Squire's Garden Centre
ENTRY
Free
SETTING
Indoors
WHERE
Stanmore
What it’s like
A free-to-enter garden centre with an aquatics room of tanks and reptiles, plus pottery painting and a café that stops hot food at 3.30pm.
You don't pay to walk in. That's the first thing worth knowing, because a garden centre with a Pets & Aquatics department can easily eat an afternoon: tanks of fish to peer into, a pond fish section, reptiles, and enough pointing and naming to keep a five-year-old occupied while you're supposed to be choosing compost.
The other thing children gravitate to is the crafts side. Pottery painting turns up in their calendar, and there's a children's gardening range if you fancy a pot and some seeds as a take-home project, plus toys, games and puzzles. Events run through the year for adults and children, so it's worth looking at what's on rather than assuming it's just plants. If you've got a buggy, the whole place is indoors and step-free, and there's free parking outside.
The Café Bar does breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea, with indoor and outdoor seating, and free Wi-Fi if you need to sit out a nap. One catch: hot food finishes at 3.30pm Monday to Saturday and 3pm on Sunday, so a late-afternoon arrival means cake rather than chips. Sundays are shorter anyway, with browsing from 10am and the tills opening at 10.30.
Dogs are welcome in the garden centre and at the outdoor tables, though not inside the Café Bar.
Facilities
Need to know
- Parking
- Free parking at all Squire's centres
- Food
- Café Bar with indoor and outdoor seating serving breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea
- Dogs
- Well behaved dogs welcome in the garden centre and outdoor café seating, but not the indoor Café Bar
- Worth knowing
- Free parking, free Wi-Fi at all centres
- Entry and parking are both free, so the spend is whatever you carry out with you
- Sundays start late: browsing from 10am, tills from 10.30am
- Outdoor tables are the dog-friendly option at the café, not the indoor bar
- The aquatics room is the bit children remember, so save it for last if you want to shop first
Plan your visit
How much does it cost to get in?
Nothing. Entry's free, and so is the parking.
What is there for children to actually do?
The Pets & Aquatics bit is the main draw, with aquariums, pond fish and reptiles. There's also pottery painting, a children's gardening range, and toys and games.
When does the café stop serving hot food?
3.30pm Monday to Saturday and 3pm on Sunday. After that it's the cake and drinks end of the menu.
What time do you open and close?
The garden centre runs 9am to 6pm Monday to Saturday, and 10.30am to 4.30pm on Sunday. The Café Bar is 9am to 5pm Monday to Saturday, 10am to 4.30pm Sunday.
Do we need to book?
Not for a normal visit, you can just turn up. Pottery painting and the events in their calendar are the bits to look into beforehand.
Can we bring the dog?
Well behaved dogs are fine in the garden centre and at the outdoor tables. They're not allowed inside the Café Bar.
Is there parking?
Free parking at all their centres, and free Wi-Fi too.
Is it okay in the rain?
It's all indoors, so a wet afternoon works. The outdoor café tables are the only bit you'd skip.
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