Maytime is the so-called time of blossoming in nature and social life. It certainly feels like that at Abberton. We thought we would share a snapshot of life at The Manor from this May.
Maytime entertaining
Finally some sunshine after all the rain! We have been making the most of it here, enjoying entertaining friends and family in the garden. The walled garden is a real sun trap and is looking stunning with the flower beds coming into bloom. The perfect place for a gentle stroll or tea and cake and a catch up. If it gets too hot we have such majestic trees in the grounds to shade under and have also put up a big gazebo.
Our green fingered residents
Residents have been busy planting, thanks to the generous donations of compost and seeds from the FaNs network. https://www.mhlec.org/
Together with their partners at Seedcell, Perrywood and The Big Garden at Highwoods Country Park, the FaNs Network have donated to us amazing garden kits.
The seed boxes are themed to salad plants, herb garden, pizza toppings and a vegetable patch. It is such a joy to Grow our Own and enjoy all our produce. Nothing better than a warm tomato straight off the vine and they smell so good. It always conjures memories for residents; the first pop of a pea pod and making chutneys and preserves. We even have some squash and pumpkin seeds to take us through to Halloween!
The seeds are in biodegradable pods which you push into the soil. They have started to grow with help of residents watering them.
Maytime celebrations
For International Nurses Day on 12th May, our residents made a card, wrote lovely messages and created their own bouquets for our wonderful team of nurses and carers. We are like a big family here at Abberton, and going through the last year together has made our friendship bonds ever stronger.
On National Pets Week we talked about our pets sharing special memories. We laughed about our intrepid encounters with snakes and iguanas when Wild Science visited Abberton, pre-pandemic. We look forward to the day when we can have unrestricted visits again.
There does seem to be a National Day for almost everything … even strawberry jam which one resident found very entertaining, whilst another recalled a visit to the Tiptree tea rooms on the Abberton minibus. Talking of strawberries, Wimbledon is nearly upon us, so the perfect excuse for a strawberry tea and a jug of Pimms!
Welcoming new residents and team members
We remain COVID free and we are welcoming new admissions to our home.
We have welcomed Nicky Hooper to our Lifestyle and Wellbeing team and she has been settling in and getting to know our residents. This week we played a game called Rummikub, as a small group and learnt as we went along. We had tea and biscuits mid-game, of course! We have also been doing chair exercises along with bean bag throwing onto floor targets. This was so popular its become a weekly fixture.