A pair of garden centres have been sold, with the new owner pledging to spend millions to ‘remodel’ the sites.

Wyevale Garden Centres has sold eight of its sites to Blue Diamond, including Cadbury in Congresbury and Sanders in Highbridge.

In May, the Mercury reported the UK’s largest garden centre operator had been put up for sale by owner Terra Firma Capital Partners.

The move meant all 145 stores were put on the market, with prices ranging from £200,000 to £35million.

Although no purchase price has been revealed, the eight centres sold were up for sale for more than £36million.

MORE: Terra Firma puts Wyevale Garden Centres up for saleRoger Mclaughlan, Wyevale chief executive, said: “We are pleased to have agreed the sale of eight of our largest centres to Blue Diamond, one of the UK’s biggest and most experienced garden centre operators.

“We would like to thank our great colleagues at these centres, who have been central to our turnaround in the past few years, and wish them well for the next stage of their business’s growth and development under Blue Diamond’s ownership.”

Terra Firma bought Wyevale for £276million in 2012 and has previously tried to sell the company for £700million.

Blue Diamond’s managing director, Alan Roper, says the new owner will invest millions of pounds to ‘remodel’ the garden centres.

He said: “We are delighted to be acquiring these fantastic centres.

“Over the next three years we plan to invest £16million to remodel and transform them into destination centres modelled around our Redfields Garden & Living Centre in Hampshire, and our Blue Diamond Garden and Home Store near Nottingham.

“We look forward to working with our new colleagues across the centres and welcoming them into the Blue Diamond family.”

Other centres sold to Blue Diamond include Sanders in Brent Knoll, as well as sites in Cardiff, Bicester and Weybridge.

Wyevale’s garden centre in Cheddar is still on the market.

Blue Diamond is the third largest garden centre retail group and operates 21 sites in England and the Channel Islands.

The company is also planning to build five new garden centres across the country which is expected to push its turnover to £120million.