Is lunch at the garden centre a peculiarly British habit or do other nations do it, too? (Now I think of it, I've had some lovely outings to garden centres in Sweden.)

It was bustling with ladies here, even on a Monday ... and after a big bowl of pea and ham soup in the glasshouse, and a stroll through the fruit trees and (expensive) box topiary, followed by a browse through the seed packets, admiring aspirational Italian vegetables ...
We'd caught up on all the gossip - and so what if we can hardly keep a pot plant alive between us.
In another life, we will have £1000 box trees, lavender hedges and espaliered fruit trees.
And someone else to do the gardening.