At the heart of Thorngrove Garden Centre, Gillingham is a gem: The Secret Garden Café. It says on the website that the café tables are under a marquee, so I was expecting to be sat under a white tent tripping over tent ropes. They are completely underselling themselves. The café is in a beautiful wood-panelled building decorated with elegant prints of plants; there are colourful rugs on the floor and draped over each chair is a fluffy, cosy sheepskin, and being a garden centre, there are large healthy plants dotted around. Many garden centre cafes can have a slight school canteen feel about them, but stepping into The Secret Garden Café, it feels like home from home.
A long walk is planned for the day, so we have the full English breakfast: it is delicious. The lunch menu is varied and includes homemade deli tart of the day served with side salad and tortilla crisps; Secret Garden salad with smoked mackerel fillet or halloumi; homemade frittata.
I manage to have a quick chat with Ben, the chef who is enthusiastic about serving good quality, locally sourced food and pleased to be settling into the second year of being open. The thing he’s most proud of is that two days a week the café employs young people with special education needs (SEN) through Employ My Ability.
Employ My Ability helps students with learning disabilities and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) develop vital skills, expertise, and confidence. The students work in the garden centre and at the café, getting hands-on work experience which will lead to vocational qualifications, helping them become part of the local community. Their main campus is based at The Walled Garden, Moreton.
The Secret Garden Café, now no longer a secret, is open seven days a week.
The garden centre has a wonderful range of very reasonably priced plants and if you are quick there is a summer clearance sale of shrubs, herbaceous plants, and pots. There is also an excellent shop, opened in 2021, with local produce, cards, arts and crafts and home and garden accessories.
Thorngrove Garden Centre, Common Mead Lane,
Gillingham, SP8 4RE
www.thorngrovegardencentre.co.uk

by Katrina ffiske