Laurel Farm Garden Centre in Ipswich

Good basic independent garden supply centre but could do with a freshen up in shop products and more plants

Grate place for gardening and bits and Bob's

EDIT Jan 2025 Had a lovely lunch in the cafe bit it is looking very shabby and the toilets are functional but not very nice. Won't rush back. 2022 Beautiful looking place with a lovely cafe. I only popped in quickly to grab something but I certainly want to return as it feels like a great place to relax and meander. Came back at weekend to eat in cafe and had a delicious lasagne with garlic bread and salad for £7.50 great value and good portion size.

Thankyou to Doreen and her staff for an amazing afternoon tea for myself snd 2 friends this afternoon. Fantastic food,atmosphere and friendly staff.Would totally recommend.x

Lovely setting,and some nice stuff. Had a nice coffee and cake there.

I went to the cafe yesterday with 7 friends for coffee and scones. We were asked to sit in the new seating area which had the summer outdoor seating in there. Well we all sat down, very cramped had our first coffee’s which were lovely but oh dear it was absolutely freezing, no heat on at all, no pleasure for us I only stayed an hour and had to go home. I decided to go the toilet which wasn’t in the cafe as you would expect, it was disgusting only fit for gardeners in my opinion. No toilet roll in dispenser found one on a roll next to a bottle of bleach, not very hygiene in my opinion no hook to hang my bag, floor wet and muddy so put my bag on baby changing mat poor baby using that after my bag was on there! The toilet facilities need serious updating, having massive seconds thoughts using this cafe again, garden centre was good, I also thought about trying Eden Beauty but toilets put me off.

Lovely place to browse the shop, garden centre and stop off at the cafe for a warm drink and yummy cake. It's a very busy cafe and the food is delicious!

First time there. Fantastic place.

A nice little place, with shops that sell eggs veg etc, an antique/junk shop and a tropical fish shop. Visited a few times over the years. I will be basing this review on the cafe. Mum and I visited on a Sunday afternoon for a hot drink & a scone. You order inside the cafe & the drinks/food are brought to your table. The scone arrived after the drinks, without a knife to cut/butter it with. Mum asked for a knife and the waitress told her the knifes were inside and walked off! Poor service! Why didn’t the waitress pop in to get her a knife? Seems odd! Especially as my latte came with a spoon. None inside the cafe mentioned you need to take your own cutlery to your table. Anyway, the latte was fine. About £3.20 I believe, standard price. Plenty of seating, inside the cafe, outside and seating within a tent of garden furniture, that is for sale. Added a photo. There was also food available, jacket potatoes, soups and panini’s etc. I think a soup was about £8.

Great food and service as 5 of us lovely jacket potato.shame the antique shop closed on Mondays. the indoor garden products needs a update.farm shop well stocked and plants look well after.

Lovely place, with an excellent cafe

Such a good range of nepeta and gorgeous baskets! Also love the antiques shop and the cafe is the perfect place to end your trip here!

Always lovely service great food and drink

Went with family. Lived around here for years but never visited. Really good thoroughly recommend

I had a lovely family lunch at Laurel Farm Cafe, they have a good range of meals and snacks with plenty of vegan and gluten free options. I explained my food intolerances when ordering, and they double checked what I could have before serving. The food was really good and the staff were great. 5* service.

I had a lovely family lunch at Laurel Farm Cafe, they have a good range of meals and snacks with plenty of vegan and gluten free options. I explained my food intolerances when ordering, and they double checked what I could have before serving. The food was really good and the staff were great. 5* service.

Lovely cheese scones and antiques

This charming little cafe is great for a bit more than an ordinary cuppa!! Very good food and drinks served by friendly staff. You can also browse the shops surrounding it including a gorgeous fruit and veg stall (open certain days).

Very clean and tidy but not much on offer

We visited on Monday and what a great little find ! Cafe staff were so welcoming and the food was delicious, great service! We will definitely be back and would recommend ☺️

I'm not impressed with the garden centre. Not a very good selection of plants and what they did have were in poor condition. The guy on the till was very rude when I presented a gift card, saying that they didn't accept them, according to the gift card they did! A total waste of petrol going there, the antiques shop was closed. Coffe shop food was pricey but ok but staffing was a shambles. Not a good experience and wouldn't recommend 😕

Very nice Garden Centre. Not very big, but the plants are well kept, and are of good quality.

Decent coffee, fair price, plenty seating indoors and out. Good metal frame to lock your bicycle to. Helpful waitresses.

Popped into this little gem on the off chance on a rare day out with mum. The cafe is absolutely lovely, the service was so friendly. Sweet garden center with a variety of plants.

A hidden gem, which I didn’t know existed!! Very pleasant staff with a great range of plants and equipment.

Afternoon Tea with Prosecco for 60th Birthday celebration, wonderful occasion, very well catered for and so well looked after. Brilliant afternoon had by all. Thank you Doreen.

A nice garden center with plenty of plants, furniture and other garden equipment to choose from.

Lovely Garden Centre, Really good pricing on plants compared to other centres in the area. Cafe is nice but takes a while for hot drinks to come out, so recommend a cold one! Would come again, also accepted our vouchers with no issue, really nice staff!

Lots to see with the antiques centre aswell, cafe very good lots of food choices. Nice atmosphere will definetly be going back.

Easy to find … wide range of seedlings and plants and garden decorations. Friendly service 💛

Popped into Laurel Farm Saturday afternoon as my husband needed to buy something, we we were browsing around in the garden centre and there are a few other rented properties who have their own businesses one caught my eye situated next door to the beauty treatment shop sorry didn’t catch the name only the rude and arrogant man called PADDY who had a face like he was chewing a wasp who came out and shouted at me for looking in the window to see what was inside his words were that has just been laid referring to the slabs outside the window I replied how would I know that he said it was cordoned off there was nothing there no tape . My point being I was a customer and no way should I be spoken to in that manner when I was potentially going to spend money! I have worked in the retail industry and if I had spoken to a customer like he did I would of been disciplined , on the way out we spoke to the lady behind the till and she said that’s Paddy and he had upset somebody last weekend. Who ever is in charge please speak to him otherwise he will turn all your customers away we will not be returning which is a shame, perhaps he needs to go on a customer service training course! I do not know if he owns that business or just works there but what ever you are the most rude man ever!

We popped in for a Quick Look but then spent over 3 hours there looking at everything then having lunch. Friendly staff, food quality food and a nice place to be

Very useful garden centre with lots of lovely plants, tools etc for the garden. Great antiques centre with varied selection and reasonable prices. Nice tearoom. Spent a good couple of hours here browsing and then having tea. Friendly staff.

Saw this place advertised on social media so drove out to give it a try , we've been twice now for breakfast , which was cooked nice, and no complaints as such , but the thing I would like to see on the menu is pancakes and or waffles , there's nothing sweet on offer for breakfast ..maybe yogurt , fruit and muesli or granola layered up would be nice too , Cooked full English is nice but can be quite heavy for smaller appetites

Poor choice of plants and other gardening related items. The shelves are often unkempt and semi empty with faded boxes and uninspired displays of products. Not much in the way of gift related items and overall a very dull experience. Thank goodness there were other businesses on site to browse around.

Had to wait in the Gazebo for a table as they were busy but friendly staff remembered we were there & soon fiund us one. Lovely breakfast menu, something for all tastes and eating styles. Truly beautiful scones, cakes and pastries all home made on site. Reasonably priced too with friendly unobtrusive service. We will be back.

Great spot to pick up plans and get some delicious food from the cafe. Good vintage shop as well 👌

Fantastic lunch, lovley staff, lovley little garden center

I visited Eden Beauty, based at laurel farm. Where I had an excellent gel manicure.. I highly recommend this lovely salon.

Great garden centre, very friendly staff .fabulous cooked breakfast in the cafe.also visited clare bowe antiques centre where I found just what I have been looking for...definitely be back soon 😀

Aangezien wij in het naastgelegen Air B&B huis verbleven, deden we ons ontbijt in het Garden Centre. Lekker en goed ontbijt. Prima porties en ook een vega optie. Ruimte heeft alleen een veel te laag plafond en het staat binnen kortste keren blauw van de eetlucht (zodat zelfs het brandalarm af gaat). De tweede dag met kleding van dag 1 eerst gaan ontbijten en daarna douchen en omkleden. Anders ruik je de hele dag het ontbijt nog. Beide dagen alle tafels bezet en een drukke bedoening. Tafels wel een beetje plakkerig. Vriendelijke bediening.

Came to purchase a Christmas tree with my 3 year old grandson. Was looking around and suddenly my poor grandson got hit with a tree from man dealing with them! Not happy!!!!!! And after purchasing tree got it home and these trees were obviously cut along time ago as by Christmas Day even with watering the branches at ends were bare and if touched could hear needles falling! What a waste of money as couldn’t possibly keep tree up ! Won’t be back

Great Garden Centre to Visit, Cracking Staff with a fantastic Cafe

Love Laurel Farm. Friendly staff, good food, lovely plants. What more could you want

Nice lunch today, problems with the till caused a long wait to order though

Not very good on this visit, not much in the way of plants to offer, those they had seemed rather expensive.

Went to meet a friend at the Cafe. Lovely experience. Very friendly. And we got to wish Les a happy 90th birthday! Great cake and good tea. Definitely recommended.

Nice place! Nice plants, very affordable! And a lovely little cafe, with a lovely bunch of staff members!

It was my first time visiting with my mother yesterday and we are very pleased. We came to get a plant for her cat and the ladie was very helpful and kind with her knowledge on the plant we needed. Also the cheese scones are the best in the country. Will come again in future.

Lovely place....Lovely afternoon tea too.

Very nice will go back maybe have a cuppa.

This garden centre seems a bit run down and lacking something. The shop itself is very disorganised with lots of old dust covered and sun bleached stock! And the selection of plants in the greenhouses what they have are expensive or dead. The lady in the bedding plant greenhouse was no help all she said was i do not know? I just wanted some plant advice but all I can say is the staff seemed like they had better things to do. This place definitely needs more horticultural educated staff. So i went up to roots n shoots felt that the horticultural knowledge was so much better.

Lovely place to purchase any garden needs! Plants are well taken care of and you can purchase any garden tool you need. Recently got soil here aswell as some flowers. They're holding up well and I'm very pleased. It's not very expensive which is surprising considering the good quality. Highly reccomend

Pretty unfriendly and unwelcoming staff. Limited selection of shrubs and plants. Not sure I’d visit again - maybe a friendly smile from the staff might help.

Very friendly and helpful. Mostly accessible and disabled wc combined with baby change. Snacks brought to tables outside and under cover Area. Enormous portions.

Nicely laid out with good selection of everything you need for your garden. Lots of parking with wheel chair access and a café on site.

Lovely healthy plants, can always find what I want and not too expensive.

Arrived at 4.45pm on a Saturday afternoon, fully aware they were due to close at 5pm - we were just popping in to check the size on some outside furniture. Greeted instantly with "WE ARE CLOSING IN 15 MINUTES", no hello, no welcome, no how can we help you?, no dialogue at all. Needless to say we will take our business elsewhere and tell our friends and family to do the same.

Arrived at 4.45pm on a Saturday afternoon, fully aware they were due to close at 5pm - we were just popping in to check the size on some outside furniture. Greeted instantly with "WE ARE CLOSING IN 15 MINUTES", no hello, no welcome, no how can we help you?, no dialogue at all. Needless to say we will take our business elsewhere and tell our friends and family to do the same.

Great service from Paul who went out of his way to help us with a faulty Hozelock product that they wouldn't sort directly, despite being under quarentee

Wonderful plants and all things for the garden but don't go without going to the little cafe. Superb!!!!

a great place good selection of plants and garden things . a tea room Good quality fruit and veg stall. Parking out front small but has some round the back

Nice place for tea & cake the garden centres okay too.

This used to be a good garden centre. Now the prices are too high and they don't have as many plants. Feels like they are just waiting to sell the land

Lovely place with a great cafe, really good garden centre which had everything we were looking for and more.

Dog friendly, has cafe,good selection plants and compost.

Lovely plants to look at and cafe is lovely.

Cafe is reasonably priced. Plants too expensive.

Only went to the Aquatics shop and the cafe. The cafe do wonderful hot fruit scones with butter jam and cream ( Rodders clotted ) very filling. The aquatic shop was very clean as were the tanks and not a dead fish to be seen. Selling tanks and all the equipment to go with them or individual items. Oli has time for all the customers including myself, at no time did I feel rushed even once my purchase was made. I would recommend to anyone and I have been keeping and breeding fish for over 50 years.

Just had afternoon tea for 4 omg so much food & so tasty ! Great value for the money as well ,staff so pleasant. Not the first time we've been to laurel farm & definitely will not be the last!

It looks ok from the outside and when you enter there is just something unusual about it. Overpriced goods makes you wonder what their turnover is and what goes on behind the scenes. Stopped for a tea and cake at motorway service station prices having to listen to a blonde bulldog chewing a wasp member of staffs views on life the universe and everything else whilst slagging off previous customers. They try their best but best avoided.

Love the cafe food Is fantastic

Lovely friendly staff delicious cakes in the coffee shop

Enjoyed my visit. Next time I go I will use the cafe.

Having found this place on Tripadvisor about a year ago, but not visited, we called in and were lucky to get a table as it was very busy. We planned on having breakfast, but sadly arrived too late as it finishes at 11. I had a toastie and my gluten intolerant partner had a filled jacket potato and we were both happy with our very tasty meals and drinks, so decided to have cake. Both opting for scones, I had fruit with jam and cream and my partner had the gluten free cheese scone and remarked that it was the best gluten free scone that he had ever eaten. Most gluten free scones are half the size of the usual ones and not very nice, but the scones here are enormous ( both gluten free and scones containing gluten) The cafe is clean and the staff are friendly and welcoming. This is definitely one to return to as we only live a few miles away.

Small garden centre in comparison to most but nice selection of plants and gardening equipment. Cafe has a great selection of hot and cold food & drinks. Bonus is an antique shop with so much to browse through and very reasonably priced (closed on Mondays)

Lovely antique shop, great café, yummy cakes and scones

Amazing food of a high quality, friendly staff had a really enjoyable visit.

Wonderfully helpful staff, the best customer service I have received for a very long while.

Brilliant garden centre and cafe

Lovely cakes and coffee, staff friendly and efficient

Plenty of parking. Good cakes. Location of loos poor as you have to go outside to another building.

My third visit ! Warm cozy welcoming Delicious cakes do good I bought extra to take home! Great lasagna and salad very reasonable prices too Lovely garden centre as well

Had an impromptu breakfast here, very good and plenty of it.

The Aquatic Room is amazing. Great selection and knowledgeable friendly staff

Staff in garden and coffee shop covid knowledgeable, friendly, cake and coffee really lovely

A great garden centre full of plants, garden ornaments and gifts. Also a lovely cafe for maybe a cuppa with a cake or a delicious meal.

Nice tea and cake brought to our table outside but told at 3.40 we'd got 10 minutes to consume it. Bizarre customer service

Garden Centre and outdoor seating is lovelyans shop. Only let down by cafe staff are not friendly or helpful and service was very slow only had coffee and cake and it took 15 mins to arrive and still no smile .they were not very busy either

Very friendly and helpful staff, we are after greenhouse so went to look here. Explained all the necessary things, gave us little catalog as there are all the sizes and prices....

Well stocked garden center great breakfast

Lovely atmosphere. Fresh veg and fruit. Very nice coffee. Antiques too! Cake, scones, soft drinks. Just place your order and they bring it to your table.

Great Coffee and and a lovely cream tea.

A lovely place, Plants, cafe, antiques , Aquatics, what more do you want? Well tended plants and greenhouses, despite the extreme hot weather. A lovely lady in charge of the greenhouse has done a sterling job in the circumstances . Anyone that doesn't understand the care needed to keep the plants in top form, has no idea of the work involved Top marks !@

Good for other stuff like cafe but not plants

Popped in as near home, very hot in the tool & pots section ,ventured outside to an array of dead plants in the greenhouse was'nt impressed at all.so we left.

Very very pleasant,great food reasonable price,staff very friendly and quick service.😎

Great pop up fruit and veg store

Nice little cafe at Laurel Farm 🙂

Went a while ago but waiting for an opertunity to go again.