We're English and it's a bank holiday so we went to a garden centre. Not just any garden centre though, we went to Barton Grange (£15m refurb and opened by Princess Anne last year, though they've been trading since 1945). BG is a bit of an institution in this area and the new place is eeeeenormous. It even has its own marina attached for over 20 narrow boats and a boutique hotel. There's a cafe, a restaurant, mega-posh loos (I pee'd into a large ceramic tulip bulb) and acres and acres of overpriced plants on sale. There's a huge dome over the whole place and at the first spot of rain the roof mechanically moves into place to keep you outdoors shopping longer but apart from a cake at lunch time I bought nowt.
It's all a far cry from the local 'garden centre' we used to shop at in East London just two years ago: