Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Adorable visitors flock to care home
Elderly residents at a care home were ewe-phoric to meet and cuddle adorable Easter lambs. The newborns wearing babies’ nappies flocked to Harrier Lodge care home in Whitstable to “light up the faces” of those living there.
The trio of sheep named Buster, Beryl and Bert were sock lambs, meaning they were bottle-fed.
Charmed residents said the lambs, who were from a farm in Postling near Hythe, were “absolutely gorgeous” and they “didn’t want to give them back”. Some of them even fell asleep in the pensioners’ laps. One resident, Mags, said at the time: “She is absolutely gorgeous, I could just cuddle her all day.
“I want her to stay with me forever.”
One of the pensioners, also called Beryl, was excited to hear one of the woolly visitors shared her name.
The group got to hold and cuddle the lambs, who were just one to two weeks old.
Amy Gullett, customer relations manager at Harrier Lodge, said: “Residents had a lovely surprise following a visit from some lovely lambs on Thursday. “One of the residents said ‘what a lovely surprise, it’s exciting to see new life!’ “Residents were able to stroke them and give them cuddle, which was very therapeutic for them.
“It was lovely to see their faces when the lambs walked into the lounge. They erupted with ‘awws!’
“Animal therapy plays a huge part in residents’ wellbeing and to see their smiles and hear the conversations the visit elicited proves that.”
A group named Cuddle Club, which usually takes dogs into care homes across east Kent, organised the visit.
Head of the scheme Lesley Hutt said: “What we do is really rewarding. It’s amazing to see smiles on the residents’ faces.”