News and Events

We are delighted to have been named as a finalist in the Producer category of the Food Drink Devon Awards, especially as there were a record number of entries this year.

The products we entered were our new lemon & lime marmalade and Victoria plum jam. The plum jam was made using plums collected locally, so we are doubly proud of this product as being a true example of local produce. Both were made in the restaurant kitchens in our Ottery St Mary garden centre.

250 products were tasted before being given one of three awards: platinum for a perfect 100% score, gold for 90-99%, and silver for 85-89%.

Over the past few years we have been delighted to be awarded golds and silvers for our preserves, with our raspberry jam regularly proving to be a top performer.

We look forward to learning how our new products fared at the awards ceremony on Monday 7th October. The ceremony is being held at the Imperial Hotel, Torquay and hosted by BBC Radio Devon’s Kerry White.  Wish us luck!

Earlier this year we launched our Garden Reuse and Create Challenge in association with Radio Plymouth.

The challenge was for Plymouth primary school children to make something creative using items no longer needed, that they found in the garden.

We are delighted to announce the winner, Lana from St Joseph’s RC Primary School in Devonport. Lana won two raised beds with compost and plants for her school. This means that the winning school can have lots of fun ‘growing their own’ this summer! Well done to Lana.

 

There were also two runners up in the competition.

Firstly, Claudia from Manadon Vale Primary School – this is Claudia’s creation:

And secondly, Mila from Plymouth School for Creative Arts – here’s Mila’s creation:

Thank you to everyone who took part, we were very impressed with all your ideas!

Each year Otter Garden Centres supports a variety of charities. These are sometimes local and sometimes national.

Our individual garden centres choose the charity they wish to support and organise their own fundraising activities. During 2019 we are supporting:

Ottery St Mary – Hospiscare

Hospiscare was founded in 1982 to provide high quality care and support to people with a progressive life-limiting illness and those close to them living in Exeter, East and Mid Devon.

There are now three hospices: Searle House Hospice in Exeter with 12 beds, offering specialist nursing, medical treatment and care for complex needs and a Wellbeing Suite for day patients. Pine Lodge Day Hospice in Tiverton and Kings House Day Hospice in Honiton provide day services with specialist nursing care, carer respite, support and a range of therapies, such as massage, nail care and crafts.

Services are provided to patients and their families for free.

Plymouth – Shekinah Mission

Shekinah is a Devon & Cornwall based charity that provides opportunities for people in recovery or seeking recovery. This may include recovery from homelessness, drug and alcohol issues, offending behaviours or mental ill health.

Over the last 25 years Shekinah has developed a comprehensive range of services for people and can help with housing, drug and alcohol advice, benefit advice, training, education, employment or just offer a listening ear.

Torbay – Step One

Step One started in 1937 when Dame Georgiana Buller DBE set up St Loye’s College with a vision that support should be available for people with disabilities to develop skills and achieve their potential, overcoming any barriers they faced in society.

St Loye’s merged with Community Care Trust in 2015 and now as Step One provides a range of support to enable people to manage their mental wellbeing and take a positive step forward to achieving their goals.

Wincanton – Yeovil Freewheelers

Yeovil Freewheelers EVS provides a unique out-of-hours free courier service between different hospitals and patients in their homes across the whole South Somerset and North Dorset area.

The service was founded in 1978 by Cecil Turner and is the oldest operational blood bike group in the country. It operates a fleet of three motorcycles carrying urgently needed medical items such as blood, biological samples, medical notes, x-rays and medicines. The service is provided completely free of charge to the NHS and all members of Yeovil Freewheelers are unpaid volunteers.

Thank you to all staff and customers who help us to fundraise during the year, making a big difference to these hardworking charities. We look forward to updating you with the totals raised early in 2020.

The team at our Torbay garden centre is excited to announce the charity total for 2018, their second year of fundraising for Devon Air Ambulance.

A total of just under £4,000 was raised through various customer and staff events run throughout the year.

Intrepid employee Richard Vanstone had his head shaved for the second year in a row to help raise funds, whilst Alice Bamber, daughter of staff member Andrew Bamber, raised funds by creating Christmas animal decorations at school by recycling magazines. Another major fundraising attraction was an entertaining animated reindeer display at Christmas.

“Devon Air Ambulance, which helped over 1,100 patients during 2018, is a vital part of the Devon community,” said Branch Manager, Emma Devonald. “We’re pleased with the results of our fundraising efforts to support the charity.

“Our customers have been very generous with their donations once again, so many thanks to everyone who dug deep. I would also like to add a thank you to former employee Julia Stone – Julia has now left the garden centre but was a huge part of our fundraising efforts over the two years.”

Together with the £4,500 raised last year, this means the Torbay team has handed over around £8,500 to Devon Air Ambulance.

“We are extremely grateful to Otter Garden Centres for their continued support over the last two years in which time they have raised a significant amount of money for DAA,” added DAA Fundraising Manager, Tracy Owen.

“We would like to say a huge thank all of their staff and customers for their generous donations. Last year it cost £7.5 million to keep the service operational so every penny raised will make a real difference.”

For 2019 the team are raising funds for a local mental health charity, Step One.

Tuesday 19th March – flower arranging workshop in Ottery

Join us for our seasonal flower arranging workshop in the Otter Garden Centre restaurant in Ottery St Mary

2.30 to 4.30pm

The price of £15 includes tea/coffee and cake, tuition from experienced tutor Tracy Johnson and all materials including flowers. You will take your arrangement home with you after the workshop.

This month you will be making a ‘Pretty Basket’ arrangement.

Booking and pre-payment are required as Tracy needs to bring exactly the right amount of materials and flowers. Please don’t simply turn up on the day.

To book, please visit the main shop tills or call us on 01404 815815.

We look forward to seeing you at our next flower arranging workshop.

Future workshop dates, all Tuesdays:

• April 30th
• May 21st
• June 18th
• July 16th
• Aug 20th
• Sep 17th
• Oct 15th
• Nov 19th
• Dec 10th