Staff and residents at a Taunton dementia care home who have been busy creating a tranquil and productive garden are now offering to share it with other local people living with or caring for someone with dementia at a free new dementia café they have set up.

Abbie Foster, manager of The Rectory care home on Trinity Road, said: “Gardening is a wonderful activity to do with people living with dementia.

“Being outside in nature is calming, with lots of sensory rewards from the feel and smell of the plants and soil on your hands and it’s so lovely seeing our residents engaged in planting, weeding, deadheading, watering or just having a cuppa and watching other people at work.

“Our garden is looking so beautiful that we want to share it and – weather permitting - have started using it as a setting for our recently-established dementia café.”

The café, which is free to attend and aimed at anyone living with or caring for someone with dementia, will be running from 10.30am -12.30pm every Wednesday until 25 September.

Visitors are offered a supportive and friendly environment where they can relax, make new friends and – if they so wish – have a chat with Abbie, her colleagues and each other about the support available and strategies that can make it easier to live with the challenges of dementia.

Any local people either living with dementia or affected by its impact on a loved one are welcome to drop by for coffee, tea or a soft drink, a slice of cake and a ‘listening ear’. 

Abbie Foster said: “As well as the memory café, people can also find out more about how to plan a dementia-friendly day at The Rectory’s summer fete on Saturday 31 August.

“This will run from 11am to 3pm and is always an event with lots of fun activities - a lovely opportunity to engage with the local community.”

The Rectory is a specialised dementia care home with capacity for up to 25 residents, located near Taunton town centre, where gardening forms part of a varied activities programme available to residents. 

It is one of three homes run by White Care Group, the other two being St Benedict’s in Glastonbury and St Cecilia in Shepton Mallet. 

Staff and residents at The Rectory have been growing vegetables and flowers in raised beds and have already harvested strawberries, various herbs, summer carrots, lettuce and plums.

Gardening is recommended by Alzheimer’s Society as an activity that can increase the wellbeing of a person with dementia by giving them a sense of accomplishment and connection with others, stimulating their senses and memories, delivering benefits from physical activity and that being in nature has a calming effect and can induce feelings of positivity. More details here

For further details about the memory café, summer fete or care available at The Rectory, the number to call is 01823 324145 or email Abbie@therectory.org.uk