Pity Me Nursery & Tea Barn

Background

This garden centre and café is located just off the A167 Pity Me roundabout and around the corner from the Arnison Centre in County Durham. The garden centre itself is big, selling plants and trees of all species. They have a café and restaurant serving homemade food of all kinds.

Tea Barn

Image taken by Aiden Dawson

The menu is very extensive and includes light meals and snacks like paninis, toasties and sandwiches served with salad and chips, and jacket potatoes and homemade soups. Bigger meals served here include battered fish and chips, full English all-day breakfasts, and burgers.

They serve all kinds of coffee varieties including lattes, Americanos, flat whites and cappuccinos. You can also get different flavoured herbal teas. The café also allows people to buy food and drink to take away.

There are plenty of places to sit down in the café and restaurant. You have the main seating area by the till and serving counter with plenty of tables for up to 6 people, then there is a seating area that you pass through as you walk inside, all under a sheltered gazebo with ambient lighting, decorative greenery and a little wood-burning stove.

The Tea Barn are always changing their menu and doing weekly specials – follow their Facebook page to check it out!

Bake House

The garden centre has an additional bakery that was built as an extension onto the sheltered seating space. It is a modern looking building with floor-to-ceiling windows. Inside, they have a massive counter selling a massive selection of homemade baked food. This includes cakes, pastries, doughnuts, quiches, pasties and bread. The food made in the Bake House is all from locally-sourced providers and is all baked on site. The food brought here must, however, be consumed off the premises so it is only available to buy to take away.

Farm Shop

Their farm shop is built within a small warehouse building, adjacent to the Tea Barn building. This is where they sell fresh food including butchers meat, dairy food and fruit & veg. All the food brought here is locally-sourced.

Garden Centre

The nursery offers a choice of plants, flowers, trees and herbs all freshly-grown from local sources. They also sell a variety of garden decorations including wooden ornaments and furniture. The nursery provides big trolleys that are all available around the site. At Halloween, you can buy pumpkins all grown on site. They also always sell Christmas trees every year, of different species. Staff can assist you whilst you’re browsing and help look after your plants while you go to have a break in the café.

Location

The garden centre is located just off the A167. It is not far from the Arnison Centre, Chester-Le-Street or Durham City. It is a short drive from all the shops and supermarkets at the Arnison Centre retail park, which also has other places where you can go and buy food. Other nearby attractions include Adventure Valley down in Finchale and Finchale Priory (the nearest residential and touring park in the area).

Accessibility

This garden centre in Framwellgate Moor, County Durham has numerous points of accessibility.

Wheelchair Access

There is wheelchair access around the café and garden centre. The car park is on rough terrain, but it is mostly flat and level. The pathway from the car park to the café entrance is on solid stone paving and there are no steps to get over.

Toilet Facilities

The toilets are located inside the café, past the service counter in the main seating area. There is a single toilet for male and female users and a separate accessible toilet in the same area. The toilet also includes baby-changing facilities. These are the only toilets onsite.

Inclusive Menu

If you have any dietary requirements, the café menu does offer meals suitable for gluten-free diets, vegans/vegetarians and low-calorie diets. Allergy information is available by asking members of staff.

Child-Friendly

The café does provide high chairs for babies. They also serve child-friendly meals including chips and fish fingers. Outside, there’s space for kids to go and run about and play around the garden centre.

Dog-Friendly

The garden centre is also dog-friendly, so you can walk your dog around the nursery and bring it into the café. Dogs must be well-behaved and on a lead inside the café.

Public Transport

The nearest bus stop is in Pity Me on Front Street. Getting to the garden centre from here consists of walking around the main roundabout, down Potterhouse Lane through the woods past the chicken farm, turning right and continuing walking until you eventually get to the garden centre. It is recommended that you arrive in your own transport as there is no bus stop nearer and there is no footpath on the dual carriageway.

Parking

Parking is available on site. Most of the parking is on loose gravel and there are plenty of spaces available. There are accessible parking spaces closest to the front of the Tea Barn.

Conclusion

Hopefully you found this listing helpful in finding more places to eat and drink and shop that are accessible. We have listings for other cafes and garden centres in County Durham, including Doggie Diner and Lanchester Garden Centre.