New Barton Grange impresses Princess
HRH The Princess Royal opened the new £15 million Barton Grange Garden Centre at Brock, near Preston, last week (Tues 10 June) - and enjoyed herself so much that her security team arranged for her to stay 20 minutes longer than scheduled.
In front of around 500 invited guests, she unveiled a plaque and cut a special cake model of the development, which
includes an as yet uncompleted marina. Barton Grange MD Guy Topping presented the Princess with a laburnum, while his children Alfie and Libby gave her a clematis.
Princess Anne, a keen and knowledgable gardener, showed an attentive interest throughout her guided tour, accompanied by Guy and his father, Eddie.
FIT FOR A PRINCESS Alfie and Libby Topping, the managing director’s children, handed the Princess a clematis grown on the Garden Centre Plants nursery. The variety: ‘Fleuri’ by Raymond Evison
> SEE THE FLOWER POWER TOILETS
Hand-crafted urinals in the shape of flowers, costing upwards of £3,000 – welcome to the new Barton Grange.
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Gardeners’ World Live was a veritable Grow-Your-Own Fest. With fruit and vegetables almost outnumbering flowers in the display gardens and veg seed specialists Robinsons winning the BBC’s ‘people’s choice’ award for displays in the plant marquee, you couldn't escape the fact that Edibles Are It right now.
IDEA: For more on designer Claire Potter's food-filled garden and sales ideas CLICK HERE
Of the many reasons customers will be flocking to the new Barton Grange centre, a visit to the gents toilets will almost certainly be near the top of the list.
They feature urinals in the shape of flowers, hand-crafted by US sculptor Clark Sorensen and imported from San Francisco. Each piece cost upwards of £3,000.
On official opening day, even the ladies were queuing up to take a peep at them. For the gentlemen, beauty is now firmly in the eye of the beholder - and watering the flowers takes on a whole new meaning.
