yaldingorganicgardens.info

Found this on the web – dating from 2007

You may need a working knowledge of Japanese though:-)

continue reading…

From another e-mail…

“…I must admit that we haven’t been to the gardens at all – Paying the same price as membership for a season ticket without the benefits of HDRA membership is a bit steep! – and we want to know what sort of food is provided without Werner’s touch – we couldn’t take the risk of bringing friends there for lunch & a trip round ’til we knew what it had metamorphised into ..and just never got round to visiting to find out, having Sunday lunch at nearer venues!

I DO hope it survives, and we can visit safely again though! Some feedback from actual visitors could spur us into a visit!…”

We recently received the following in an e-mail…

“…I have an interest in the gardens apart from the fact that we think they are beautiful I have a seat in memory of my parents, which now I wish I could bring it home. We are very disappointed in the cafe, they seem to think it is an up market restaurant, instead of a garden cafe, the food is too expensive and there is not any ‘ordinary’ food for a lunch. The previous staff catered for ‘Joe Public’ but not these people. If he doesn’t alter the menu then it will not last long…”

A set of views we believe that may be shared by a number of people?

The concerns of those who have loved-ones commemorated in the gardens, have probably not been considered all that much throughout the transition process; and the drastic change in the ‘branding and ethos’ of the café, must certainly been seen by many as a retrograde step.

Although the original menu has now been superseded by the so-called ‘Autumn’ menu; this still comes-across as somewhat uninviting and ‘irrelevant’; with the only mention of ‘organic’ being the tinned Cola! Couple that with (on a Sunday lunchtime visit a couple of weeks back) no apparent desire to provide cooked food; and it is no wonder that we found an empty restaurant. Should it not be – especially at this time of year – that the food side should be promoted; to actually try to bring people to the site. Maybe similar to a couple of years back; when the café was full with visitors eating organic Christmas lunches?

One week on from the opening day; and hopefully a better indication of the Gardens “Under New Management”

Saturday’s weather, though not as bright and sunny as the previous week, was still warm and dry, and Midday found about twenty cars in the car park – probably not too bad a number, given the early(ish)-season and inevitable conflicts of the final weekend of the half-term holiday.

The annual passes signed-up for the previous weekend had not materialised, but there was no problem in obtaining stickers for garden admission. The shop appeared a little better stocked but still a little sparse in places.

On to the cafe – no tables in use inside, but about ten tables – maybe 25-30 covers – outside. Three waitresses on duty and considerably quicker to respond than previously in-fact, our order was being taken within 5 minutes of sitting-down. Unfortunately though; exactly the same (limited) menu as the previous Saturday and still absolutely nothing on the ‘Specials Board’. Clearly chef has still not had the time to sort-out that side of things!

Still not sure whether the standard menu is organic, but interestingly; a request for an orange juice was met with an answer that it was not sold, as it was not ‘local’. However, whilst fully appreciating the ‘localness’ point and indeed agreeing to a great extent; it does seem strange that the same menu includes lemonade and cola – not exactly grown locally – or even more obviously ‘foreign’ tea and coffee! Uncertain standards? Anyway; the food arrived in a reasonable time, was well cooked and presented and even the children’s salad had changed and improved from the (frankly pathetic) lettuce from the previous week.

Duly fed; and on to the gardens, with a better opportunity to look-around than previously – though still a little rushed, with a four-year-old grandson!

The only obvious new planting/sowing seems to be a policy to fill every available bit of space with (what I assume to be) pumpkins – no doubt for a suitably themed event in October? There again though – with the uncertainty about the site and the running-down of the gardening staff – there probably was little or no sowing/preparation done earlier in the year anyway.

Everything else is growing and blossoming/flowering and looking fantastic, as you would expect for this time of year. (The peach in the soft-fruit garden does however seem to be suffering pretty badly from leaf-curl though – and the rabbits are back in the main garden.) There is however nothing ‘new’. OK, I know that it is (very) early days and there may be all kinds of plans in place; so I am probably being very unfair, but if one accepts that one of the supposed criticisms of the ‘old’ gardens (from a tourist/casual visitor point-of-view) was that there was little going on and not much to bring you back there does seem to be a general air of ‘care and maintenance only’ not exactly conducive to getting the return visits that will clearly be needed to succeed as a business.

Had a quick look at the plant-sales area as well tucked-away, and probably missed by many visitors. A small selection of on-site grown veg, herbs and flowers – all organic. But, I didn’t notice any other gardening sundries. So you can buy an organic tomato plant; but you will have to go elsewhere to get your organic compost, pots, or gro-bags. (Unless, I missed them?)

So; other than there being considerably fewer visitors than the previous week there really are not any obvious (to the visitor) changes. But, as said before, time will tell!

(from a message received…)

I went to visit on Saturday morning and was impressed with what had been done and how the gardens were looking.

Now open all year  seven days a week is good news for those of us who live locally. The fresh food for sale will be an asset and the restaurant was busy and seemed to be as good as ever.

I hope it will be a success and I shall certainly give it my full support.

Bright sunshine and blue skies – ideal for any garden open day, and even more so for Yalding’s re-opening on Saturday.

On driving into the car park about 1pm, it was immediately obvious that things were going well. More cars there than we have ever seen there before, and even a marshall to help with finding a place to park. (We wonder how many were there through our publicity efforts, rather than Maro’s?)

Into the main building, and yes, the first impression you get is ‘farm shop’ meat and dairy refrigerated counters and cabinets, and a general impression of stock being spread-out a bit, to fill available space – but it is early days. Paying for admission was a bit of a mission – we went for the annual option (with Garden Organic concessionary discount) which involved a form to fill-in (no flat area to use) and for some reason a need to collect all debit card details (including the CVC) for processing later, rather than through the PDQ terminal?? Anyway; we were told that our cards/passes would be available for collection next time, and given a brief note, explaining that it was only 6 weeks since Maro had been appointed as the new operators, and that as the kitchen had only been completed the previous day – the chef had not been able to bake all the pastries he wanted to (!) and that there was only a basic menu available.

Thus forewarned, we headed for the cafe – virtually the same as before inside, and slightly extended outside – even the same tables and chairs. Very busy – or at least – the vast majority of the tables were in use – though we eventually found one outside. Table service or go to the counter to order? Not clear from anywhere; but eventually worked out that it was table service, so sit and wait and wait and wait…

At least; plenty of time to consider the menu, and yes, we agree, it was certainly ‘basic’ – very basic – and was it organic, or even ‘local’ – not really sure? OK maybe we had been spoiled by Tania and Werner’s excellent and varied menus previously – but this was a major disappointment – even the ‘Specials’ blackboard was empty! Maybe 20 minutes later we had our order taken and the food arrived possibly 20 minutes after that (Is a child’s ‘salad’ really just lettuce?) – and all quite edible – just ‘ordinary’ – certainly nothing special and certainly not worth a journey to experience. Yes; we know it is all new – Yes; the staff are inexperienced (we overheard a conversation that many were friends and family, ‘helping-out’) – and we hear what they say about the future plans. There is however a very long way to go from where they presently are – and it is a massive shame that they have not ‘hit the ground running’

Enough of the food – on to the gardens! Well; there is not a vast amount to say. If you visited Yalding last year, you will be pretty hard-pressed to see any differences. All the gardens remain virtually as-was – although a noticeable and sorely-missed loss (if you are 10 years old or younger) is the activity ‘shed’ in the childrens’ garden – now perhaps lacking some of the ‘children interest’ – although ‘Alys the Rolypig’ has thankfully survived the changes and remains in-situ. There are also a few areas that seem to have perhaps suffered a bit maybe due to uncertainties of whether to plant or sow earlier in the year – totally understandable. But the general level of garden presentation remains very high – we have no idea how many of the original gardening staff were re-employed (we have heard different stories) but that side of things is clearly working – at least, on a ‘care and maintenance’ level. There will no-doubt be changes in the future; but it is early-days yet.

Previously; after the gardens, we would often have gone back to the cafe for a cup of tea (and maybe a cake or two!) before going home. Unfortunately though; the earlier experience in the cafe totally put us off going back there. Would it take half an hour to get a cup of tea? Were there any cakes anyway? Is the table service ‘format’ really the way to go? How do you get a drink for a four-year-old, who has already used-up all his patience waiting for his lunch. (Luckily, one of the ‘trade’ exhibitors sold ‘water’ – complete with Aspartame and goodness knows what else. Organic?) At least, with the old cafe set-up, you could just go and order anything from a meal for six, down to a drink for one.

Will we be going-back? Yes of course we will (notwithstanding having paid the annual fees!) we love the gardens, and assuming there are not major (negative) changes, we will keep returning. But will we use the cafe as ad-hoc informal eating-place, as previously? Probably not as much as before, if it doesn’t change pretty significantly.

In summary then, the Gardens are back in business, virtually the same as before – at the moment. The other bits and pieces – well the (our) jury is out. We wish the new operators well; there are criticisms above regarding the cafe; but they are all made in good-faith and in a positive way. If we can update this in a few weeks’ time, to reflect improvements – we will be very pleased to do so.