Dining Out – Meynell Langley Garden Centre & Tea Rooms
Meynell Langley gardens is one of an increasingly rare genre of plant nurseries. If you’re looking for gifts or ornaments, silk flowers or garden fairies then you are going to be sorely disappointed. Turning off the busy Ashbourne to Derby road you immediately enter the calming green countryside of south Derbyshire. Winding country lanes soon lead you to the sign directing you down a tree lined unmade lane at the bottom of which high red brick walls, a feature of this area, surround glass houses and nursery beds in what once was Meynell Hall’s kitchen gardens. But here the nostalgia ends as the plants which fill and overflow the garden are mostly grown on site and encompass many of the new disease resistant varieties being developed. The trial gardens which are open over the summer months are resplendent with their vivid colours and blousy blooms. Adapting to our quickly changing climate is a constant challenge, so you can see the success of newly developed varieties. Key too is the advice, freely offered by staff and family members who are very much hands on and can be easily found. On a personal note, over the years we have planted an orchard with a selection of old and new varieties of fruit trees, all purchased from here following the sound advice of Robert and his team. They are all thriving and provide food and shelter for wildlife as well as apple pies and jams for our own table. One newer feature is the cafe, efficiently run by Karen, with its rustic charm where in the winter a wood burning stove ticks quietly away at one end. Light lunches are served, and on our recent visit we enjoyed the homemade mushroom soup. The ploughman’s lunch had pickled yellow beetroot and sweet onion pickle to accompany two generous portions of cheese and pork pie. Seasonal salads and coleslaw are served too with paninis, baked potatoes, quiche and lasagnes. Most of the dishes are homemade and contain ingredients grown on site. The array of cakes is mouth-watering, again all homemade, a particular favourite of mine is the apple and coconut slice although it’s truly hard to choose a favourite. A visit to Meynell Langley gardens is a real pleasure, to be surrounded by so many wonderful plants, shrubs and trees…..and lunch at the cafe after is, well “icing on the cake“ as they say! 00
Lunch at Meynell Langley
There aren’t many of them left; I’m talking about nurseries. Not the ones where you abandon your offspring but the places where you can buy plants that have probably been grown from seeds or cuttings by the person who served you. The family-run Meynell Langley Gardens is one such place. It’s a retail nursery and tea rooms offering a wide range of garden plants, trees and shrubs. Susan and myself visited the nursery on a week-day lunch time. In our own garden I’d moved a Victorian, crown topped chimney pot from obscurity at the side of the shed to a more prominent position close to the house. We wanted to use it as a planter… but needed a plant. Meynell Langley Gardens is an ideal place to combine lunch, plant shopping and a chat with knowledgeable staff. Pot plants, herbaceous perennials and bedding plants are all grown and sold from the nursery. The evidence that it’s a working nursery is all around you and to my eyes, a welcome sight. The nursery’s tea room, close to the entrance, is a purpose built summerhouse of generous proportions complete with air conditioning. The first thing you notice as you enter the huge café come summerhouse, is the extensive display of cakes and scones and the lunch menu displayed on the wall. One of the friendly staff explained that we could sit at any vacant table, make our lunch selection, order at the till and the lunch would be served at our table. And what a selection! There are paninis with a choice of five different filling: bacon and brie, tuna and cheese, Stilton and apple, mozzarella and tomato or good old fashioned cheese and onion. All served with a salad garnish. 3 types of quiche: Cheese and onion, Stilton and broccoli or the classic Lorraine; served with salad, coleslaw and chutney. Two very popular dishes on the menu are the homemade lasagne and a fish platter of salmon, mackerel and prawns dressed with Marie Rose sauce. I chose one of the salads that are on the menu: the ploughman’s. A very filling and tasty lunch. There were two large wedges of cheese: a mild and tasty red Leicester and a full flavoured crumbly mature cheddar along with a small tub of dark pickle. A small pork pie accompanied by pickled onion and beetroot. To offset the sharpness there was mound of sliced dessert apple. A creamy homemade coleslaw, a fresh salad, potato crisps and a couple of slices of wholemeal bread completed the plate. The other salads are ham, prawn or tuna. Plus a Greek salad with feta, black olives and a balsamic dressing. Susan selected the jacket potato with prawns in a Marie Rose sauce. The potato skin was crisp and the inside fluffy. A generous portion of prawns, in the classic delicate pink sauce, was served in a separate dish enabling you to top up the jacket as you progressed through lunch. As with the other fillings of cheese, beans and tuna the plate was garnished with coleslaw and salad. If you’re looking for something a little lighter for lunch there is a selection of sandwiches including ham, tuna and cheese. Plus, for the more chilly days, a fresh soup. And after the hearty lunch if you need a dessert there are three all time favourites to choose from: hot apple pie, chocolate sponge or sticky toffee pudding. Fully fed and watered (we’d ordered a large cafetière to drink with lunch) we decided to take a stroll through the Meynell Langley Trial Garden. It’s attached to the nursery and used as a showcase for their finest, home-grown produce, from bedding plants to fruit trees. With it’s imaginative planting ideas and a large pond fed by an elevated rill, it’s a garden layout that encourages you to sit and admire the carefully constructed views. Seeing garden ideas like the grass path edged with clipped box and espalier apple trees makes you want to try them in your own garden. The Trials Garden is well worth a visit. There are also regular open days for the National Gardens Scheme charity. Later in the year there are demonstrations of fruit pruning and interestingly, apple tasting days. Plus autumn bedding ideas followed by their home-made wreaths, poinsettias and cyclamen, so completing the gardening year before they start sowing again for the next year. The nursery is on the outskirts of Derby between Kedleston Hall and Kirk Langley and the tea rooms are open daily from 10 a.m. till mid-afternoon serving delicious homemade cakes and cream teas along with the hot and cold lunches. Meynell Langley Gardens, Lodge Lane, Kirk Langley, nr Derby DE6 4NT tel. 01332 824358 00
