A group of young artists have been inspired by the dazzling dementia-friendly\u00a0 gardens at a care organisation.<\/p>\n
Pupils from \u00a0Gwersyllt CP Primary\u00a0School joined residents for an alfresco art class amid the multi-coloured blooms in the11-acre grounds of Pendine Park in Wrexham.<\/p>\n
The glorious displays are the work of head gardener Andrew Jones and his team and are much admired for their wonderful colours and for their therapeutic value as well.<\/p>\n
When the sun is out especially residents don\u2019t just sit out among the blossoms but can walk among them, according to award-winning Bodlondeb home manager Ann Chapman who said: \u201cThe gardens are absolutely beautiful and the residents really appreciate them.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes, especially if someone is having a difficult day then we take them for a walk in the gardens and the sight of the flowers and trees has a really positive effect on them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pendine has formed a special relationship with the school and the pupils pay regular visits to the care homes and share their art classes with the residents.<\/p>\n
Elizah Flewitt, 11, who says she\u2019d like to be a florist when she grows up, has formed a bond with Lynn Kelly, one of the residents.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cWe\u2019re best friends and I love spending time with her and drawing the gardens though I don\u2019t like colouring them in.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to be a florist though because I really like flowers.\u201d<\/p>\n
A smiling Lynn said: \u201cI like the activities with the school. We sit out and colour and paint. I love the roses and the bluebells.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fellow pupil Naomi Hope, 11, said: \u201cI come to Pendine regularly and really like meeting the residents and the art that we do.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe gardens are gorgeous. I love flowers and I have plants I take care of at home where I also grow raspberries.\u201d<\/p>\n
Assistant head teacher Jacquie O\u2019Toole, said: \u201cThe pupils pay regular visits to the care home for art lessons and to interact with the residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe gardens here are beautiful and the children often comment on the colours and the lovely fragrances of the flowers.\u201d<\/p>\n
The spacious lawns and courtyards are ideal for residents to enjoy picnics and outdoor activities during the summer months.<\/p>\n
Andrew is determined that residents should get the best possible experience from the gardens he loyally tends to.<\/p>\n
He has been at Pendine Park for 10 years after beginning gardening in his home village of Marchwiel where he was one of four boys and two girls in the family.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mum got me into gardening when a neighbour asked if someone could cut the grass for her and then a job came up at Marchwiel Hall and the rest is history,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Andrew, who heads a team of six at Pendine Park\u2019s care homes in Wrexham and Caernarfon, did an apprenticeship down in Kent with some of his training at the world famous Kew Gardens in London.<\/p>\n
He has worked extensively at prestigious gardens including a spell as head gardener on the 4,000-acre Leckford Estate in Hampshire, now home to the Waitrose Farm that supplies its supermarkets across the UK, for renowned garden designer Martin Lane Fox, also in Hampshire, and even for celebrity couple Jamie Cullum and Sophie Dahl in Hertfordshire as well as at Marchwiel Hall.<\/p>\n
There he tended a two-acre vegetable garden and greenhouses which produced peaches and other fruits but he has now spent ten years at Pendine where he has been given free rein by owners Mario and Gill Kreft, both enthusiastic gardeners.<\/p>\n
One of his tasks was to create a sensory garden and he chose plants for their colour, texture and fragrance to allow residents with issues such as dementia and limited eyesight to have their senses stimulated through touching or smelling as well as visually.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI originally thought I might go back to Hampshire but I\u2019ve loved it here and get on really well with Mario and Gill who love horticulture and gardening.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy job has been to raise the game here and hopefully I\u2019ve done that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no such thing here as a plant budget here.\u00a0 Mario and Gill are very passionate about the gardens and both love nature and are very encouraging.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a difficult start to this year in the gardens because it was a very wet winter and it\u2019s been a cold spring and early summer but it\u2019s coming right now and the gardens are looking good again.\u201d<\/p>\n