History of Lamberlea

In 1965 "lamberlea" was a rough, triangular field. The shape and the telegraph pole in the middle made it difficult for an unenthusiastic farmer to maintain. The fact that it was only ½ mile from the coast made it very exposed but Barry and Margaret Alderson decided to buy the land with the intention of living "the good life".

With the help of his friends, Barry built the family dwelling "Lamberlea" within two years. Soon after pens were made to house Hens, Ducks and Geese.

The Name

The name evolved as the field originally housed local lambs and Margarets home town was near to the Kent border village of "Lamberhurst". "lamberlea" had a good ring to it and as gardens developed, through which locals drove to buy the Eggs, potatoes, soft fruit and other salad crops now being sold, requests came in for shrubs similar to those growing in the gardens, which were thriving even this close to the sea.

This was the beginning of a thriving business. Growing plants from cuttings taken from the ever extending garden, meant that customers could see the plants being sold would be hardy enough too withstand the local weather.

Barry and Margaret began to build a reputation on advising and supplying hardy Conifers, Shrubs, Heathers, Alpines and Herbaceous.

Over the years, the business became to be known as "Lamberlea Garden Centre", greenhouses and retail buildings were added, sales areas developed but through all this the emphasis was always on the surroundings and being able to see plants growing in a landscaped environment.

Staff were employed to allow Barry and Margaret to continue in their jobs as Chemical Physicist and Primary Teacher.

As the Garden Centre grew, Barry and Margaret gave up their jobs to concentrate on Lamberlea.

Son John Alderson who had helped in the GC from an early age, joined as a full partner in 1991. With this came a change in direction for the business. Recognising that there was increasing demand for pondfish and equipment, and with no other suppliers in west Cumbria, Lamberlea started to stock cold water fish along with liners pumps etc.

Pond Services

To fulfil demand , a new retail canopy was built as part of the shop in 1999 with the sole purpose of housing Pondplants, Fish, Pre-formed ponds and waterfeatures. Reflecting this increasing trend, Lamberlea Garden Centre changed its name to Lamberlea Pond & Garden Centre.

Lamberlea Today

Today Lamberlea still holds its good reputation for advising on and supplying hardy shrubs, trees, conifers, roses, herbaceous, heathers, soft fruit and bedding plants, much of which is either grown on site, or at our local nursery. Larger specimen shrubs now form a much larger percentage of the sales areas, as do the specialist range of homegrown Alpines.

Stocking a core range of Gardening products- Fertilisers, feeds, pesticides and tools, the shop now concentrates not only on pond related products,-Pumps, filters, liners, treatments, fishfood and fish, but also indoor waterfeatures and statuary.