The Potting Shed Tearooms in New Forest

We enjoyed a lovely afternoon tea at the Potting shed. They were very busy but we were provided great service and food at a very reasonable price. i must give a particular vote of thanks to Andrea and Jayne the owner. Keep up the great work !!!!

As those who follow my reviews (thank you) will know I try very hard to be scrupulously balanced in my comments. But sometimes you have a hospitality experience that is just plain poor. This was our 2nd visit to this facility the 1st wasn’t particularly good but we decided to give another try. Poor coffee, very slow service and an owner more concerned about the fact her staff had been criticized than addressing the customers issues. We will not be back.

Hilarious bacon and egg bap. One piece of bacon 2 inches long! £8+ highly not recommended.

Great place , great food , lovely place

Really lovely setting and really lovely food however we were disappointed that dogs are allowed in the cafe considering the area is quite a small space. We had just finished our food and a family with a large dog came and sat at the table next to us and the large dog slobbered over my 6 year old. The dog absolutely stunk and if we were still eating it would have put us off our food. It's so unhygienic having them in places that serve food. There is a lovely outside area which would be perfect for them.

Visited Saturday 20th, wish we hadn't. What a terrible service! Staff were so rude and all very miserable. Got our coffee order wrong and took ages to resolve and didn't apologise. Local but will never return.

Absolutely miserable staff , rude , coffee was like mud , terrible place would never go back , really don’t know why people do these jobs if they don’t like them

Was very much looking forward to lunch here having looked at the menu on line. I choose the quiche with chips and coleslaw. Unfortunately the quiche was microwaved so the pastry was soft and the middle was rubbery scrambled egg, most unpleasant. Very disappointed, i told the waitress who offered no apologies.

Very busy but plenty of seats. Lovely atmosphere inside the garden centre. Table number picked and good ordered st counter. Could be an issue as I was on my own and had to hope nobody else took my table. Good arrived fresh and hot. Recommend

We have been coming here for years and always looked forward to breakfast. Yes, costs have gone up but £7.25 for a very ordinary aerated bap with an egg and one sausage was a lot for not a lot. With tea and a coffee over £10 per head. What a shame won’t be back for that meal . Will probably try afternoon tea again and fingers crossed we won’t give up on them totally as the renovated exterior looks inviting. Staff as charming as ever,

Always worth a visit if you are in the area, excellent choice of food, good service, and a little mooch around the garden centre to wear it off.

Delicious breakfast, lovely atmosphere and friendly service. Thank you 😊

Always good food that's why it's always busy so sometimes its best to book. The staff are very friendly and helpful.

My friend and I are regulars here, the staff are very friendly the food is lovely , I'm vegerterian, and there is always a great choice, value for money lovely atmosphere, well done

A delightful place to sit & eat with friends/family or you would feel totally safe alone! An excellent menu, well balanced nutritionally at affordable prices. Compliments to the chef & team. The staff here are the most accommodating, friendliest, "smiley" people I have ever come across. They really do appreciate their regulars and new faces are most definitely welcomed with a smile and a heart of affection. It's a gem, a delight. "A warm hug"🤗 I popped in on Mother's Day afternoon for a pot of tea. The staff were tired after a busy session. But, they were smiling through. £4 for a pot of "proper" tea for 2! Where can you get that these days with a smile? The facilities are extremely clean, everything you require to freshen up. The Garden Nursery is quaint, plenty of spring plants in. The artefacts & vintage artefacts, old sinks, tin baths are most excellent to buy. Inside, the shop is well stocked with intriguing bits & bobs, antiques, collectables and plenty to catch the eye. Well worth a visit, I'm sure you will return as have I!

Always a pleasure to visit and enjoy coffee and cake

Lovely tea room..had the afternoon tea...served in bone china cups with a nice tea pot..nice home made cake selection.

Hello, you are such lovely hard working team, beautiful food, I have read the negative reviews, please guys you can't please them all, even the nasty ones xx

Excellent lunch here, a lovely atmosphere, lots of happy customers. I had the tuna melt panini with a side of fries, all generous portions served with a lovely salad, crisps and coleslaw. Highly recommend this cafe. Great service and staff too!

Gorgeous place!! So many cakes to choose from we really struggled to choose!!! Cakes and coffees lovely. Definitely will return if in the area.

Very good food, wonderful staff, good prices.

Lunch , bowl of soup , big bowl plus nice chunky bread and butter, not the best soup but plenty of it.

Lovely little cafe in Redcliffe garden centre. Excellent cakes and coffee. I had the vegetarian roast lunch as it was a very good Brie and Mushroom Wellington for a very reasonable price. Service was excellent. We were a large group and the server was very friendly and helpful. Well recommended.

Wonderful chicken,bacon and leek pie. The quiche was also very nice according to my wife. All served in nice surroundings by lovely staff.

Love going for lunch. Always aovely menu and setting is great.

Very friendly and helpful people and dog friendly 🥳👍

Staff efficient & friendly. Food good. Toilet facilities clean. Garden Centre with large gift shop with a home-made craft section and Christmas goodies and decorations on display already.

We had a lovely table outside - long wait for lukewarm soup. The desserts were brought before we'd even received our lukewarm soup. Shame, it would have been delicious otherwise.

Amazing food .Would recommend panini cranberry,brie and bacon A1

Great food and service. Feel that the decor needs a bit of a refresh

Arrived at lunchtime to find it very busy, there was only one lady serving and she was very thorough and professional . Orders placed and seating taken it wasn't long before the delicious food arrived. All the staff delivering food to the tables were extremely polite and friendly.

Had afternoon tea and was delicious

Always great food, friendly staff and reasonably priced!

This is a very good tea room tucked away in the middle of a small garden centre. There is outdoor table seating available as well as inside. It is a great place to meet friends and chat. Looking around the main room your eye is drawn to some of the interesting little details, including the quotes on the wall and the reused church seats with the hymn book holders on the back. There is a large selection of cakes, slices and light meals to choose from.

Had breakfast.dreadful cheap burnt sausage plastic hard egg.Never again.

I was looking for somewhere for lunch or afternoon tea in the New Forest. Good old Google came up with the Potting Shed. It was busy and I hadn't booked, but there was plenty of seating in the Ivy Room. Great choice of light and main meals as well as afternoon tea so it was difficult to decide. Fish pie and wine, lasagne with a bottle of beer were ordered. Both of us were very happy with the quality, quantity and price of our food. After a walk round the garden centre we went back for tea and cake. Again, it was superb. Staff all lovely and service surprisingly quick. Definitely one for another visit....... or three! Thanks for a lovely day.

Popped in for a coffee and piece of cake. Friendly and efficient service by staff

A really pretty venue with lovely staff. Friendly and helpful. Unfortunately that’s kind of where the positive ends for us. We had booked via a voucher for afternoon tea for 4 people and the tea was really disappointing. We had 4 scones and cream and jam and a choice of a slice of cake each. The slices of cake were very generous but so dry 2 of us couldn’t get through very much at all. The scones looked lovely and were large but again quite dry. Maybe we were just on a bad day but when afternoon tea consists of a scone and piece of cake, and both are dry, that’s not a great experience.

Very friendly good food and service

Nice food and coffee. Good table service. No smoking site, but didn't see a sign anywhere. Lot of wasps in outside seating area

New after Parkrun venue for us. Lovely cosy, friendly atmosphere...and the cakes! My word!!! 😋

Love this place found it by chance but went back again

Brilliant place for a cream tea. Fast and friendly service. Scones were delicious and pretty large. The cherry ones were great. Highly recommended

Always good for a coffee and a cake and lots more on the menu which is of excellent quality

The cream tea was great. Fluffy scones, not tasting of bicarb which was marvellous!Choice of cake. Very pleasant staff and excellent surroundings

First time visiting. It was really lovely. Girls were helpful n friendly. Food delicious Thank-you xx

Friendly staff, great food ,100% recommended.

Just stopped quickly for cup of tea and husband bought a scone. Scone was dreadful, very doughy and not nice, the birds in the garden did well! Tea was ok

Very nice light lunch, a Panini and small salad, and a coffee very pleasant 😋

Fabulous place for lunch. So tasty 😋

Friendliest staff in the New Forest and a lovely cream tea. Brilliant place!

Staff very helpful, wiped down rain covered table/chairs prior to us sitting down, pleasant atmosfear

Very nice place to stop for a wander around and a bite to eat.

Very well thought out garden centre. Walk through loads of plants to find a tearoom, where they cake as well as breakfast, panini's, jacket potatoes with a range of different fillings. Tea, different coffee, etc. We were greeted by a friendly member of staff, who said sit were you like. My husband ordered an English breakfast large, and I had two poached eggs on toast with a pot of tea for two. We paid. Pot of tea arrived first, then the food, lovely and hot... Music was playing on the small hifi. There were about four other people eating. Nipped to loo, bought a couple of plants.

One of the nicest coffee shops I've been to. Staff very chatty and friendly. Would thoroughly recommend

Like it here, it's quaint, the food is always good and there's a nice atmosphere.

Good place for a coffee and bite to eat. Reasonable prices and dog friendly.

Arrived in the midst of a busy lunch time. Staff still took time to find me a table and then serve a delicious meal. They checked that I was happy with my meal and made me feel welcomed. Would recommend a visit.

I booked the Ivy Room for a pre Christmas gathering for 10th December with my family as we are unable to all be together at Christmas. The venue was magical, the staff and service second to none, so friendly and polite. The Xmas dinner was delicious and well presented and the dessert was mouthwatering. We were even allowed to take our dogs. Excellent venue I would definitely recommend it, we had a fabulous get together there. 😁

Ordered 2 different options - panini was excellent, but chicken, mayo, green leaves sandwich was very poor value for money. There was no mayo in it (had to ask for sachets to add our own) very sparse portion of chicken, maybe only 40% of bread covered by chicken. I mentioned this to staff when I went to order a follow up drink but they seemed unconcerned.

We booked a Christmas party in the Ivy Room for 16 of us. We had the most amazing and fabulous time. Our Christmas meal was exceptional,the canapés incredible and the Ivy Room itself was decorated with artistry charm and amazing attention to detail. All the arrangements prior to the event were so helpful and efficient. Communication was great and no request we made was too much trouble. Jayne and her team were welcoming fun and made the whole event a massive success. One of our party was actually over come with emotion when she entered the room and saw how beautifully it was set out for us. The turkey and trimmings were so tasty and all plates arrived to us hot and scrumptious. We totally loved it and would 100% recommend the venue. We laughed,sang, played Xmas games and were spoilt rotten. Thank you!

Visited on Thursday 6th October at about 12.45pm the cafe was very busy but we sat outside because it was a lovely sunny day and ordered at the counter. Within a few minutes our pot of tea arrived and within 10 minutes our sandwiches arrived as well, they were freshly made and delicious. Beautifully presented with a small side salad and crisps. The staff were friendly and very efficient would definitely recommend.

We have just had the most amazing afternoon tea with fresh scones etc. The tea rooms are impeccably clean and the staff are so attentive under the leadership of Andrea. Congratulations to everyone involved!!

Prices were absolutely fine by me and the food is always excellent!! Lovely little cafe with an amazing garden centre I will be visiting again frequently!

A lovely venue , feels like you not even in garden centre, nicely decorated. Food fab and plenty to eat. Service great. Would definitely visit again for another family celebration.

Can we have some more cream with our expensive cream tea? When we visited before, we got a good amount of cream with the two scone cream tea. Now, the size of the pot has changed (obviously much smaller!) and it's just not enough for two scones. The scones are not particularly good anyway, definitely not home made. Can we have some more cream to disguise the taste of the scones?

The home made vegetable soup was tasteless & full of stringy bits. When I complained they took it back & offered me a sandwich instead. I nearly fell over when I was asked to pay the £2 difference !!! I say expensive because an egg mayonnaise sandwich was the same price as a prawn one.

I came here with my mental health group on a weekend, the cakes look really tasty, lovely staff, great food.

Excellent service & food,great choice,lovely cakes etc,very reasonably priced,staff could not have been more helpful..

Lovely staff, superb food, great service and a pretty setting. I would absolutely recommend this venue.

Absolutely awful ! Food was fatty and expensive will not be returning ever, such a waste of money. Didn’t eat any of it so now of to greggs for something decent

Visited for a much needed lunch after long trip. Normally a favourite place. Went to order and lady taking order really snapped at me in an unfriendly and unnecessary manner. Totally floored me. I wish I had walked out but accepted a drink and biscuit...

We had lunch here twice in a week once with a family group of 10 then with another couple and were very impressed with the quality food and service. recommended !

Our first visit yesterday to this lovely, homely tea room. We were booked in for Afternoon tea but couldn’t resist adding some sausage rolls and soup with cheesy scones! Everything was superb, warm scones and huge slices of cake! Staff were so lovely and attentive....

Have just got home from afternoon tea in the Ivy room. It was a celebration for a friends birthday and it was fabulous. The room itself is quirky and comfortable. The weather today is atrocious but we were warm and dry. The food was outstanding....

Excellent service, clean , staff very nice polite, food superb 😊 Thank you The Potting Shed x Go try out for yourself,you won’t be disappointed 😊. Well behaved dogs are allowed in there too. 🐾🐾

Having been twice this week, we are amazed by the lovely organised staff and food at The Potting Shed. Their attention to detail and sunny personalities make it a pleasure to go. Cleaning 🧽 for covid is impressive, to say the least.

I would give this a zero rating if I could. We arrived signed in and sat down at table after waiting I had to ask for someone to take my order. After finally ordering and being asked to pay before the food arrived we then...

Such a shame, we're regulars and were so disappointed with our last visit, and unfortunately, this will now be our last visit here. Prices have risen considerably, but does this mean the standard and quality of the food should decrease? The choice of sandwiches is...

A delightful experience, with fast , friendly service and excellent food. We chose from the cold menu, as we had planned to eat in the evening, but it was difficult to ignore the tempting specials on the black-board.

Pandemic what pandemic? The Potting Shed is fully back to pre-pandemic operations with reasonably priced lunches and nice afternoon teas. We ate on a Groupon afternoon tea offer to which we added some very nice 'doorstep' sandwiches. Cakes were fresh, tasty and served in generous...

What a lovely place and very safe from covid -- adhered to all distancing rules -- nice big scones with loads of jam and cream -- the cake i had was really moist and tasty -- nice pleasant surroundings-- will use again

PURCHASED 2 hardy fuchsias from Redcliffe Garden Centre. They were flowering beautifully at the time but have failed this year.... dead as a dodo! I purchase a lot from the centre as it is my local garden centre and telephoned today to let them know...

We visited and shared a cream tea - the scones were delicious and huge, served warm with plenty of jam and cream. The tea was a quality brand too and the cost was very reasonable.

My partner found this place by chance. I am very glad that she did.We went there three times in quick succession. This place is the first lace I saw at which thd staff scrubbed the tables between customers but also scrubbed the chairs. I have seen more since but this was the first. The boss was on top of everything.The food each time was excellent. We will be back.

Very well prepared for Covid service. The tables are properly sanitised before you sit down. Track and trace is prepared and the tables, inside and out, are safely distanced. The Dorset apple cake was excellent, so good that I made one as soon as we returned to Yorkshire. We will visit again next time we visit the New Forest.

We popped in on the spur of the moment as it was about lunch time, very well organised staff sanitizing the tables after each customer left, we felt very safe. We ordered a BLT sandwich to share as the sandwiches are quite filling, lovely fresh bread and the tea was nice and strong, Couldn't fault the food or the service, well done and thank you.

F A B U L O U S Lovely day, stuffed!! Would 100% reccomend. Covid safe, clean polite staff and great service...we will be back x

You have to wait to be seated. Shown to table. Service is very efficient and tables are thoroughly cleaned. Only had a coffee before looking at plants but would visit again

New seating arrangements very good lots of space since Covid, table service staff very good all in masks. Had a super lunch they still provide a varied menu as well as their usual menu. My lunch of casserole lamb with vegetables was very good.

Popped in to catch up with a friend. Delicious coffee and cakes. Friendly service. Clean loos. Highly recommended.

Very friendly welcome with great friendly service. Had a breakfast which is very good and quick with a lovely cup of coffee. Looks like it has good selection of cakes and a good selection of meal. Will definitely call back again soon to try out cakes and meals.

I booked a table for four, for a breakfast yesterday, so it was part of the ‘eat out scheme’ i was treating friends. Unfortunately, when we got there, and i told the waitress that i had booked, the atmosphere changed. She couldn't find my booking, insisted that a lot of people book the Hythe restaurant as it has the same code, and i had made a mistake. We felt humiliated in front of everyone sat watching, as they insisted i hadn't booked! I said i had, my husband was there when i did it, and i wanted to be seated. Another persons name was reserved at the table, they reluctantly let us sit down, THE OTHER NAME ON THE TABLE ReSERVATION NEVER TURNED UP! makes you wonder doesn't it! someone had messed up, not me. We felt very uncomfortable throughout our breakfast, which we felt was poor value, very small, and overcooked, a hard egg, the sausage was black. Ive been to this cafe many times, but this time felt really bad. It will be a long time before i want to go anywhere near it! No Customer skills which hugely let it down.

First visit here and delighted to find attentive friendly staff eager to please but not 'fussing around'. Careful to ensure high standards of hygiene before & after. Relaxing atmosphere. Good & varied menu; delicious food. Lovely place.

We had a nice late lunch here whilst our cycling. We found an outside table where we could park our bicycles. During COVID they require you to wear a mask until seated. Good service, we ordered a cream tea with coffee and cake. The fruit scones were large and warm - plenty of clotted cream and jam. I had the caramel cake which was good, my wife had the coffee walnut cake which was also good - neither were outstanding hence only 4 stars.

Lovely relaxed lunch again at The Potting Shed, shame another customer had to abuse a pregnant member of staff when he decided to rearrange the tables to his satisfaction and not socially distanced and in the way of the staff, well done to the member of staff who politely dealt with situation. .

We went hereat the last minute as we were let down by a booking else where which was greatly appreciated by us all, upon arrival we asked if we could have the afternoon tea which they agreed to, a lovely selection of sandwiches tea and coffee....but the only disappointment was on the cake side only half a scone each! Would expect at least one scone each ! All the food was lovely and fresh . Just a bit of a let down Picture attached was for 6 people. The biggest bonus was they are part of Eat out Help out scheme would have been very unhappy to pay full price!

We found this place by accident. What a lovely garden centre and the tea rooms are delightful. Good social distancing in place within the garden centre and people wearing masks. Delightful spacious ' socially distanced' cafe with outdoor seating area and spotless facilities. The most amazing (huge!) cream tea (good value as well). Polite, helpful staff. A wonderful chance find. We will definitely be visiting here again.

We have been on this place few times with few Residents from our Care Home. There's a lovely and warmth atmosphere. Friendly staff plus delicious and yummy cakes. Highly recommend.

I could definitely be described as a regular customer here. Whilst the cafe staff treat you like a valued customer your journey through the garden centre to the cafe usually goes completely unacknowledged by other staff members (except for a very friendly, tall gentleman). Customer service should be a major priority for any customer based business and a smile and hello doesn't cost anything.