Basingstoke Care Home Helps Resident To Discover His Green Fingers

Roman House, a residential care home for disabled adults in Basingstoke, has helped a resident discover a love for gardening during the UK’s lockdown due to the current pandemic.

Before the lockdown, John Conway, a resident at Roman House, regularly enjoyed a trip to the town centre for lunch with friends at Mr Munch, and visited the market to buy fresh fruit and vegetables. When the UK went into lockdown, John was unable to follow his daily routine which unsettled him.

To ensure John remained happy during a time when he couldn’t see his friends, Kerry Lettin, service manager at Roman House, and Ashleigh Young, team leader at Roman House, decided to help John discover some new hobbies.

The home invested in a vegetable trough which grasped John’s attention immediately and every morning John now goes outside to water and tend to the homegrown carrots and peppers.

John said: “At the start of lockdown, I was a little worried about not being able to go into the town centre and meet my friends for lunch because I really enjoy doing it.

“I have loved experimenting with gardening, I can’t wait to eat the vegetables and I have now found a new hobby for life.”

Kerry said: “Lockdown was a difficult concept for some of our residents to fully understand, but we worked hard as a team to develop different but none the less exciting activities.

“John has invested a lot of his time into nurturing the vegetables and the outcome is fantastic, he should be very proud.”

Roman House is owned by Salutem.