By Shirley Ward, Gardens Manager
Wellburn Care Homes was delighted recently to host two British Red Cross Open Gardens events.
Open Gardens offers people an opportunity to explore the secrets of hidden and private gardens not usually open to the public, and it helps the British Red Cross to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds each year to care for people in crisis both in the UK and overseas.
This year, Wellburn’s Eighton Lodge home in Low Fell, Gateshead, and Grimston Court, in York, both held Open Garden events
These events, which attracted over 70 people at each venue, raised £640 for the British Red Cross.
As a result of the success of these events, Wellburn is now considering holding its more charity open days to allow members of the public access to its award-winning gardens across the North East and Yorkshire.
The vast majority of our homes are either Grade 2 Listed or situated in a conservation area, and we also invest a great deal of time, and money, on landscaping the surrounding areas, such as the gardens, spending considerably more than other companies in the sector.
The quality of many of our gardens has been rubber-stamped by our success in various stages of the prestigious Britain-in-Bloom competition.
Our whole ethos when it comes to our gardens is to ensure there is all year round colour at our homes. When people come to us, our homes become their homes and we want to ensure they can enjoy their surroundings, and gardens play a big part in this. There are also major therapeutic benefits to having well-kept gardens and as a company we are planning to take this further by introducing sensory areas, which will be particularly designed to help people with dementia.
We are always planning ahead. There is no point someone arriving to live in one of our homes only to see a shrub blossom in five years. We plant shrubs and flowers that are big and bold and make an instant impact. This year, for example, we will be planting 28,500 bulbs this year in preparation for spring 2011 alone.
Autumn and winter is always a busy period for our gardeners, because if they are not constantly clearing leaves they are carrying out landscaping work to ensure our gardens continue to meet the very high standards we set for 365 days of the year
It is a real labour of love for everyone concerned, but if it brings pleasure and contentment to our residents, then it is more than worthwhile.
