Swindon Community Build Vibrant ‘Dementia Garden’ at Willowbrook View Care Home

Willowbrook View care home in Swindon recently unveiled a vibrant new ‘dementia garden’ on its grounds created with the generous support of organisations, businesses and local volunteers from across the community.

Designed as a therapeutic outdoor space for residents living with dementia, the garden uses colour, scent and texture to provide gentle sensory stimulation.

Each plant has been carefully chosen to evoke familiar sensations and memories from the past, while raised planters also make them easier to see and engage with while moving through the garden. Bird-feeding stations have been placed throughout to help the space feel alive with movement and birdsong.

The garden also features a variety of familiar, nostalgic objects throughout, including a vintage bicycle, a wishing well and even a wheelbarrow. Aside from making the space more visually engaging, these features also make the garden easier to recognise for residents who would have had many similar objects in their own gardens earlier in life.

Many of these objects were donated or handcrafted by partners from the local community, who were eager to lend their support once they heard about the project.

Amy Loxton, Clerk at Stratton St Margaret Parish Council, said: “We were delighted to support Willowbrook View care home with some gardening and outdoor improvement work. The home is also working with us to help develop our staff in becoming more dementia-friendly and exploring ways we can better support our older generation provision. It was a real pleasure to help brighten the outdoor space, creating a more welcoming environment for residents and visitors to enjoy.”

The garden was brought to life through a remarkable community effort involving the local council, nearby businesses and a neighbouring school.

Seven volunteers from Stratton St Margaret Parish Council gave around 35 hours to clear and refresh the space. The team mowed and trimmed the grass, removed weeds and repainted features including a decorative bicycle and a wishing well made entirely from an old tyre. In return, Willowbrook View has agreed to share its dementia-care expertise with council staff to help them better support people across the community.

Waitrose Wichelstowe donated a selection of plants to bring more colour, scent and texture to the garden, while volunteers from the Cricklade Bloomers community gardening project contributed a further two boxes of flowers. Each was handpicked for its ability to stimulate sight, smell, touch, taste and sound.

The RWB Shed, a local organisation that helps tackle loneliness and isolation, also created several features for the space, including planters, a bird table and bird boxes. These complemented the handcrafted bird feeders made by more than 20 pupils from The Springfields Academy, who worked together to create the boxes in their spare time.

Willowbrook View was keen for the project to be shaped by its neighbours rather than developed behind closed doors. Mathan Balasubramaniyan, General Manager at Willowbrook View, comments:

“It was so wonderful watching the community rally and come together to create our dementia garden. Once we began discussing the project with local partners, we were overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and support everyone offered. At Willowbrook View, we have always believed that it takes a village to properly care for someone living with dementia. We therefore feel very fortunate to be based in such a warm and supportive community as Swindon, and we cannot thank everyone enough for their help.”