Brogdale Collections is the home of the National Fruit Collection, our orchards are a living history & heritage of fruit

  My father, son and I took a trip to Brogdale for an early Father’s Day lunch.

What a gem of a place, growing and selling vintage fruit collections... read more with a cluster of shops gathered around a large central courtyard. On view, the place is quaint, inviting and really interesting to mooch around, great if you fancy somewhere a little different.

Moving on to the café....
My family and I went to the on-site café for an early lunch. It was busy but we managed to get a table comfortably and service was really quick and friendly.

Whilst the menu was limited, it looked fresh and appealing with light brunch options and a few more substantial lunch dishes such as ploughman’s, jacket potatoes, sausages and mash.

My son asked for spaghetti Bolognese which only came in a Child’s portion – I asked for this to be served as a larger portion but they were unable to be flexible (possibly because it was father’s day and busy). Disappointing but they were very nice about it. Dad ordered sausages and mash and I chose a mushroom and cheese toasted ciabatta.

Our drinks arrived first, very nice coffee and a raspberry lemonade, delicious and old style but in a very small glass which I felt was a little stingy.

When the food arrived, dad’s looked great, my son’s looked skimpy but tasty, but mine looked like a slightly sweaty half ciabatta with a hint of a side salad - disappointing. My son and my father noted that their food was tasty. However, my mushroom and cheese ciabatta half tasted awful with too much tasteless mild cheddar, which had the texture of rubber and tasted like it had been under the heat lamp a little too long so it was not quite hot enough. It was simply an odd dish, poorly presented and lacking taste. More cellulite than mature cheddar sadly.

I must recommend Brogdale, and really its café is quite pleasant but just be mindful of what you order. There are obviously some great options but toasted ciabattas definitely aren’t a stron

  Firstly, don't book one of their courses. I've visited Brodale several times because I'm interested in fruit trees. In 2016 my partner bought me as a Christmas present a voucher... read more (about £80) that entitled me to attend an Orchard Design course. That's what the voucher said. Please note these very important points - this is a course that runs every year, and at the time of booking, no future course dates had been set and there was no expiry date on the voucher. I received my voucher at Christmas and as expected throughout the remainder of winter and into spring, I awaited any announcement of when the next course might be. In the meantime I booked an annual 2 week holiday for the summer. (I bet you can guess what's coming next). About a month before going on holiday, guess what, Brogdale announced the date of their Orchard design course! And guess what, yep, it was to take place whilst we were away on holiday. But hey its not a problem. I had a voucher to attend a course. The voucher did not say which year I had to attend and there was no expiry date on the voucher, so I wasn't concerned.
I rang Brogdale and told then I would like to have attended but can't make it as I now had a holiday booked. I had not booked onto this course because I didn't know what the date was until about a month before they decided to run it. That's when the problems began. They said the voucher was for 2017 and yet there was no mention of this on the voucher and again I stress, there was no expiry date on the voucher. Naturally I expressed my extreme dissatisfaction. A few emails passed between myself and Brogdale. Roll forward to 2018. I still had a voucher to attend the Orchard Design Course but this time I waited until the date was announced for summer 2018 (again the announcement was late and didn't give people very much notice). I contacted Brogdale and said I have a voucher and would like to book on the course. They again said the voucher was for 2017 and I can't use it (remember what I said earlier in that the voucher didn't have a date on it and there was no expiry date). Naturally by this point I was very angry and asked for the email of whoever was in charge at Brogdale. I was told it's a charity and I was refused their email. I was told (4th June 2018) that my email would be passed on to the 'Trustees' for their consideration. I had to email them again on 1st October to find out why it was taking so long. I had a response today from Brogdale to say my voucher had expired. My response naturally is how can my voucher expire?? It never had an expiry date!!! There was no date on the voucher!! My only course of action remains to pay a solicitor to try and recover my £80 or use the power of social media. As far as I'm concerned (and the voucher) they have broken their contract with me. As I said at the start, don't book a course with them. If I could score them as less than 1, I would do!

  After looking around in Tiddly Pomme at Brogdale, where the man was very helpful and pleasant, I then popped into the collections office to get some information and was unfortunately... read more greeted by a very rude and condesending lady who was most unhelpful and totally rude for no apparent reason. I would be reluctant to visit their office again.

  A collection of different apple, pear and fruit trees along with what is the market place. This is a collection of farm type shops and cafes. There is a miniature... read more railway and a small playground for children. There is also about six walks around the farm. Plenty of parking

  Bought a beef fore rib for £20 from the Brogdale butchers at Ruxley Garden Centre for Sunday lunch.

Cooked it today (Medium) and it was the toughest and... read more chewiest piece of beef that I have ever purchased.
Very disappointed.

  For me Brogdale is fairly local so I go often.
Not for the tours which I plan to do one day but to taste and buy apples that taste as... read more apples used to. Obviously when the apples are around.
I go for lunch in the cafe buy local produce. Apple juice apple cider vinegar etc.
I’ve bought two of my favourite apple trees got good advice on there upkeep.
I