Yarnton Home & Garden

We had a lovely time for our son’s birthday at Yarnton’s Magic Garden. The team are very experienced at hosting and made us all feel very welcome. The time went by very quickly. Booking is easy online through the website and a minimum of 10 children, including the birthday child, have to be booked to hold a party. Numbers need to be confirmed 5 working days prior. Any additional adults are paid for on the day at the end. You can bring your own decorations, the walls in the party room are painted and decor is garden/woodland themed. They have a guestlist before entry to the playbarn for guests to tick off when they arrive. The party room is woodland/garden themed - bright and cheerful. It is just off the playbarn near the toilets. This is available throughout the two hour play session. There are three tables: a rectangular table for coffees/teas, a round cake/present table and a few rectangular tables joined together with chairs for children to sit on. The food was delicious and the children ate it all. Rachael and the chef went above and beyond for our dietary requirements. The food was served 1 hour into the play session and announced by tannoy. I was so impressed with the quality and range of food: crudités with hummus, mini quiches, mini pizzas, chips, battered chicken chunks, crisps, sandwiches and fruit. They also provided ice-cream (one scoop of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry in cups) with sauces and sprinkles at the end. They provide jugs of squash and water throughout. Yarnton provided all plates, cups and cutlery. Teas and coffees were provided in metal teapots with milk jugs and china cups for adults in the party room. Staff replenished these throughout. We were allowed to bring a homemade birthday cake to place on a round table in the party room. The woodland themed cake complimented the walls and decor. Yarnton provided napkins. The children did not want to leave. The staff cleared away everything at the end. The time really flew by and before I knew it the play session was over. Rachel replied to my many emails prior and was very patient. Yarnton parties do not cater for adults, so my only one suggestion would be to offer (at an additional price) the option of a platter of sandwiches or cheese scones/something savoury for adults on the tea/coffee table. I asked if I could bring in food for adults as they don’t cater for adults, but no food is allowed in. Baguettes and cake are available to be purchased at the cafe in the playbarn but are limited. I felt disappointed I could not offer the adults something more than cake at lunchtime. I would recommend booking a party with the Yarnton Garden.

I met a friend here for the soft play, but loved the whole experience. We had a lovely lunch (although £6 for just a baguette is a lot - perhaps some salad or some crisps on the side? :) ) and a nice mooch around the garden centre, which has a lovely variety of things on sale. The soft play is brilliant, especially great when you have two children like us - our 1(ish) year olds loved it! We'll definitely be back.

I have always loved shopping at Yarnton Garden Centre as it had a great selection of clothing suitable for over 50s, like me. On Saturday, I was sad to find all the concessions at Yarnton G C are to close at the end of July, to make way for more garden centre. 😢

Always a fantastic experience! The staff are knowledgeable and very friendly and there is a fantastic choice of plants and garden related bits and bobs. The restaurant is always a bit busy but very reasonable and there are some lovely gifts and clothes in the lower part of the centre. There are also other shops on site with The Works being a particularly useful addition.

Excellent helpful staff who went above and beyond, thank you