The Thompson Group started as a partnership between Mr and Mrs Thompson in 1976.  They bought a three acre derelict orchard near Canterbury and set about converting it into a small nursery where they grew and sold plants, fruit and vegetables, and little else. At the time, Mr & Mrs Thompson had other jobs and they were able to give these up as the business grew.

The founding Principle of the business was to grow the best quality plants and offer them direct to the public at reasonable prices.  This strategy provided growth and it was not long before some land was rented to grow Hardy Nursery Stock.  This was opposite the retail site and was eventually named after the farmer Bill Wood who gave the land to Mr & Mrs Thompson, this site is known as Woodlands.

During the 1980's both the site at Chislehurst and Welling were brought and became the leading retail sites for the company, the retail site at Petham was converted over for production.

In 1992 the company acquired a nursery at Motspur Park, Surrey and the Petham Site was converted back over to Retail.  Also in 1992 we bought a retail site on the Isle of Wight and started to trade from there too.  A further three production sites were purchased on the Isle of Wight and these specialised in other areas of plant production.  In 1999 we took over the lease on another retail site at Shepperton in Middlesex.

Where we are today

We currently operate 5 Garden Centre retail sites, 5 Nursery sites, and a Christmas Tree farm.  The size of the retail sites varies with some operating cafes and some having franchises on site offering related products.

The growing sites all specialise in particular areas, helping to make sure we supply our own garden centres with our very own plants. It is very important to us to produce our own plants and not have to rely on importing plants from other countries. Our plants are all grown in the south east, are fresher and a better quality as they have less miles to travel to their destinations.

Woodlands Nursery specialises in Hardy Nursery Stock It is situated only a couple of hundred yards away from our Petham Garden Centre. The Motspur Park Nursery grows both our seasonal bedding and also houseplants at Christmas.  Greentiles Nursery grows a wide range of Herbs, perennials and other garden plants. It is situated on the Isle of Wight within a mile of the Garden Centre.  Longlands Nursery is our propagation facility for hardy nursery stock for early spring sales as well as architectural plants, it is also situated on the Isle of Wight.