‘Excellent year’ for long-standing and family-run Northants garden centre as ice rink and festivities arrive
It has been an “excellent year” for a long-standing and family-run Northamptonshire garden centre, which is preparing to end 2025 on a high with the arrival of its ice rink and festivities.
Whilton Locks Garden Village, in Daventry, was first purchased in 2002, the building works began in 2003 and it opened to the public in March 2004.
Having been in the hands of the Hunt family for more than two decades, the land is unrecognisable from when they first took it on – and it truly is a family affair.
Parents Jackie and Jeremy Hunt have three daughters, who are all heavily involved in the business as well as their other halves.
Eldest daughter Ashleigh Loach and her partner Dave, middle daughter Chelsea Doe and her partner Ryan, and youngest daughter Tabitha Hunt and her partner James have all helped to make the garden village what it is today.
It was in 2024 when the family opened The Lock House and expanded to welcome other independent businesses, which has proved a roaring success.
Nick Price, who is in charge of marketing and social media and has been part of the team for the past decade, reflected on what a year it has been when speaking to this newspaper.
“It’s been an excellent year, helped by the amazing weather,” he said. “The early spring got people out and about and that continued all the way through summer.
“We’ve certainly had a lot of new people visit this year as there are lots of houses being built nearby. It’s nice that we’ve had people visit for the very first time and they’re happy to come back.
“Our regular customers love to visit because our prices are good, our products are good, and there’s free parking on our accessible site. We consistently get good reviews with all customers.”
Being a fully independent garden centre means the team can pick and choose their products based on demand from the community, which Nick believes sets them apart from others.
With the festivities having taken over Whilton Locks Garden Village, Nick said that some people do not even realise that they are a garden centre when the Christmas period kicks in.
Whilton Locks Garden Village now has a real ice rink, which is accessible for people of all ages, and Santa will be in his grotto from November 30 for visits. Families can have breakfast or tea with him, which are popular choices.
There will be live performances from Frozen’s Elsa, the Grinch will be visiting for the first time this year, and the virtual reality sleigh ride is back for its third year.
“The site looks amazing and the prices are fantastic,” said Nick. “People come for our great experiences and prices.”
Preparations begin for Christmas after the August Bank Holiday and Nick said: “It takes us months to get it right and we have a huge dedicated team to get the site looking fantastic.”