A family-run garden centre in Newcastle is celebrating a string of significant award wins after weeding out the competition in a national awards ceremony.
Family firm Cowell’s Garden Centre based in Woolsington has been awarded the prestigious UK ‘Garden Centre of the Year 2011 Award’ by industry body the Garden Centre Association (GCA) as well as the Ruxley Rose Award for best plant area in the UK.
In a war of the roses the centre battled some of the UK’s biggest chain brands to win the titles. Director of Cowell’s Garden Centre, Martin Cowell said: “As an independent centre we are delighted to be able to compete and win at such a high level.
“We received a spot check by the GCA auditors in Spring 2010 and recorded one of the top scores in the country, which saw us awarded ‘Best garden centre in the North East’. A further spot check on the centre and four others then resulted in Cowell’s receiving the highest result overall. We are immensely proud of our achievements.”