The appalling winter storms of 1963 destroyed the cucumber nursery 300 yards up the road. This was the opportunity Hans and Anna had been looking for and they were able to buy the site later that year. They rebuilt the nursery to provide the bones of today’s garden centre, and gradually moved the whole operation there over the next 18 months. The business grew, adding a greater range of outdoor and then indoor plants, more sundries were bought in, a florist and finally a gift shop.  In the nineties their only daughter, José, realised one thing was still missing, a café. Bob Wilson officially opened “café dutch” and then it was ready to provide customers with tea, coffee, cakes and light lunches. It started life as a fairly homemade affair set up in a new greenhouse (which was too cold in winter and too hot in summer!) but did prove very popular with the customers. In 2007 we undertook a major refurbishment. This extension provided “café dutch” with a warm dining space and a lovely terrace to overlook the Plant Area.