When Alfred and Margaret Bent started selling roses from the front garden of their terraced house in Warrington in 1937 they could never have imagined that it would one day grow to become one of the North West’s biggest Christmas destinations.
The business soon expanded, but selling plants was seasonal and the family was looking for ways to diversify over the winter months.
“In the 80s garden centres were just selling plants in the gardening season,” Bent’s Chief Executive and third generation family member Matthew Bent said.
“A lot of people, especially for mum and dad were at the time thinking, well, what else can we do?”
And they were not alone.
Garden centres across the region have diversified and in recent years their Christmas offerings had become a day out all of their own.
“It started with Christmas trees and then people wanted the lights to go on the tree and then they wanted a decorations to go on the tree,” said Jill Nicholson, who runs the Gordale garden centre on the Wirral peninsula with her husband Peter.
Peter’s parents first started first started as a smallholding in 1948, producing goods for the local markets and it slowly expanded to become a garden centre and a landmark on the A540, complete with its own petrol station.
“People would not only want the plant, they also wanted the pot, then soil,” Jill said.
“And the same has happened with Christmas.
“We introduced Christmas trees, and then people wanted the lights to go on the tree and then they wanted the decorations and that’s how Christmas grew for us really.”
It was the same story for Bents. The site has expanded from Matthew Bent’s grandparents front garden to become what is now a 60-acre site in Glazebury, Warrington.
Among the attractions at the store on Warrington Road are 16 displays for home Christmas decorating inspiration, a winter food market, and new for this year an Alice In Wonderland light trail.
And it is a trend being echoed across the region.
Barton Grange Garden Centre in Preston has introduced a virtual reality sleigh ride, Gordale has a Christmas Village and singing penguins and many also now the place to go for Santa’s grotto.
“We’ve come a long way from the 1980s when displays were on the same wooden tables we sold the plants on,” Jill Nicholson said.
She believes the familiar surroundings of the garden centre also help to play a part too.
“People who don’t want to go into the big cities, they come here,” she said.
“And they and can be comfortable with knowing the car park, how they get in – and it’s all under one roof.”
“It has become a real tradition for people,” Matthew Bent said.
“I spend a lot of time on the floor chatting to the customers and a lot of them say to me ‘I used to come here when my grandad’ or ‘I used to come here with my mum and dad when I was younger’.
“I am really proud that they are choosing us.”
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