New sensory garden opens at care home for children in Barnstaple

A new sensory garden has been opened at a Barnstaple care home for children following weeks of hard work and generous support from the community.

The new garden at Welland House in Chaddiford Lane was officially opened by the Mayor, Councillor Janet Coates, joined by some of the young residents and staff.

Welland House is a respite care home and residential home for children with additional needs, providing support for local families that require respite overnight, day care and weekends.

The garden is designed to give the children a safe and calm space to explore, play and relax in.

Above and below: The Welland House sensory garden now has a variety of features for the young residents to enjoy and explore. 

It follows three months of hard work by staff, some of the children that attend Welland, families and past staff, who have been cleaning, tidying, painting, making and setting up new sensory activities to make the garden fun and exciting to explore.

The project was made possible thanks to donations from Pilton Green Man CIO, Barnstaple Town Council and local councillors, plus local businesses The Brend Collection, Tesco, Brewers and Value House all donated.

Brewers provided paint, Value House provided plants for the new planters to offer sensory smells, colours and textures. The Brend Collection and Tesco donated vouchers and a hamper for the raffle, with the proceeds going towards more sensory equipment for the new garden.

After all the hard work, residential support worker Lindsey Luxton organised an open morning, cake sale and raffle, for families and past families to come and see the new garden.

The donations also allowed for a defibrillator to be purchased for the Pilton community and to be situated at Welland House.

Above: Lindsey Luxton, residential support worker and Jan Willis, children’s services manager, are pictured with Barnstaple Mayor Janet Coates officially unveiling the defibrillator purchased from donations.

One of the parents who attended said: “To be honest we have not realised that the event would be so high profile.

“It is really good though, to acknowledge and celebrate some of the wonderful stuff that Welland does.”

One of the young people who worked on the garden added: “I enjoyed helping out make the new sensory garden and enjoy spending time in garden.”