Garden Centre

We debated what the best use of our time was today.  PY did some DIY - he’s removing paint from some tiles and we have to put a blind up - but we thought a walk to Tesco would be good and, after the rain had eased, that’s what we did.

In the end we made a stop at the Busy Bee garden centre which is almost opposite Tesco. On almost every trip we have taken over the past few years, Busy Bee has been advertised. We thought we’d have a look. We were not disappointed; it’s a Aladdin’s cave of things to buy.

When we walked in there were candles, crafts and, a little ironically for a garden centre, artificial flowers. The Yankee candles came in fragrances such as fluffy towels, soft blanket and wedding day. I can imagine the aroma of the first two but I am not sure what a wedding day is supposed to smell like.  Is it flowers and perfume or a drunk uncle and sweaty dancers?

After candles theres a section called “kitchen lifestyle” which is adjacent to the area signposted “bathroom lifestyle”. I am not sure what a bathroom lifestyle is but I am not sure I want one.  The kitchen area was the place for bee-themed items: placemats, mugs, towels and one person teapots. If there was honey, I didn’t spot it here.

We paused for a pit stop. The cafe is extensive and the service was efficient. As a diner, it’s always more pleasant when the people serving have worked out their system and keep it efficient so there’re not stepping on each other and this was a perfect example of that. The cheese scone was delicious. They must do a surprising number of covers even on a wet Saturday.

Later, as we were leaving, we passed dog baskets and bird feeders, wooden models of Big Ben and reading glasses and all before we’d got to the real plants.  We didn’t stop for their unmissable bunting bargains but I can imagine, come Coronation weekend, these will be in demand.

We bought food at Tesco, mainly three type of beans for a bean stew dinner, and walked back to Ryde. Later, I prepared dinner which we consumed after we went for a few drinks The Star Inn.  PY watched a film when we got back but I was not in the mood so, eventually, went to bed.