Plot your retirement
Never mind gyms and cinemas, many older people are happiest in a garden
GARdENS have emotional ties. Leaving one behind after years of dedicated mowing and meticulous care can be heart-wrenching — particularly for older people who are downsizing. This is why retirement villages are increasingly concerned with their outdoor space.
In Painswick, Gloucestershire, for example, Richmond Villages encouraged Peter Grover, 92, to cultivate a strip of garden. Because when he parted with his family home, he left behind 2 ½ acres of grounds, which for many years he had opened to the public.
‘I was saddened to find, when I got here, that the only available apartment was on the ground floor, opening onto the car park,’ says Mr Grover. ‘ But the management re-positioned the car park to give me space for my new garden.’
Today, Mr Grover’s patch, which has box hedges fronting the building and a bamboo screen hiding the car park, is a subtle blend of different shades, with more than 50 varieties of shrubs and plants.
‘Being deaf makes one isolated, but the garden means I have a self- contained, on-going interest,’ he says.
The benefits of gardening for the elderly are becoming more widely recognised. Research from the University of Exeter — using data from 5,000 UK households over 18 years — found that living in a greener area has a positive effect on well-being and quality of life.
Some of the most enjoyable gardening projects in retirement developments are run on an informal basis, with residents helping the grounds staff.
‘I treat the head gardener like my own grandson,’ says Avice Hunt, 93, who for the past five years has lived in Richmond Villages’ community at Nantwich.
‘I help him with all sorts of lighter work and the management have also given me permission to plant 500 bulbs on an unwanted piece of ivy-covered rough ground.’
At Castle Village in Berkhamsted, run by Retirement Villages Group, Cyril Collins, 76, is one of a group of eight residents who help the staff maintain the site’s sunken rose garden, Japanese water garden, carp lake and wildflower meadows. What do they get out of the hard graft?
‘Back in the Thirties and Forties, right up to the Fifties, everyone had a garden or an allotment, for food as well as flowers,’ says Avice. ‘Being in the garden takes me back to those days, when I was young.’
Cyril says gardening in Castle Village helps to foster friendships. ‘Residents help one another tend the gardens around their own properties and it makes for a village-like atmosphere,’ he says. ‘The joy of being in such beautiful surroundings is truly uplifting.’
Churchill Retirement Living in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, is keen to involve residents’ families. The members of the gardening club had a spring bulb planting session with all the owners, including children and grandchildren, getting their hands dirty.
CLUB member Rob Bott, 74, says: ‘ We are surrounded by wellestablished trees. We were keen to introduce some colour for next spring, in the way of daffodils, snowdrops, crocuses and hyacinths.’
One of the most tragic consequences of our extended lifeexpectancy is the increasing number of elderly people suffering from dementia. It is estimated there are now 800,000 dementia patients in the country and 100,000 people develop the condition each year.
At the Chelsea Flower Show this year, the Alzheimer’s Society worked with Homebase to produce the Time To Reflect show garden. The pretty plot illustrated the results of a study commissioned by Homebase, which showed that certain flowers had ‘a strong ability to conjure memories with their vibrant colours and fragrance’.
Eileen Sampson, 91, who lives in the Anchor Trust’s development at West Hall, West Byfleet, Surrey, suffers from the early stages of dementia and she finds that her garden helps her condition.
‘I love going to the garden centre, too,’ she says. ‘We choose plants and I have planted seeds for carrots, broccoli, cucumber and peppers. It helps me overcome my problems.’