Woodbridge, at the head of the River Deben estuary, has a coastal climate. The heat of summer is often muted by cool winds off the North Sea and the ravages of winter are softened slightly.

Notcutts Garden Centre and Head Office stand on land which was originally owned by the Woodbridge Priory, dissolved by Henry VIII. The grounds were purchased from the Crown by Thomas Seckford, the Woodbridge benefactor and then passed into the hands of the Carthew family. A nurseryman called Thomas Wood purchased the land in 1749 and started Woods Nursery.

The original nursery site is in a sheltered valley of sandy soil, fed by a small stream, thus creating ideal conditions for raising young plants. The nursery was laid out so plants requiring damp conditions were grown near the stream, whilst those which could tolerate drier soil were grown higher, on the south facing slope.

In 1784, a visiting Frenchman, Francois de La Rouchefoucauld wrote, "I saw nothing but two nursery gardens near the town, one of 9 acres and the other of 4 or 5. They were full of small green trees, some of which were priced very low."

Thomas Wood passed the nursery to his sons, and eventually it came to John Wood, thus remaining within the Wood family for almost 150 years. Business was conducted principally with the owners of large country estates and of larger town houses. The nursery supplied many different types and varieties of fruit and forestry trees, as relatively few ornamental plants (as we know them today) were then available.

John Wood's catalogue of Fruit Trees and Roses, published in October 1895, lists no fewer than 95 apples, 35 pears, 25 plums, 16 cherries, 20 trained peaches, 7 nectarines and 123 varieties of roses. He produced his last full catalogue in the autumn of 1896 and died without succession in 1897. The nursery with its fine, old Georgian house, was put up for auction on 11th February 1897.