Old Railway Line Garden Centre, Three Cocks, Brecon, Powys

May 2013

Howey Hedgehog Rescue

Our friends from Howey Hedgehog Rescue visited us on Saturday the 11th of May. We had a lovely day and the children loved seeing the hedgehogs and adults found it very informative. Elaine and Nigel really do know their stuff!! Howey hedgehog rescue center was founded in 2008 and is able to deal with sick and injured hedgehogs and is registered with the British Hedgehog Preservation Society.

May 2013

The Waste and Resources Programme

We believe looking after the environment is extremely important.

We have been granted funding to pay for an assessment of waste produced by our Railway Restaurant.

A management consultant from The Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) Cymru will be visiting our restaurant to assess how much waste we produce. They will then put their findings into a report for us with recommendations on how we can reduce the amount and make cost effective savings.

The Welsh Government has set a target to achieve zero waste by 2050 and every business participating in the WRAP Cymru project will contribute to the achievement of this target.

We currently recycle food, glass, plastic and cardboard in recycling bins. We also have an extensive system in place that was installed to remove any grease from the pipes leaving the kitchen area.

Cooking oil is taken away by one of our customers with a duty of care waste transfer note and is re-used as fuel.

We are looking forward to working with WRAP Cymru to minimise the waste we create and reduce the amount sent to landfill.

April 2013

Easter Weekend, Fun for all the family!

We had some great fun over the bank holiday weekend! We had an egg painting workshop and our regular Easter bunny hunt! The children had a great time and the adults had even more fun running around the garden centre trying to keep up. Due to the success of our workshop we have planned some more events (Wild Wednesdays) through the easter holidays so if your stuck for a local activity then pop along and see us here at the garden centre.

March 2012

Garden Releaf Charity Quiz

The 8th of March saw garden centres accross the UK hosting charity quiz evenings in aid of Greenfingers, a charity that builds gardens in the grounds of childrens hospices. We had a brilliant turn out for the quiz which was thoroughly enjoyed by all that took part. Through the entry fee and a charity raffle we are pleased to have rasied a total of £475.00 for this great cause. Our sincere thanks to all those that took part, Tyrrells potato crisps and Holdsworth foods for supporting the refreshments and to Lynne Allbutt our celebrity gardener who was on hand to tot up the scores and present the winning team with their prize!

November 2012

We Have Raised £3500 for Macmillan Cancer Care

We are pleased to announce that we raised a total of £3500 for Macmillan through a variety of events and overwhelming support from our customers. After the leg waxing event of 2012 we wondered how we were going to beat the 2012 total of £2000. Mark (The Boss) came up with a great idea that the staff could do a sponsored slim which would be supported by the garden centre. In total (including Ruby the Dog) the combined weight loss was 119Lbs for which the garden centre sponsored £10 per lb in weight. The rest of the money was raised from a charity raffle, coffee morning and sponsorship for the cardiff 10K run!

Well done to all the staff and customers for their support! Who knows what we will do next year!!

October 2012

New Garden Centre Development Now Open!!

Our new look garden centre is now open which is also home to our new Farm Shop which stocks local produce from many different local suppliers including Talgarth Mill, WJ George Butchers -Talgarth, Chef on the Run - Hay on Wye, Ashburnham Bakery - Talgarth, Pips Cider - Hereford, Breconshire Brewery - Brecon and many more!!

September 2012

David Domoney, Celebrity Gardener Opens New Building

On the 29th of September 2012 we welcomed David Domoney to the Old Railway Line Garden Centre to open our new development. We had a great day, we would like to thank the crowds of people that came to show their support for our new garden centre. We hope you enjoyed the day too! We had champagne and cake to celebrate the opening and David gave a fantastic talk, which was enjoyed by staff and visitors alike, on quirky gardening techniques which involved a banana, a ladies bra and some viagra! You had to be there!! To read more please visit David Domoneys Website Here!

September 2012

The Railway Restaurant is Now Open!!

Our new 'Railway Restaurant' is now open!! Come and have a look at our brand new restaurant and our new menu, which has expanded to offer a greater choice of freshly prepared main meals as well as the already popular offering of sandwiches, toasted sandwiches, jacket potatoes and of course our home baked cakes.

We would love to see you and to hear your comments. Why not try our new Railway Roast every Sunday and Thursday.

10K Run in Aid of Macmillan Cancer Care

After such a successfull event raising money for Macmillan last year, the staff wanted to gon one better this year. Katie, Liam, Joe, Haley, Matthew, Samii and Jordan are taking part in the Cardiff 10K event on the 9th of September 2012.

We would like to wish them good luck! They have been training extremely hard for weeks in preparation for the event!

We are extremely proud of them for having a go! Good Luck

June 2012

Jubilee Doorstep Challenge, Winner announced

Congratulations to Mrs Davies of Boughrood who was the winner of our Jubilee Doorstep Challenge. The winner was picked at random from all entries received.

We hope all that entered had a bit of fun entering the competition and we especially hope that Mrs Davies enjoys spending her voucher to the value of £50 to spend here at the garden centre.

June 2012

Strawberry weekend raises £500 for Breast Cancer Awareness

The last weekend of June was the date of our Strawberry event in aid of Breast Cancer Awareness. We had a great day. We had chef on the run from the Old Stables Tearooms giving advice on making jams and preserves. Some of the staff from Welsh Fruit Stocks in Rhosgoch we on hand to give advice on growing soft fruit bushes etc and the coffee shop girls had baked some exciting new cakes and the favourite Jam and ream scone with fresh strawberries. £1.00 from every afternoon tea was donated to the charity. Jordan was in charge of the cream whipping competition, the fastest person to whisk 200ml of double cream won a planted strawberry planter. Everyone had a great time, the weather wasn't too bad and we managed to raise a tremendous £500 for the Breast Cancer Awareness charity. Thanks to all those that make the weekend possible and to our customers for venturing out on what was a pretty dull day.

May 2012

Old Railway Line Garden Centre Helps Local Schools 'Get Gardening!'

Throughout May we have visited a number of local schools helping children and staff to get involved in gardening within a school environment. We have supplied materials including plants, compost etc and have sent some of our most experienced staff to the schools to work with children in order to enthuse and educate them to get gardening. Please visit our communities page to see where we have been and see some photos of what we have been up to. We would like to thank the staff and children at the various schools for allowing us their time and effort to get involved. We look forward to working with you.

April 2012 Grow Your Own Weekend. BIG success especially with our Junior Gardeners!!

Here is one of our smallest budding gardeners having a great time planting bean seeds with Kate. We had a great time offering advice and assistance with all your grow your own questions, please remember we are happy to answer your questions at any time. That's what we are here for!!

April 2012

Green Fingered Garden Centre Goes Solar

With the recent installation of 210 solar panels on the roof of our new building, please click here to see the press release courtesy of Caplor Energy

March 2012

Garden ReLeaf Raises £670 for Greenfingers Charity

Our recent garden releaf day was an overwhelming success raising a total of £670 for the greenfingers charity which create wonderful gardens within children's hospices throughout the UK. We had a full house for our gardening themed quiz, hosted by Lynne Allbutt with a special appearance from Miss Teen Wales Fallon Robinson. Unfortunately nobody could beat the garden centre's quiz team, but we all had great fun trying! Thanks to everyone who took part and to a number of suppliers who supported the evening, we look forward to the next quiz soon!

If you would like to see some pictures please visit our facebook page or click here

October 2011

Macmillan Coffee Morning Raises £2000

This years Macmillan coffee morning was the best ever!! Tiny, the two Matthews, Liam and Jordan all had their legs waxed. Huw, Kate, Nick and Jayne donated 4 hours gardening to the highest bidder. The coffee shop girls cooked up some lovely cakes for which the proceeds were donated to the charity. Mark the boss, a proud Chelsea fan wore a Liverpool shirt for the day and the proudest Welsh member of staff, Jayne wore an England shirt for the day!!

In total we raised approximately £1800.00 throughout the day and the garden centre made a donation to round it off to £2000.

Many thanks to all the staff for their enthusiasm and our customers for their generosity. We would also like to thank Sheila Lewis from the Beauty Mill in Three Cocks who kindly donated her time and products to perform the leg waxing!!

If you would like to see some photos of the coffee morning please click here

July 2011

Garden Centre Association Awards

The GCA awards were held at Raglan garden centre this year. We are proud to have won the award for Best Plant Area in the Wales and West group for the third year running. We are extremely pleased that we have attained highly commended status also for the third year running. To see our certificates and photos please click here!

June 2011

Marie Curie Daffodil Appeal

We are pleased to have raised a total of £97.58 for the Marie Curie Daffodil Appeal 2011 which helps care for people with cancer and other terminal illnesses in their own home. Thanks to everyone who supported the appeal by purchasing a daffodil.