Simpsons Garden Centre in Inverness and Garden Wise Plant & Garden Centre in Dumfries (pictured above) celebrated success in the Garden Centre Association's Best in Area Scottish Awards.
The results for Scotland were announced during a ceremony on Monday at Gouldings Garden Centre in Clyde Valley.
GCA Chairman, Peter Burks said: “We would like to congratulate all of our members who picked up awards on the night. It was the biggest turnout we’ve ever had for a GCA awards ceremony in Scotland.
“The winner of the Best Garden Centre for the Destination Garden Centre (DGC) category was Simpsons Garden Centre in Inverness and the winner in the Garden Centre (GC) category was Garden Wise Plant & Garden Centre in Dumfries.”
Other awards presented included Best Plant Area for The Mains of Drum Garden Centre (GC) in Aberdeenshire and Simpsons Garden Centre (DGC), Best Customer Service for Caulders Garden Centre in Kirkintilloch, Creativity and Innovation for Simpsons Garden Centre, Best Indoor Lifestyle for The Mains of Drum Garden Centre (GC) and Raemoir Garden Centre (DGC) in Aberdeenshire and Best Outdoor Living for Garden Wise Plant & Garden Centre (GC) and Raemoir Garden Centre (DGC).
The winners for Northern Ireland were also announced during the evening. All categories were won by Creative Gardens Donaghadee. Creative Gardens Bushmills scooped the Inspectors Choice award.
The awards are decided by the results of the annual inspections, which take place at all GCA garden centres. Garden centres have no advance warning about when their inspection will take place and they do not have the option to turn away the inspector.
The Best Garden Centre and Best Destination Garden Centre awards went to the members that scored the highest overall mark in the area in their annual inspections.
The three top scoring centres overall, nationally, in both the Destination Garden Centre and Garden Centre categories will be re-inspected before the titles of Garden Centre of the Year and Destination Garden Centre of the Year are announced at the GCA annual conference taking place from January 26 until 29, 2014.
Andy Campbell, GCA Standards Inspector, who was responsible for inspecting GCA garden centres in Scotland, said: “I would like to say a huge congratulations to all of the winners this year. The standards were extremely high so it is a great achievement for everyone.”
For further information, call 0118 930 8918 or visit www.gca.org.uk. Alternatively, please log on to www.facebook.com/pages/GardenCentreAssociationorfollow the organisation on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GC_Association.
The full list of winners are:
Scotland
Best Garden Centre: Garden Wise Plant & Garden Centre (GC) and Simpsons Garden Centre (DGC)
Best Customer Service: Caulders Garden Centre in Kirkintilloch
Best Garden Products Retailer: Garden Wise Plant & Garden Centre (GC) and Simpsons Garden Centre (DGC)
Best Environment and Community: Garden Wise Plant & Garden Centre
Best Creativity and Innovation: Simpsons Garden Centre
Most Improved: Garden Wise Plant & Garden Centre
Best Plant Area: The Mains of Drum Garden Centre (GC) and Simpsons Garden Centre (DGC)
Best Restaurant: The Mains of Drum Garden Centre (GC) and Simpsons Garden Centre (DGC)
Best Indoor Lifestyle: The Mains of Drum Garden Centre (GC) and Raemoir Garden Centre (DGC)
Best Outdoor Living: Garden Wise Plant & Garden Centre (GC) and Raemoir Garden Centre (DGC)
Inspectors Choice: Klondyke Mayfield Garden Centre in Kelso.
Northern Ireland
All categories awarded to Creative Gardens Donaghadee
Inspectors Choice: Creative Gardens Bushmills.
Picture above: Pat Adams, Administrator at the Garden Centre Association, presents the team from Gouldings Garden Centre with their awards.
