94-year-old Yate care home resident leads gardening session for nursery children

A care home teamed up with a local nursery for a special gardening session. 

Happy Days Nursery pupils visited Care UK’s Ladden View, on Fletcher Road, to learn the basics of gardening from residents. 

The session was led by Ladden View’s Chief Gardener, resident Ken, who taught children how to plant tomato seeds, giving everyone an opportunity to get their hands mucky.

A lifelong lover of gardening, 94-year-old Ken was also able to impart his wisdom to the budding plant enthusiasts and shared his top tips for growing all sorts of plants and vegetables. 

The gardening chief himself said: “For as long as I have had my own house and garden, I've been passionate about gardening. When the weather is nice, I could spend every waking minute outdoors.

“When I moved to Ladden View, I missed my own greenhouse. The team members kindly organised for the home to have its very own greenhouse, and my own personal cold stand on my private patio."

“If you’re young and want to get into gardening, start as soon as you can. Nothing has brought me more joy than planting my own gardens and watching them flourish as the seasons change.”

The activity was part of National Children’s Gardening Week, where gardeners across the UK are encouraged to do their bit to inspire the next generation of green thumbs.

Sarah Daly, Home Manager at Ladden View, said: “We loved welcoming the children from Happy Days Nursery for a morning of gardening with our own expert, Ken. There were non-stop smiles from everyone as they got stuck in with the soil!

“Gardening is a great way for residents to stay active and engaged while spending time outdoors. Having children with us also gave the activity a greater purpose by enabling both generations to learn from each other through teamwork and conversation.

“We hope we’ve inspired the children to better look after the environment and pick up gardening at home; we’re already looking forward to our next session!” 

Ladden View is a new, state-of the-art care home providing full-time residential and dementia care, as well as short-term respite care. Designed to enable residents to live enjoyable and fulfilling lives, the home has its very own cinema, hair salon and café, along with plenty of space – both indoors and out – for relaxation and recreation.