Garden design


things like nature to bring back feelings that may have been lost among the way.


Physical wellbeing and other benefits From reminiscing to feeling an overall sense of positivity, there are proven health benefits that come along with spending time in the gardens. The physical health benefits are a big part played in how we hope our new gardens work. It creates routine activity and exercise


for all muscle groups through walking, cleaning, and digging, which is known to be a positive mood booster as well as improving co-ordination, strength, and appetite. Other important health benefits that are a part of our gardens is that through physical activity our residents will notice better oxygen levels, improving balance and reducing agitation. With charming views and a beautiful,


unique new place to find stillness with excessive health benefits, it makes us


so proud as a care home to be able to include this as a new feature that has been designed with creativity, love, and passion. Other than physical wellbeing, the five-


sense inspired gardens at Doddington Lodge also work to provide social and wellbeing benefits, promoting a healthier and longer life. During the warm spring days, hot


summer evenings, crisp autumn mornings and chilly winter days, our gardens enhance vitamin D production, which helps to improve sleep quality. Providing stimulation through touch,


smells, wildlife and colours can naturally restore our wellbeing through promoting feelings of calmness and reducing stress. Along with this, the Doddington Lodge sensory garden promotes easy living, finding new ways of dealing with stress, anxiety, and tension, lowering these emotions is known to help increase positive energy and reduce aggression and confusion.


Designing the garden After much hard work and total gratitude for Chris, the wonderful creator of our beautiful new feature, it is so exciting to be able to give our residents a place for reflection and privacy, as well incorporating new environments into the home that will not only give us a new place to connect with one another as well as nature, but we hope it gives our amazing residents the lifestyle and happiness they each deserve. The design of the new feature at


the Dodington Lodge home has been uniquely created to encapsulate the inspiring beauty of nature. Our garden has been designed in a simple figure of eight to make the journey around the space easy, relaxing, and exciting. Everything around the garden is there to be joyful, with loads to see, feel, smell, hear and touch, keeping our residents’ minds active and inspired. Our garden was first thought out when


our team sat down and started to research the aspects of a sensory garden, how it can help residents with dementia, and what it would need to include to be a place of tranquillity, beauty, and calmness. Once the idea became something


that we thought would be special to have as part of our already so homely place of care, it was then that we started looking at imagery to move forwards into creating the original concept and mood board. The process was an exciting one, full of ideas, inspiration, thoughts, and a time when all of our team came together. Once the materials were carefully


thought out and sourced, the metal cutting work began as well as all the initial


October 2021 • www.thecarehomeenvironment.com 35


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