DIYWEEK.net

The Garden Centre Association (GCA) has revealed the winners of its Scotland and Northern Ireland area awards.
The overall winners in Scotland were Garden Wise Plant & Garden Centre, awarded Best Garden Centre (GC), and Raemoir Garden Centre, Best Destination Garden Centre (DGC), while Creative Gardens Donaghadee scooped Best Garden Centre in Northern Ireland.

The awards are decided by the results of the annual inspections, which take place at all GCA garden centres. Garden centres have no advance warning about when their inspection will take place and they do not have the option to turn away the inspector.

The Best Garden Centre and Best Destination Garden Centre awards went to the members that scored the highest overall mark in the area in their annual inspections.

The others results for Scotland are:

Best Customer Service: Garden Wise Plant & Garden Centre
Best Environment and Community: Garden Wise Plant & Garden Centre
Best Creativity and Innovation: Garden Wise Plant & Garden Centre
Most Improved: Klondyke Garden Centre - Mayfield
Best Restaurant: Glendoick Garden Centre (GC) and Raemoir Garden Centre (DGC)
Garden Products Retailer: Garden Wise Plant & Garden Centre (GC) and Raemoir Garden Centre (DGC)
Best Indoor Lifestyle: Gouldings Garden Centre (GC) and Raemoir Garden Centre (DGC)
Best Outdoor Living: Gouldings Garden Centre (GC) and Raemoir Garden Centre (DGC)

Meanwhile, in Northern Ireland Creative Gardens Donaghadee took the award in all categories except for Most Improved and Best Indoor Lifestyle, both won by Bushmills Garden Centre.

The overall top scoring centres nationally will be re-inspected before the titles of Garden Centre of the Year and Destination Garden Centre of the Year are announced at the GCA annual conference in January.