Hayes Garden World in Ambleside, more than two centuries of growing

Drive into Ambleside on the A591 from Windermere and it is hard to miss Hayes Garden World. Behind the glasshouses and plant benches sits one of the longest horticultural stories in the Lake District, stretching back more than two centuries.

The business began as a small nursery over 200 years ago. In 1921 it moved to its current site on Lake Road in Ambleside, where it traded as Lake District Nurseries.

In the early 20th century the firm operated as Thomas Richard Hayes and Son, a partnership of nurserymen especially noted for their rock gardens. Their work can still be traced in some of Cumbria's best-known landscapes, including a Japanese water garden created at Lowther Castle in 1904 and a design at Sizergh Castle in 1925.

Like many traditional nurseries, Hayes moved with the times. It embraced the garden centre model in the 1960s, and in 1987 it added the striking glasshouse known as the Crystal Palace, which has become a familiar landmark for locals and visitors alike.

Today it is a place to linger as much as to shop. The Four Seasons Terrace Café serves a full day menu, from coffee and breakfast to lunch, snacks and afternoon tea. It seats more than 200 people, and an outdoor terrace, reached by lift, looks out towards the surrounding fells.

For gardeners, the appeal is the chance to buy plants from a business with such deep roots in Lakeland soil. For everyone else, it is a relaxed spot for a break between a walk around Ambleside and a trip on the lake, with ample free parking on site.

Few businesses can point to a history that includes shaping castle gardens and reinventing itself for a new generation of gardeners. Hayes has done both while staying firmly rooted in Ambleside.

Hayes Garden World is on Lake Road at the southern edge of Ambleside, about four miles from Windermere station. It is worth checking current opening times with the garden centre before you set off.