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Around 137 people visited Colten Care’s Woodpeckers in Brockenhurst, Hampshire, during the first weekend in September, enjoying features including a new wheelchair-friendly woodland walk and an eye-catching oak gazebo and courtyard garden with cherry trees.
Teas and homemade cakes and scones were offered to visitors, payable by donation.
The event raised £1021 for the NGS and over £400 for Woodpeckers’ chosen charity Brockenhurst and Sway Day Centre Friday Club.
Woodpeckers Gardener Chris Marsh said: “To open our garden up for the National Garden Scheme, showing what a beautiful sanctuary it has become was a very proud moment for me, the residents and the Woodpeckers team.
“It’s not just an attractive space for our residents to enjoy, but a space they can be proud of, as its their hands which have helped create it. From sowing the sunflowers, to potting on the salvia cuttings, our residents can see their handywork throughout the gardens at Woodpeckers.”
Chris continued: “Several visitors during the NGS commented on how surprised they were at a care home investing so much in their outdoor space, creating such a bright, engaging, and diverse garden for its residents goes beyond your typical easy maintenance landscape planting.
“Establishing bright herbaceous beds and boarders for the residents to enjoy, with soft winding paths laid to guide them around the whole of the property offers an uplifting event whenever they venture outdoors.
“You can go on a real journey from the courtyard, to the woodland walk, to the Dahlia bed and on to the allotment, getting plenty of sunshine, fresh air and exercise along the way.
“Woodpeckers truly embodies Colten Care’s culture of the garden and the therapeutic and positive effects it has on its residents, for both their physical and mental wellbeing. And having the NGS accept us into its scheme is a great validation that we are getting it right.”
Colten Care’s Head Gardener Charles Hubberstey said: “We have active gardening clubs at Woodpeckers as well as our other 20 homes in the South and it’s our residents and gardeners who decide together on garden activities and priorities season by season.
“The NGS is a wonderful opportunity to show off all the hard work and love which is put into our gardens by both our residents and our gardening team.”
The NGS gives visitors access to more than 3,500 private gardens in the UK, raising funds for nursing and health charities through admissions and the sales of afternoon teas.
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