Have they ballsed-up at Brogdale?
I’m sorry to ask, but it is an important question To explain, Brogdale houses the national fruit collection. It has, to quote it’s website:
“the largest collection of varieties of fruit trees in the world. Over
2,300 different varieties of apple, 550 of pear, 350 of plum, 220 of
cherry, 320 varieties of bush fruits, as well as smaller collections of
nuts and vines are grown here in 150 acres of beautiful orchards.”
You’ll find it on the outskirts of Faversham in Kent.
Another of the great things about it was its plant centre. There they
sold a fantastic selection of bare root fruit trees. Twice a year I’d
take my mum there and pick up another for what was gradually becoming a
rather nice mini orchard.
It
was a joy to buy from Brogdale. The staff were all experts, and you
could pop into a little office and discuss what tree would be best for
you.
But
last week we turned up to find the garden centre replaced with an empty
concrete-cobble forecourt. Around the edges were units selling local
meat, veg and cider, among other things. One had the toe-curling name
of The Tiddly Pomme. They could have called it Bloody Expensive Cider.
A sign trumpeted a new ‘destination’ restaurant The only trees were a
token couple of dozen, in pots.
Brogdale’s future has been in doubt in recent years.
I’m delighted to see the collection is safe, and no doubt the financial
pressures mean that they need to maximise income from the site. I’m no
retail guru, but I do know that I didn’t see anything on sale there
that you couldn’t pick up in the very good shopping centre in
Faversham, just down the road, or at any of a dozen farm shops in the
area.
So why would locals want to come out here to shop?
Maybe it’s too early to judge. A sign on a wall said they hoped to have a garden centre there in spring 2008, and you can buy trees online
But please, for my mum’s mini orchard’s sake, bring back the plant centre.
Brogdale bites back
I’m sorry to ask, but it is an important question