Chilton Garden Centre in Vale of White Horse

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!

Sadly disappointing breakfast, really cheap ingredients - tinned mushrooms I think? Sausages that were so smooth it makes you wonder what is in them and a brown sauce that was so sweet it was inedible.... Such a shame as it's a lovely garden centre, the staff and service are great. I know it's hard to make a profit but this really isn't worth the money.

Lots of choice friendly staff quite expensive

Nice garden centre. Food is slightly pricey but food quality is good. Lovely cakes. Lots of plants and garden centre bits and bobs.

Not to bad. Very expensive shrubs. Some past their best.

Stopped here for breakfast. Big mistake. Spent £30+ for two breakfasts. Waited 25 mins for breakfast in a cold restaurant area and when the food came it was barely warm. Meanwhile there was 5 senior team members having a sales meeting in the eating area. I assume they were senior employees from what they were loudly discussing and the constant ringing of mobile phones, because to look at they were unkempt in appearance and dressed scruffily. By far the worst place i have been to for food. I would not recommend this business to anyone. Sorry

Nice, place to eat, variety of internal shops although some of the "sale" items in clothing seem to be permanently on sale. Mainly good value for money throughout.

Took my 90 year old mum to Chilton Garden Center today, and oh my god!! I have never met such a rude bunch of staff! Firstly in the Bon Marche section. Mum bought herself a couple of items, went to the check out where the woman ( manager?) snapped at the other member of staff in front of us, told her not to serve us and fill the book in instead. She served Mum and was very very rude. No please, thank you, nothing. Then turned her back. At the checkout where we paid for our plants. The girl there was just as rude, no manners whatsoever. My sister-in-law bought a resin dog ornament that was damaged. Asked for a discount because it was damaged and the last one left. She said its not her place to discount anything and that WE had to go and find a manager. Took me a good 10 minutes to find another member of staff to point me in the right direction. Found the manager, she couldn't be bothered to look, said knock a quid off and walked away. No wonder the staff are so rude!! I won't be going back again. Not if that is how customers get treated. Disgusting behaviour by all staff!! Only in the Cafe were we treated better!!

Lots to see, has changed alit since I last visited. Staff are friendly and helpful, lots of bargains on plants.

Only went to the restaurant for breakfast, which was very good. Highly recommended.

Nice coffee, scone a bit stale and too many vegan rather than real cakes!

The food was great, but they don't offer many vegan options. The rice is made with milk so I had to have chips instead. It would be much easier making rice in the normal way with water so who is intolerant, allergic to it or vegan could have it.

Really nice food at the cafe. Garden centre is well stocked. The pricing for both is a bit high. When we bought vegan burgers, they came without quite a few of the things stated on the menu, and the staff didn't mention it. We spoke to them about it and they did eventually bring out the onion rings, cheese and coleslaw. I just think it's a bit weird to have to ask for the things that it's stated on the menu. I'll be going back and probably update to 5* if there aren't any issues :) Staff did seem nice in dealing with it, they might have just been having a busy afternoon.

Great food freshly cooked. Very good clothes range available. Well worth a visit.

Always worth a visit lots to see, cake always great, good parking disable friendly,,,,now with cake and hot drinks deal,,,AS OF TODAY 07/04/24 THE CAKE & HOT DRINKS DEAL IS ONLY TEA OR COFFEE ( filter ) GOOD BYE LOST LEADER, also you need to clear the tables a lot more frequently!.

Wonderful place, bit out of the way, nice pleasant staff Prices were reasonable

A good selection but a bit cramped

Smashing staff, good coffee & reasonable menu prices

It's somewhat disappointing given its size and space. Obvious omissions were outdoor structures and water features. Even what was stocked lacked variety and range. Shame as it could be so much more with a little imagination and work

Really nice Nursery style Garden Center, lots of choice, reasonably priced, ample free parking and really nice Cafe.

Lovely garden centre, with very helpful, knowledgeable staff. Nice cafe, good coffee and delicious cake. We will be back.

It is very spacious and close to where I live in Oxfordshire. Very good range of plants but compared to Yarnton nurseries in Yarnton Oxfordshire. The entrance was not signposted very well, and it's slightly confusing as the exit is also through the same door. Payment tills are at the front, and somehow, it doesn't flow very well with store layout. Very good feature to mention is that Cotton traders and Regatta stores are located inside this garden centre. Despite this, you can not return regatta items here, which is a bit of shame. Not sure if I want to visit this garden centre again...

Garden centre exceptional shame about the poor food in the cafe

The cafe would benefit from hiring someone who can cook. Baked potato undercooked. Beefburger was low quality burger burnt to a crisp. Gardeners salad thinest of slices of cheese, extremely poor quality ham. The food took an age to come. It's a shame because the garden centre itself is fabulous

Beautifully displayed and maintained shrubs and plants with a wide range of clothing and accessories for the garden and home. Great cafe/restaurant. Fair prices. Knowledgable staff too.

Lovely surroundings nice plants

Went for a spot of lunch and look round the garden centre, until a psycho worker on a fork lift truck drove through the middle of the plant section like someone demented it was very scary and dangerous , we decided to leave 😱

Always improving, friendly staff, great range at a reasonable price. Happy to be a regular customer.

Absolute shambles of a place. The Restaurant or Caff, is a disgrace! A simple sandwich, covered in black pepper, which I can't eat! Staff to busy gossiping to care! Total waste of money!

Nice garden centre close to Didcot just off the A34. Good range of outdoor and indoor plants, as well as all the bits that come alongside. Dog friendly.

Good and accessible parking. Helpful staff. Range of products good for gifts.

Not been for a little while, but love all the improvements. Wonderful garden centre and coffee shop with an amazing menu.

Went here recently and was quite disappointed. It looked almost like they were closing down.

Very dated garden centre, there's lots of parking, decent variety of goods on sale but the interior looks stale and unimaginative. There's a small restaurant, outdoor garden centre, furniture, bbq, clothes etc. There's lots of empty space inside where they display reduced furniture.

Afternoon tea was amazing. The gluten free option provided was very good too. Lovely service & staff.

Nice wide ooen spaces to move around and enjoy the garden centre, lovely cafe/restaurant on site, dogs welcome

Need to put prices on products.... Other than that a great range of products! Better than it used to be. Shame the antiques shop has gone.

Lots of changes made over the last few months. Much larger than it used to be and a fantastic experience. Hundreds of additional items on sale. Well worth a visit.

Stopped in for a coffee with a new friend, visited the cafe. Great service and atmosphere.

Service in cafe slow, when cream tea arrived scones overcooked, tasty but crumbled as soon as you cut into it. Sandwiches squashed when sliced and prawns fell out. Cake looked as if pulled apart not cut. Also no plates offered and when we asked only given one plate! Disappointed.

Dreadfully food, slow service. Jacket potato cold and overcooked. Plastic cheese, dry salad. Definitely will not return.

Very pleasant atmosphere good all round garden centre

Tarmac carpark and no steps so completely wheelchair friendly.

It has been refurbished since I last visited, which was very nice. Had a large Christmas area to look around.

Like this garden centre, good mix of goods, good cafe

Pretty empty garden centre the week before Christmas. Cafe was ok, bit of a wait on Sunday lunch, two of our chosen meals weren't available at 1pm, took a while to come. Tasted ok but was luke warm. Disappointing.

We went shopping for our Christmas tree. Found a gorgeous one, the issue we had was the end needed sawing off but we didn't have a saw at home. We were then looking for a saw in the garden tools shop there but we couldn't find one. A lovely young lad called Michael asked if we were ok, i explained we were after a saw as we needed one to take the end of the trunk of the tree off and he said 'I can do that for you, hold on a minute' he bought the tree round to the front of the shop for us and sawed the end off...very helpful, and kind. Thank you Michael.

Came here on a Monday as we needed lunch and all local pubs were closed. The cafe consists of a small space to the side of the garden centre. Sandwiches and baked potatoes were adequate, omelette overcooked and unimaginative. We did not experience the rude staff referred to in other reviews - the ladies serving were perfectly pleasant and one of them even smiled. Cakes looked varied and substantial. A good place for tea or morning coffee.

Food is very good. Garden center looks lovely at the moment. There seems to be a problem at the moment with the chef not there every day.

Well this garden centre has really stepped up the mark it's had a large transformation and everything is now nearly all under cover which is lovely when the weather is damp and miserable. Worth a visit and have a coffee break and I would imagine it gets very busy at weekends so get there early

Lovely decorations. Nice clean shop. Cafe food quite good.

Greaty improved by the new owners, much larger indoor and covered outdoor areas, feels really roomy with loads of space to look around 👍

Would have been 5 stars apart from the cafe

Lovely large garden centre with good range of products

We usually love it here. Arrived with my mum in her wheelchair and the entrance was blocked due to Christmas displays with no clear idea how to get in. Eventually used the exit which is furthest away from the disabled spaces. Once we got in the layout was a nightmare for a wheelchair and a pushchair. Working in retail I understand the need to have customers walk past as much stock as possible but we were having to go all over the place to get through. We got to the cafe which is usually lovely too. But for some reason there was a long wait for food. And when it arrived it was cold enough to feed my 6month old right away. The lady on the till was amazing when we quietly spoke to her and refunded this for us. When we got to the tills there was a huge clearance area with kids toys I wanted to get for my daughter. One staff member told us we could go through just avoid the wet paint. But it was totally blocked off. I know its absolute madness when Christmas displays need to be created. And your staff are all extra busy. Ive been there! But please think about people who may see the store through different eyes or have issues with mobility. We felt like we spent more time struggling with the pushchair and wheelchair than looking at stock. We had a good laugh with other customers as we all ended up bumping into eachother repeatedly.

CHILTON GARDEN CENTRE APPALLING EMPLOYEES PLEASE READ. Just been at Chilton garden centre with my patient who I care for, he has not been out for months due to illness and anxiety . As we went to the to tills a blonde Welsh woman of about 60 years old accosted us accusing him of stealing and instantly telling us that she’d call the police. The item she said we stole was actually still on the shelf she just hadn’t even looked. so we showed her and she followed us to the shelf. she didn’t apologize and my Extremely ill patient will now not go to any shop. Thanks for that. She should of quietly pulled us aside but she was so sure. she loudly said that we’d stolen it in front of the other customers. I am disappointed with the Garden centre. And think they should compensate us. PLEASE SHARE.

i came here today november 5th, with my son who is austin, and two careres, came down from newcastle under lyme, the food was good, service was good, and was busy for a sunday. plenty to eat. staff very good. coming back soon.

Gearing up for Christmas. Arrived too late for soup but there was plenty of cake.

3 adults, 5 children. Food was good and tasty, though a bit mean with the (delicious) chips for adults (same amount as on the kids' meals). It was quite busy, lady on the till/drinks struggled to cope and kept saying they hadn't got sauces etc, while someone else produced them. Had to wait for cutlery to appear. Had to chase up several drinks and extras, but brought to us with apologies. Staff were pleasant and friendly. Advised of a 20 minute wait and it wasn't much more. Clean and tidy though not much atmosphere and seating outside is right next to the car park. Not really big enough to accommodate the numbers. Oh, and the garden centre is nice.

Nice place, staff very friendly and helpful

It just keeps getting worse! The plants are cheaper than other garden centres, but the customer service is nonexistent. Grumpy staff who don't seem to want to be there, or want to sell anything. They openly complain in front of customers about how much they don't want to be there. I would rather pay more for plants that come with customer service!

Loved it. The tea and scones were great. Lunch is really good, varied menu and good value.

Plants and stuff. 14 Oct and Christmas stuff in already. Small but friendly garden centre

Nice place for visit, little pricey but quality

Poor selection of plants quite expensive and the store has been modified badly in my view.

Great place to get everything you need for your garden. Cake and coffee good too.

All a bit sad. Half empty store. It may be mid refurbishment but it wasn't a fun place. The outdoor plants were ok, but pretty limited in variety. Hopefully it'll improve over time.

My husband and I stopped off here for a lunchtime sandwich - so overpriced - a pot of tea for two and two sandwiches, one with salad and the other with chips (neither if which we wanted but had to have as part of the sandwich order) cost £18.68 !! The bread was dry - the egg mayo sandwich had far too much mayo with lumpy tough pieces of very hard boiled egg swimming around in it. The cheese in the cheese and pickle sandwich was like processed tinned cheese. All very low quality, uninteresting and very expensive. The floor and a chair at our table was covered in scraps of food - the lady making the drinks was abrupt to the point of rudeness - overall we were very unimpressed and won't bother calling in there again. This is sad because it used to be a great place, good food, great garden centre and the antique centre was always worth a visit - but now, no.

A grate place to shop. Very friendly staff

Great halfway point to meet up with family. Lovely food, including veggie options. Coffee pretty good as well

Chilton Garden Centre has been our local garden centre for many years. They have always had a great selection of plants and gardening stuff. They have a good selection of garden furniture, barbeques and related paraphernalia. These days you can buy greeting cards, sweets and other treats, great if you are looking for a small gift.

Love this garden centre. They always have a good selection of plants at really good prices. But do be warned, they do have quite a nasty Karen that works there who likes to argue with customers which I always think is a shame. As I know that she has put people off visiting

Plenty of plants to choose from and at competitive prices. I can always find something unusual.

Quite a nice place but seemed as it had no life, very few people shopping and also lots of work being done to the centre.

All new alterations made an excellent job of it very impressed Will most certainly come back again for winter garden plants

Looks like they are having work done - and for the better. They seem to have more indoor areas now and the outside is better organised. Gonna look good when all finished. 👍

Just a smaller version of Milletts. Well air conditioned. Lovely and friendly staff.

Since they closed the antique shop inside, it lost a lot of its appeal

Nice little independent garden centre, quality items. Would recommend. Nice cafe too.