tell us that they had none of the bread we had ordered (clearly suggesting that up to then they had not even looked at the order). Whilst we were waiting other orders of food not on the limited menu were delivered (including jacket potatoes). Given the long wait and lack of what we had ordered, we chose to leave and go elsewhere. On asking for a refund, and in response to our reasons for walking out, all the cashier said was that it was “not my fault”. I hope that when it reopens the service is markedly improved, we will await others opinions about it before we even think about returning.

Great selection of plants and outdoor accessories

Update on previous visit. - Sadly deteriorated even more. The resteraunt was aweful. Loads of things not available. Long wait for poor food. Old reheated jacket potato with old chicken tikka. When we complained they said that's how it comes. Won't be back. Lots of lovely stock at reasonable prices. Disappointed that cafe only serving cake & drinks. Previously much better. We use this place as a stop off on long journey south. So no food was quite a disappointment.

Salad in cafe was wilted and past its best , sausage , egg and chips wasn’t great and over priced, not recommended

45 minute wait for 2x sandwiches in a pretty empty cafe. Other 3 tables next to us had a similar wait time. No apology or update on the order. Terrible service.

Near Harwell this garden centre has a reasonably selection of essential gardening goods. There is also a coffee shop for a place to sit down and relax.

We were very disappointed with the restaurant offerings, the price and also the level of service. Most of the items were not available when we went. Will not be coming here again for the food. Part of the restaurant is currently closed off for a re-opening in October so you also have to go to the main garden centre building to access. The freezers can also be seen from the restaurant so you can see that many of their items are pre-frozen and just heated up.

Ok,but was going through a refurbishment,so some areas out of bounds. Cafe was nice.

Are under renovation so some disruption. Toilets were dreadful so be prepared to wait.

Terrible , absolute rip off in the cafe charge whatever they like.

Service is soooooo sloooow It seems that the restaurant has not learnt from the other comments at all. Nearly an hour wait for food is ridiculous. No apologies given for the delay and not even the suggestion of a free drink because of the wait. The food itself was ok, but delivered piecemeal with the last bit arriving 15 mins after the first: moral of the story is to order, wander around the garden centre and then return. Pity that there is no alert system to say that food is ready.

The garden centre is quite nice. Well laid out with lots of items other than plants. The plants were good quality & also good value. Whilst at the garden centre we also visited The Gardeners Retreat cafe. Hottest day of the year & their drinks chillers appeared to have give. Up working !!! For food we ordered a variety of sandwiches/wraps with chips. All ok & were fairly quickly served. Cafe premises were on the whole not that appealing to look at. Felt it could do with a bit of a refit.

Well stocked, with space to move around.

Have used the cafe for quite some time, mainly because they have a dog friendly section. Service has never been exceptional and the menus have often been restictive: (no hot food etc.) with problems around gluten intolerance (a life situation) whereas vegetarians (a life choice) seemingly well catered for. On this occassion I was here on a mission to find particular plants for the garden. I had visited several garden centres but had been put off by high prices/lack of choice. I was well pleased to find what I had been looking for with an extensive variety and my dog was well pleased with the attention and treats he received at the checkout. Within a very short period of time one of the plants I thought had failed. I photographed it, along with the other plants that were flourishing, and made on line contact with Chilton. To date I have received no reply to my request as to what I may or may not have done wrong. In fact I have received no response whatsoever!