Care home celebrating after gardening award

A MAESTEG care home has won a top award in a national gardening competition.

Bryn Celyn care home has won the best Visual Appeal Award in the annual Hallmark in Bloom contest.

The home, which provides residential and nursing care, was praised for its use of outdoor space and their resident engagement at the care provider’s company-wide event.

The Hallmark in Bloom competition, which was first established in 2003, encourages residents and the local community to get involved in gardening, be it by planting pots or simply sitting in the garden and joining in with the conversation.

Mark Chandler, lifestyle leader at Bryn Celyn, said: “This is a fantastic recognition for the tremendous amount of hard work that has gone into garden this year, in particular our resident Clive Williams without whose guidance and literal round the clock efforts we’d have struggled to achieve anything.

“It is fantastic that we now have a landscape for which our residents are eager to get outside and enjoy, take part and be immensely proud.

“Now that we’ve turned a corner, so to speak, a renewed and exciting reinvention has taken grip of both residents and the team.

“Suggestions and ideas have flooded in and we are looking forward to 2017’s gardening with much anticipation.”

A panel of judges from Hallmark Care Homes and gardening charity Thrive visited the home last month, along with 15 other Hallmark care homes across Wales and England before coming to their decision.