Congburn Nurseries Woodlands Tearoom in County Durham

We had an absolutely beautiful day at The Woodlands for our wedding, and everything ran incredibly smoothly thanks to their wonderful staff. Despite the challenges of torrential rain and photography concerns, Allison went above and beyond, suggesting gorgeous indoor/covered spots that saved the day and made for stunning photos. The food was incredible, with a wide range of options that impressed all of our guests. The room decorations we hired were beautifully arranged and added a perfect touch to the atmosphere. The team was so helpful, even assisting us the day before to ensure everything was perfect. Special thanks to Hazel and her team for the flawless setup, and to Allison and Sam for looking after us throughout the afternoon and evening. They truly made the entire experience seamless and stress-free. We would wholeheartedly recommend Woodlands as a wedding venue. It truly was the best day of our lives, and the team played a huge part in making it so special! Oh and, we had lunch there the 2 days before the wedding, enjoying the club and Philly cheese steak sarnies, breakfast after the wedding, enjoying the loaded hash browns - UNREAL. Today we’re heading to the Woodlands for Sunday lunch, the best around! Cheers 👍🏼

Best dumpy bags and quality wood in the area . ❤️

Lovely staff. Even lovelier food and very good quality plants at a very reasonable price.

Great food and the gift shop is worth a visit, Tony's always working on something

The cafe does a lovely cheese scone G/F

Popped in for breakfast and wow what a find. Stunning venue, very welcoming staff. Great breakfast menu, quality ingredients and presentation. Poached eggs, avocado, halloumi on flat bread highly recommended. Partner had eggs royal which was spot on, generous portions, will definitely return.

We visited here for my baby shower and wow it didn't disappoint at all. It was amazing everyone commented on how lovely the food was, the staff hosting couldn't do enough if you asked for anything they happily catered for you. The price was amazing compared to other venues and the venue itself is just beautiful! Anyone wishing to come here would highly recommend.

Woodlands is a beautiful place for a wedding I would highly recommend it. The grounds are amazing it’s a friendly and welcoming placing to share your special day. The food is fabulous and very tasty everything is made fresh and they will adapt to everyone’s needs and request. The staff made my daughters and son in laws wedding a day to remember how they wanted it to be. The staff are friendly, approachable and always there to help throughout the day. The manager guided and help my daughter from the first meeting and planning all the way through to the end of the day. I want to thank everyone at woodlands for their service.

Woodlands hosted a Celebration of Life for our Mum on Tuesday 13th August. From the initial enquiry, booking through to the actual event they were fantastic, helpful and friendly making us feel at ease at a most difficult time. They were really flexible and fulfilled all of our requests. The food and service were both excellent and the venue is delightful 😊 We will definitely be using this venue again for other family events. Highly recommended

Friendly helpful staff,, reasonable priced

Lovely tea rooms cheese scones are amazing Love the gift shop to very reasonably priced nothing is to much they always display items with such thought and change the themes regularly my favourite was wizard of oz

Always enjoy our breakfast here. I love the eggs Benedict its amazing.

Always a pleasure, lovely plants reasonably priced, and then teacakes toast and coffee in the cafe

Nice pleasant location. Staff helpfuf

Popped in for breakfast and some plants. Service was great. Staff are very helpful and polite. The selection of garden accessories and plants was vast. Very reasonable prices for everything. Will definitely be returning

We visited the coffee shop, we have been going there for a lot of years. It has changed over the years, I have to say although it has changed it still has a family atmosphere. Everyone is friendly, and the food is lovely.

Called in on my dinner break so didnt have time to go anywhere else. Ten pounds for a tuna melt! It was nothing special either, I've paid a fiver for better quality with crisps! I got a pot of tea too so almost 13 quid for my dinner! What really bothered me was, on the way out I noticed a poster with a photo of a guy who I assumed to be the owner with the slogan "welcome to my world"! I couldn't help but think if he's charging a tenner for a sandwich 'his world' is very different to mine. I am annoyed with myself for going, garden centres are always a rip off!

Been a few times for different things, wedding, restaurant and for the garden centre. Food was good, majority of the staff friendly and helpful. A little bit busy at times and had to wait for service, but apart from that, nice experience.

This was my first visit to the nurseries, they have an excellent choice of plants, pots etc. The prices and deals are really good value for money. The staff were very helpful and friendly. I didn't have time to visit the Woodlands Bristo but will definitely be trying it on my next visit.

Spot on great service and knowledge 10/10. Fab range of plants etc.

Cracking nursery with a variety of plants and shrubs. Has a lovely little cafe to. Very reasonable nursery

Very good range of plants, staff very helpful

Having had a lovely morning browsing and buying plants and visiting the gift shop both of which had wonderful friendly and helpful staff decided to have lunch in the cafe we were left sitting for 15 minutes so I approached the counter and was told to sit back at the table someone would come to take our order.eventually a woman came over only to inform us we were looking at the breakfast menu and it was finished she then gave us the lunch time menu and walked away we then waited for someone to come back to take our order and no one came this was now 1hr later so I once again approached the counter and said if no one was going to take our order then we were leaving one of the women walked towards me and very rudely told me the till showed we had ordered if that was the case how come we were still seated at a table with no meals in sight an hour later safe to say we will NOT be bothering with the cafe again their attitude and lack of service let's down an otherwise lovely place to visit

Excellent selection at a reasonable price Added bonus of a cafe too

Always happy a great selection of plants, at very reasonable prices and staff are friendly and helpful

Great location, plenty of choice of plants, lovely gift shop and a lovely tea room. We enjoyed the breakfast today and finished with a gentle stroll around the woodland walk.

Always spot on, dependant on the time or year you visit expect a little less, but this would be the same everywhere, the staff are always friendly and helpful. The gift shop is cool and quirky but I'm yet to buy anything from there. I did get some sprout and cabbage plants (not this year) they were great and turned out really well. The food is always spot on from the restaurant, I've had breakfast once and a regular meal a few times. The indoor seating offers a great cozy feel and the outside area would be great on the few sunny days we get here.

Just love their little cafe and gift shop.

Friendly staff, lovely tasty food, resonable priced. Nice atmosphere.

Great coffee and cakes. The staff were delightful, both professional and friendly. Sorry the carrot cake was too good to share , so no photo:-)

Nice home made food lovely walk round the park it's countryside is so nice and relaxing plants a fair price to

Very good food..lovely pancake option for breakfast

Nursery overtaken by 'trying to go upmarket'. Used to be a friendly little cafe but trying to be too posh now. Snooty woman behind the counter didn't help either.

Very high quality food- excellent pies, well-filled, great pastry, veg cooked al dente- lovely meal! Good service, clean and dog-friendly too !

Quite possibly one of the nicest Sunday Lunches I've had in a while, couldn't fault it. The staff were lovely, very polite and friendly, determined to make sure we had everything we could possibly need and being especially kind to the young children we had with us.

We have visited woodlands a few times now for breakfast and lunch we have had lunch today I had the Korean noodles from the specials and apple & rhubarb crumble it was beautiful The rest of party really enjoyed there meals too. We would definitely go back again.

Love coming here. Come all the time as it’s walking distance from my home. Visited today and had a jacket potato and it was tasty. Lovely breakfast and staff friendly. Can’t wait for summer and being able to sit outside with a cuppa.

Great place for breakfast. Eggs Benedict are very tasty. The breakfast menu is really good.

This place is just lovely in all ways. The ambience is warm and relaxed. The staff are polite, friendly and super helpful. The food is excellent; delicious, hot and nicely presented. I don't eat meat but there's so much choice for vegetarians, and some of the meat dishes can be adapted. The daily specials are a particular favourite. Today I had the mushroom, lentil and carrot pie. I can honestly say it's the nicest thing I've eaten in a long time. Hand-raised pastry crust packed with really tasty filling. I opted for new potatoes and veg, but could have had chips and peas. Compliments to the Chef. We will certainly be back.

Always great service - we order our coal from here and have used the cafe before, which I would recommend for a visit

Hubbys Special Birthday today. Rang earlier in the week to book a specific table it it was available, due to mobility issues and distance from entrance,(table 2 or 3 either would do) confirmed that was fine. Arrived on the Sunday to find had been allocated a table in the other part of the restaurant, which is not suitable for access for my husband, and is where families and dog walkers go. Eventually ended up on table 8 but at least was in the preferred location. Ordered starters, mains and drinks. Asked specifically for Diet Coke ( dietary restrictions with diabetes and no ice plus a glass of water) Drinks arrived Pepsi Max with ice, not told it was Diet just delivered, with lemon slice and ice. Same with the water.. Starters were fine. Main course - Roast beef and mashed potato and gravy fine, roast potatoes, carrots, broccoli and parsnips hard. Yorkshire cooked outside inside cooked but cold. Deserts - I went for date sponge baked Alaska. Hoping for redemption. Alas the date sponge was frozen in the centre and soft on the edges. Cheesecake was apparently ok. Never been so disappointed in this establishment. Staff were not interested, only one that was being the lady who took desert menu. Supposed to be a treat, not this time.

Everything about this place is excellent,

Really friendly and helpful staff at this Garden Centre. Plants, shrubs etc. all reasonably priced. The Cafe area has all been refurbished and the meals are excellent. Well worth a visit.

Such a fabulous place to eat at. The Woodlands Bistro is really welcoming and comfortable, with a lovely food selection. We really enjoyed our food (light lunch & cake) it's tasty and well presented. I would definitely recommend this place.

Eaten here on many occasions and have never ever been disappointed as food, service and value for money has always exceeded expectations

Christmas dinner with the family, food was amazing and the vegetables on the Christmas dinner were very fresh and tasty. Starter and pudding were also spot on. The waitresses were excellent and knew what we wanted before we did!! Would definately recommend.

The local 'Aldi' of the garden centre world which also has an okay tea room. Great value for money. Christmas trees available in Nov-Dec.

A quick call for some breakfast. The food was lovely the service super efficient and friendly. What's not to like and it's great to support a local venue. Well done x

Lovely food and nice garden centre

Their breakfasts are good. Not cheap but worth it. It's clean, friendly and I love their hash browns breakfast. Hubby gets a breakfast sandwich, which also looks good. The gift shop has some lovely stuff in , we visit at least once a month.

Had hash brown breakfast! Was very nice! All the food looked nice! Will be back again. Very pleasant staff! 👍

I love the gift shop. It has lots of unique gifts you can't buy anywhere else. The theme changes regularly.

Just bought 2 cakes to take away 7 pound and they only fit for bin very soggy

We regularly visit this lovely restaurant/nursery. The food is first class, the staff are helpful, obliging, always cheerful and hard working. However, whilst having breakfast this morning, we could not avoid overhearing a conversation about EV chargers being put into the car park. One of the great advantages of this business is the unrestricted parking and access for disabled people. The sales pitch was very clearly to take a large chunk of the parking and turn it into a charging hub. First off, it’s somewhat taking for granted the fact there will be a huge take up in EVs in Durham and Chester Le Street( areas specifically mentioned) and assuming those people won’t have access to their own charge points. The salesman should study the demographics of this area. It’s the NE not SE. Also it will have an impact on the clientele of the nursery and restaurant. Parking space and access for paying customers is more important that receiving a £1250 payment a year to lose spaces for charging for vehicles. The infra structure in the UK ISNOT READY and probably won’t be. Please think of your loyal clientele, not some scheme that will ultimately impact on your customer base. A open to the public restaurant is not the place for a business meeting unless you want the public to hear it.

Amazing breakfast, cannot recommend enough

Afternoon tea with friends. Can’t believe how much food there was! The sandwiches were so fresh, pie and scones delicious. Couldn’t manage any of the 3 different types of cake so took them home for my son who assured me they were delicious. Will definitely recommend and will be back

We called in on the off chance with our 2 dogs and the staff couldn’t have been anymore helpful. We ordered the hash brown breakfast and all of agreed it was the best breakfast we’d ever had. Good ingredients , prepared incredibly well and so tasty we were disappointed when none of us could finish them. I would have a black coffee with it next time as the flat white wasn’t too good, but that did not stop a great meal and many revisits. Thank you to all the staff.

Decent family run garden centre, that sells fuels as well. Has a nice cafe the makes home made breakfasts and dinner, plus a canny cup of coffee. Had lunch today 25th September great burgers with great service.

Excellent. Lots of choice of plants. Very reasonable prices. Highly recommend. 😊

Great place and the food was fabulous

Very nice afternoon. Lovely food excellent service.

Bought a nice hydrangea. Gift shop was closed as was a bank holiday. Plenty of plants to choose from.

Had some really lovely food in restaurant. All staff pleasant and friendly.

Good selection of plants, got some great bargains. Had a meal while I was there and it was lovely, great value for money

A lovely, small, independent garden centre, cafe/restaurant and gift shop. Thank staff we spoke to were friendly and knowledgeable and prices are reasonable, too. (I have been told that they do a very good Sunday Lunch.) The gift shop (see pictures) is well stocked with local products from local suppliers, many of these are independent suppliers so prices are very reasonable compared with many of the larger outlets. The resident owner is also a professional upholsterer and can often be found in his workshop when not manning the shop. In addition to this there is also a very nice country walk just off from the car park, also well worth a visit.

Used to be a really lovely place to go for breakfast, particularly the loaded hash browns. Checked the website before going and all looked good so headed there for breakfast today only to discover the price had increased by almost 30%. We left without dining as I wouldn’t have enjoyed it feeling I’d been ripped off. Such a shame!!

Overall okay but the ‘chef’ doesn’t know what is vegan. When the waitress went to check what was vegan she came back and gave a couple of options one of which was jacket potato with prawns. When we challenged her she was insistent that the chef said that prawns were vegan. My niece subsequently didn’t eat as she didn’t trust any of the other ‘vegan’ options. The rest of the food was lovely but I think some training is needed with the kitchen staff.

Six friends meeting up for lunch, this place is great. Breakfast & lunch menus are good and drinks are reasonably priced too. Waitress team are pleasant and attentive. We ordered a variety of meals from salad to jacket potato to hot & cold sandwiches, all tasty and well presented. You pay for your food at the till, which is great if you want to split the bill.

Lovely atmosphere, lovely food, lovely staff👍

This cracking little venue is by far our favourite local place to go for food and a great warm welcome. We've been to The Woodlands so many times now, the last occasion 1st June 23 for my nephews 21st birthday. It's really hard to fault...

Yorkshire pudding nice, potato nice, meat nice, gravy nice, staff very nice, spoilt our lunch serving us nearly raw vegetables, Would be nice to have been given choice, Cooked vegies or raw vegies

We love the Bistro and the Garden Centre. It's our go to for lunch and all manner of plants. The service is excellent. The food is delicious and the plants survive my ineptitude. Prices are very reasonable and the toilets are really clean. What's not to like

We love this place for breakfast x not cheap but decent quality and dog friendly.

Nice place though a little on the amateurish side

Lovely Sunday lunch. Was disappointed that I had ordered beef then the waitress came laterto say there was only pork or chicken left. We opted for one and the other and were pleasantly surprised as it turned out to be a really enjoyable meal. Will go again even though we had to find out own cutlery after she said she was fetching them!

First time visited meal was really nice service not good one of us had to wait ages just for a scone waitress did apologies but all meals came out different time and not together

Lovely nursery, reasonably priced plants.

Aladdin's cave smells lovely gift shop nice and friendly

Great little nursery with a good choice of plants and flowers and helpful staff.

Lovely gift shop. Excellent cafe and beautiful, cheap plants

Great breakfast and good selection of plants.

Basic plants only. Nice local crafts shop too.

Great garden centre with amazing cafe

Lovely little gift shop with lots of nice gifts different to the items in supermarkets and reasonable price.

My first time here last Thursday..had the scrambled egg on toast....beauts...lovely staff also. IN the words of Arnie... I'll be back!

6 of us came for afternoon tea excellent value for money as much tea/coffee as you like .The service from the 2 waitresses was perfect to none as busy as they were very pleasant nothing was too much trouble would highly recommend

Lovely place to grab a coffee or something to eat with a hidden gem of a gift shop.

First time visit for Sunday Lunch,, Look nice and taste nice , bit over priced , however sat near male toilets and saw the chef white jacket go to toilet? Should he supposed to take his chef Jacket off while entering a toilet facility very...

After hearing so many good things we decided to try. I visited with my son, who had a full English and I opted for the scrambled eggs on toast. All were very tasty and good produce. We will definitely be back.

Was recommended here for afternoon tea, me n the daughter both agree it's best afternoon tea we've ever had, lovely staff, amazing food, lovely venue A*♥️😋

Booked a table for 7 pm for my husband's birthday. We went with two friends and were very well looked after. The waitress was extremely attentive and friendly - she even presented my husband with a birthday card! There was a good menu choice even...

Situated next to the woodlands bistro, staff know their stuff and are really friendly

Nice, clean and friendly place with good food and service.

Service was a bit slow however when food arrived it was obviously home made and tasty The restaurant was busy but there were tables available

Lovely lunch here today. Great selection of food & very comfortable dining area. Visited the onsite Gift Shop which was so nice & worth a visit. Not much in the plant selection due to the season but definitely will be back here in the Spring.

We got married here 2years ago still visit cafe excellent food great staff

Took my niece for an afternoon tea treat… lots of choices for sandwiches, came with selection of homemade scones and corned beef pie…. Must visit again soon! Service good and price great… thankyou

Brilliant nursery, really food quality and interesting plants

5 star, lovely food, very welcoming and lovely place. Went on dog walk in woods, popped in for some oval coal of Alan, told him I was going in to the gift shop, he recommended going into the restaurant as food is fantastic and he...

Dad had his 90th birthday afternoon tea on Saturday The food and service was outstanding. The afternoon tea was absolutely delicious every single morsel from the cheesey jacket potatoes to the mouthwatering scones and cakes 🎂 The staff went above and beyond to look after everyone from babies to my 90 year old dad. Thank you all for everything you did for us