Matthews Plants
🕐 Opening Hours
| Monday | 9 AM – 5 PM |
| Tuesday | 9 AM – 5 PM |
| Wednesday | 9 AM – 5 PM |
| Thursday | 9 AM – 5 PM |
| Friday | 9 AM – 5 PM |
| Saturday | 9 AM – 5 PM |
| Sunday | 10 AM – 4 PM |
⚠️ The car park fills quickly at peak times — arriving early is strongly advised.
Hours may vary on bank holidays — always verify before visiting.
🌿 What’s Here
No café, no gift shop — the entire site is given over to plants
Prices are the most-praised feature after the range itself
Staff, including Matthew, give detailed planting and care advice
Bedding, perennials, shrubs, climbers and unusual varieties
Hydrangea and other varieties reviewers cannot find elsewhere
Long-established family business with a loyal following
Customer toilet facilities available
On-site parking, but limited relative to demand
⭐ What Visitors Commonly Mention
Themes from recent public Google reviews sampled September 2026 — editorial summaries, not verbatim quotes. Bars show relative prominence within the sample, not counts of all 614 reviews.
Sentiment summary: At 4.9 stars this is the highest-rated centre in our Essex dataset, and the reviews explain why. Reviewers describe it as the best nursery in the area and specifically value that it is plants-only — one notes approvingly that there is ‘no café or soaps, this is all about the plants’. Value and staff knowledge are praised in almost equal measure, and many reviewers describe decades of repeat custom.
Source: Google Maps public review data, sampled September 2026. This page is not a review platform and does not collect first-party reviews.
📍 Getting Here
Roydon Road, between Hoddesdon and Harlow — on-site car park
Roydon and Harlow Town stations serve the area
The car park fills quickly at peak times and visitors are sometimes turned away at the gate — arrive early
A working plant nursery rather than a retail destination — no café or gift shop
Coordinates: 51.748073, 0.0516064 · Open in Google Maps ↗
🗺 Nearby Garden Centres
Other garden centres from our Essex listings. Distances are straight-line estimates; drive times will be longer.
| Garden Centre | Area | Distance | Rating | Reviews | Notable For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harlow Garden Centre | Harlow | ~7 km E | 4.3 ★ | 1,738 | Very large Blue Diamond site |
| Art Nursery Garden Centre | Epping | ~10 km SW | 4.4 ★ | 192 | Family-run independent, expert advice |
All centres listed on allgardencentres.co.uk. Ratings from Google Maps public data, September 2026.
📊 How It Compares Locally
Benchmarked against 65 Essex garden centres tracked on this site (September 2026 data).
Matthews Plants rates above the Essex average (4.9 vs 4.45 ★ county mean). At 4.9 stars it is the highest-rated garden centre in our entire Essex dataset, well clear of the county mean.
65 Essex garden centres tracked on allgardencentres.co.uk. All Google public rating data, September 2026.
☑️ Before You Go
- Arrive early. The car park fills quickly and reviewers report being turned away at the gate at peak times. Weekday mornings are the safest bet.
- This is a plants-only nursery — there is no café or gift shop. Come for the plants and the prices.
- Highest-rated centre in our Essex listings at 4.9 stars, built almost entirely on range, value and advice.
- Staff knowledge is exceptional — reviewers single out advice on planting and aftercare, and mention Matthew personally.
- Unusual varieties, particularly hydrangeas, that reviewers say they cannot source elsewhere.
- Toilet facilities are available on site.
🔍 Data & Source Confidence
Rating data: Sourced from Google Maps public listing, September 2026. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Google. Review themes are editorial summaries drawn from a sample of recent public reviews — not verbatim quotes from any reviewer.
Opening hours: Sourced from Google Business Profile at time of collection. Hours can change — always verify before visiting, especially on bank holidays.
Distances: Straight-line (as-the-crow-flies) estimates using GPS coordinates. Actual driving distance will be greater.
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