At the end of July I enjoyed a lovely trip to London with a friend to visit Kew Gardens and the renowned Petersham Nurseries in Richmond. I have already shared my photos and thoughts on Kew with you here. Today it is the turn of Petersham Nurseries.
Petersham Nurseries is possibly the destination for Londoners seeking a slice of stylised country life and lunch in a Michelin star restaurant. It describes itself as ‘a tranquil oasis and seedbed of inspiration’.
My first recollection of my visit to Petersham Nurseries was that, if you are new to Richmond as I was, it is not that easy to find. After a few false starts we hopped on a bus outside Kew Gardens and alighted, as instructed by the driver, on a road with no obvious sign of a Nursery. Popping into the nearest pub we were told to turn right at Church Lane – a genuine lane that seemed very narrow for the entrance to such a renowned destination. After a short walk down the lane and past the church we did indeed come upon the Nursery and thanked our lucky stars that we were on foot as parking seemed somewhat limited. Set so far off the main road and overlooking meadows complete with cows this did seem a very tranquil setting, especially coming from busy Richmond.
Once inside we were enveloped in the Petersham Nursery experience – a world away from the hustle and bustle of Richmond town centre. Petersham Nurseries is a true foodie destination, a garden centre and a lifestyle shop – all rolled into a stylists dream.
Wobbly chairs and rustic tables are the order of the day for the diners.
For anyone looking for rusty metal plant supports, hand woven obelisks or terracotta pots this is the place to find your hearts desire.
Even the seeds are temptingly packaged in lovely brown paper envelopes.
We were happy to have a light lunch in the Teahouse, so I can only say that the main restaurant was extremely busy and looked very inviting. Until recently this was the home of chief Skye Gyngell. She has now moved to Somerset House and has been replaced by another Austalian chief, Greg Malouf. Our salad lunches and elderflower cordials were delicious, but certainly do not qualify me to write about the main restaurant.
Our lunch was taken in one of a series of slightly ramshackle glasshouses, complete with a stunning indoor fountain. This really was a case of bringing the outside in. All the indoor rooms were inside glasshouses – lovely on a summers day but it would be interesting to visit in winter and see how the cold affects the setting. The many strings of lights suggest though that this is a very atmospheric place after dark.
Out in the plant nursery there were a selection of a lovely roses, plenty of dahlias, annuals and perennials all displayed in a lovely higgledy cottage style.
Everything was beautifully displayed on old tables and in repurposed containers.
Once inside the homeware glasshouse, it was clear that Petersham Nurseries fully embraces its reputation as a lifestyle destination. This shop was an exercise in repurposed vintage finds highlighted by atmospheric old mirrors and antique chandeliers and brought to life with numerous white hydrangeas, ferns and orchids.
Even household cleaning was raised to an art form!!
This was a very beautiful destination and the photographer in me would have loved to have been allowed an hour or two to play whilst the nursery was shut – it would have been so good to take photos without having to dodge the many other visitors enjoying the beautiful displays.
If you ask me what I bought though I would have to say that I limited myself to a couple of packets of seeds. Whilst everything was very beautiful in a brocante style, it was hard to see how most of these items would fit in my own home. Also, to a country mouse such as I, this London town mouse’s eye wateringly expensive shop had a touch, dare I say it, of the emperor’s new clothes about it.
I am sure that a long lunch in the Michelin starred restaurant would be an experience well worth paying for, and I have come home with a desire to populate my garden with ferns, white hydrangeas in vintage containers and possibly an odd garden mirror or two to add some atmosphere to dark corners – I will just need to source them more locally at real country prices.
Insert your profile info here, by going to Users -> Your Profile -> Biographical Info. Profile image (avatar) comes from gravatar.com. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nullam faucibus ornare lectus nec cursus.
I enjoyed your refreshingly honest review Julie. We’ve been going to Petersham for years (always by bike as although there is no parking they do provide bike racks!) and in the old days it was all nursery and a few artfully arranged garden rooms with discreet price tickets. Now I agree there is too much non-gardening stuff (but isn’t that the way of all nurseries now, the money is clearly in the stuff that’s arrived by ship from China). Like you I buy a packet of two of seeds and we have an excellent lunch or tea in the glasshouse (and peruse the restaurant menu) but I always come away inspired. Did you go to Ham House a short walk along the river? They have a very productive and kitchen garden and the recreated 17th century gardens are well worth seeing.
Thank you Sarah – we could have enjoyed a cup of tea together at Petersham Nurseries! I have never been to Ham House – it sounds well worth a visit so thank you for your recommendation.
It is a shame that it is becoming harder to find nurseries with actual plants! It is so sad, one of the worst is the garden centre at Bressingham which used to have fabulous plants but now it is almost impossible to find your way through the tat to the entrance to the much reduced plant area. But you sound as if you had a good day and that’s the most important thing.
There were quite a few plants Christina, although the focus is certainly on the restaurant and the shop. I think my photos are a little misleading as we were not really focusing on the plants for sale because we knew we could not carry anything on the tube. I agree about the general lack of plants these days – it is so disappointing to visit a nursery and find it lacking in plants.
Thanks for the interview, I enjoyed reading it.
Thank you Gardening Hands.
I’ve often fancied visiting Petersham and now I want to more than ever. Lovely photos as ever.Sue x
Thank you Sue – I hope you manage to get there!
Hi Julie I’ve been waiting for this post as I love Petersham Nurseries and know it well having lived in Richmond for over 30 years before we moved to the Isle of Wight. However I agree, it’s increasingly a look but don’t buy place, but always fun to visit
Also, just have to share, that I got married in the church you walked past (as did my parents) and had my reception at Ham House, but that was all a very long time before Petersham Nurseries became the place it is now…..
I am so pleased that you were looking forward to this and hope it did not disappoint! What a lovely story about the church – I wish I had known before our visit and I would have made a point of photographing it (and popping inside if it was open). Sarah (Homeslip above) recommended a visit to Ham House, so I will have to make point of visiting!
What an interesting post and comments Julie – one assumes that a good number of visitors must buy some of these lifestyle ‘essentials’ even if the likes of most of us don’t. I suppose it will have given you a lot of ideas of things you could acquire elsewhere much cheaper or make for yourself – I probably would have resisted even the couple of packets of seeds… I love the idea of the cafe and indoor rooms all being in old glasshouses although as you say the winter experience could be very different! Thanks for sharing
Of love the combination of rustic and vintage in the gardens and oh those seed packets…I would be forever there choosing many I am sure.