Forgive me if this review turns out to be a little effusive, but this week I feel blessed! I've…read morebeen having work done on my bedroom over the summer, and have had real difficulties in finding good suppliers of the unusual products that I need in order to make my dream room a reality. This has more to do with the fact that I am clueless, rather than there being a dearth of suppliers out there! I made a recent trip to Bradford's to buy a bit of paint and some wooden roofing batons, but instead, I came away with a whole lot more, as well as a big fat smile on my face! Being a bit of a cyber junkie, I have been relying quite heavily on web searches to find the larger items required, particularly the ones that need delivering. I have mounted endless searches for a particular form of insulation that I am intending to adapt in quite a peculiar way, which will mean that one side of the boards will be left exposed. The product I need is made of a weird kind of foam that is backed with a mat silver lining material. I formerly knew it to be called Kingspan or Cellotex, and so this is what I have been Googling. My visit to Bradford's quickly escalated my mood to something quite close to a mild state of euphoria... they supply an equivalent product called Xtratherm, that has one vital property that all the other versions I had found on the web didn't have. This is simply that Xtratherm is not branded on one of the two sides that have the silver coating. Eureka! All of the other boards have the manufacturers logo plastered all over both sides of the silver backing material, which meant that I couldn't use it for the application I needed it for. This was an amazing find, and one that I will be eternally grateful for! It is being delivered today, free of charge! (I spent over £150, and so deliveries are free.) Not only was I given discounts on everything I bought from Hamerite, through a promotional twelve pack of Grip Fill that saved me a small fortune, they also gave me discount on the insulation boards even though they are not part of a current promotion! I didn't even need to ask for it. They offered it! How marvellous is that! (I guess I must be a valued customer, no matter what a nuisance I make of myself!) I want people to go to Bradford's, not because they need building materials, but because a visit to Bradford's will cheer them up! Everyone who works here is utterly delightful, and shines with an incredibly contagious contentment, that the world could do with a bit more of! There are twenty six branches of Bradford's nationwide, but I would imagine that this outlet is the friendliest of them all! I want to say a massive thank you to the following lovely people: Bob, the manager, who s a very smiley man, and is featured in one of the photos. Marylyn, who works on the desk, and really goes the extra mile to help you out. Dan, a long-suffering, eminently charming chap who works in the office, and has tried to help me with a whole assortment of weird requests over the last few months, without once looking perplexed or phased. He has rung manufacturers on my behalf, trying to find out if materials can be safely adapted for alternative applications, and has scratched his head and thought long and hard about really challenging questions like, "Is there something that can do this?" My requests have sometimes been bordering on the bizarre, but he has never been anything else other that eager to help. He just seems incurably happy, never seeming to have an off day... I put this down to the fact he's got a great sense of humour, and clearly really enjoys life! Marvellous! Tony, the delivery man, who will rock up this afternoon with my wonderful supplies... another real character that could put a smile on anyone's face! The guys who work out in the yard, including Pete, Keith and Nick, all of whom do a sterling job in all weather, and come from a place of kindness, instead of harbouring an attitude of keeping things simple so that they do as little as possible. All these guys have energy! And they use it well! Thank you!

This is the South-West's largest purpose-built garden centre, and is now a tourist and leisure…read moredestination in its own right. It was voted UK Garden Centre of the Year in 2007 by the Garden Centre & Retail Association. It was recently taken over by the Wyevale group. They sell everything imaginable in the gardening sphere, and secured a real coup by being the first garden centre in the UK to be permitted to sell the Wollemi Pine to the public. (For non-botanists, this is a rare pine thought to be extinct, but rediscovered in Australia in 1994: fewer than 100 adult trees survive in the wild, so it is being propagated around the world). This reflects their reputation as a high-quality plant nursery, and is about as high a commendation as you could get. The retail section also sells a wide range of other gardening and outdoor merchandise, from books, cards, ornaments, scented candles and crockery to pets and pet supplies, garden furniture, hot tubs, outbuildings and machinery. There's also a cafe-restaurant, and an extensive play area for children, which includes a large mock-up of a pirate ship. As you'd expect (given its location on the A38, close to to junction 22 of the M5), there's extensive car parking, but the centre also provides a free bus on Thursdays from Cheddar via Weston-super-Mare - details on the web-site.

Plesantly surprised the food was very good and I would come here again. The portions were a good…read moresize and it is a lovely atmosphere.