Nov, 08

2024

Dementia, Design, Future of Care, Landscaping and Dementia, Stone House

Stone House Gardens: A Stunning Redesign

We’ve recently had a wonderful redesign of our gardens at Stone House. Read on to learn more about the vision our designer, James Smith, had for the gardens and what was involved in this revamp of our outside spaces.

One of the most stunning aspects of Stone House is the grounds in which the care home sits. We are fortunate to have expansive outside space with beautiful views over the Buckinghamshire countryside and a south westerly aspect that helps a wide-variety of plants to thrive.

Aesthetically beautiful gardens are only part of the story though. At all of our Peverel Court Care Homes, having functional outside space is vital because we know the immense value of time spent outdoors . We use our gardens all year round, with some residents enjoying daily walks, family members visiting with their dogs who love to explore the grounds, and staff members using these spaces on their breaks. We aim to take as many activities outside as possible too, with everything from arts and crafts to wine tasting, dog shows and our hugely popular summer parties.

With the importance of our gardens in mind, we have invested in a redesign of the Stone House grounds to make them fit for the future, engaging James Smith https://jamessmith-design.co.uk to bring a refreshed vision for our gardens to life. James is a Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medal winning Garden designer, Chartered Landscape Architect, and Registered Member of the Society of Garden Designers who we’ve worked with for many years.

We caught up with James to find out more about his work and the redesign of the Stone House gardens.

James, can you tell us a bit about your background in garden design?

“I’ve worked in the industry since 2005 after training as a Landscape Architect at the University of Gloucestershire. I worked for 15 years with the respected design and build company Bowles & Wyer before setting up my own practice ‘James Smith Landscape & Garden Design Ltd’ in 2021. My projects have encompassed urban gardens, commercial projects, care homes, hospital gardens and country gardens. One of my proudest achievements was winning a Gold medal at Chelsea Flower Show in 2023 for The London Square Community Garden.”

Can you describe what you wanted to achieve with the redesign of the Stone House gardens?

“I was thrilled to be asked by Anil Dhanani (Owner of Peverel Court Care) to help redesign part of the historic grounds at Stone House, a former residence of Lord Baden-Powell.

The brief was to breathe new life and vigour into a functional ramped terrace area off the main conservatory. The existing space had minimal planting and opportunities for residents to sit and immerse themselves in the garden.

I wanted to change this by bringing planting as close as possible to the building, softening and framing hard landscaping whilst also improving connections with nature. The idea is for the space to also be attractive when looking out of the building as well as being an enticing garden to spend time in. New opportunities for seating and spending time with friends and families was an important consideration too.”

How important is accessible, functional and enjoyable outside space for people living in a care home, their families and staff?

“The garden at Stone House provides an invaluable resource for residents and staff to get outside in the fresh air and enjoy a change of scenery. Whether it is walking around the grounds, relaxing on a bench in the morning sunshine, or helping to tend to the garden, the benefits can be huge both physically and mentally.

The new garden space also provides more room for people to connect with one another in a relaxed environment and is a great location for friends and families to visit when the weather is fine.”

Thinking particularly about our residents living with dementia, how did you incorporate dementia enabling features into your design?

“We were mindful that the garden needed to cater for residents living with dementia and it was important to create a space that was easily accessible and enhanced wellbeing through interactions with people and nature.

Existing ramps and routes through the space have been made more legible with planting bordering paths and new sturdy handrails for safety and wayfinding. Scent, colour, texture and movement in the planting scheme makes for an attractive and immersive sensory experience with species changing throughout the seasons. Biodiversity will also be enhanced as a result of the scheme with birds, butterflies, bees and insects attracted to the new planting.”

Can you describe the process of the redesign?

“The re-design of the garden began with an initial visit and assessment of the space, talking with Anil, Preet, residents and staff about how they would like to improve the space.

The key driver was to incorporate more planting and seating opportunities from the outset, and we also discussed including a new pergola structure with an outdoor kitchen space, allowing residents to potentially gather in larger groups with friends and family and enjoy food outside. The views over the wider garden from within the main conservatory and house were a key consideration particularly when the weather is not suitable for using the garden and this was a key factor in pulling planting right up to the building to make it highly visible.”

Now we have our wonderful new gardens at Stone House, how do you hope these will be used for year-round enjoyment?

“With the new garden my hope is it will quickly become the most popular and well used space in the grounds. I love the thought of friends and family coming together with residents and staff, laughing, sharing stories and recounting memories together.

I also see great opportunities for small events and activities such as art and crafts on the terraces. Even when the weather is not so kind there is always the ability to appreciate the planting visually from the comfort of the internal rooms, and I hope the garden brings a smile and sense of calm to all who encounter it.”

Final word from James

“I have loved working on this first phase at Stone House. It will always hold a special place in my heart being one of the first projects I worked on when starting out on my own.

I look forward to future opportunities in other areas of the site and working with the team at Peverel Court for many years to come.”

What our residents think of the new gardens

“The Stone House garden is very peaceful. It’s also ideal for garden parties, of which we’ve had several!” Olive N

Many thanks to James for his fantastic work on our Stone House gardens. We look forward to our residents, families, staff and visitors enjoying our new outdoor spaces.

About Peverel Court Care

Peverel Court Care is a group of one residential and two nursing homes, located in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. Bartlett’s Residential Care Home and Stone House Nursing Home in Aylesbury, and Merryfield House Nursing Home in Witney. We are a long-standing family business. Providing exceptional, personalised care, delivered by talented and compassionate people, in exclusive and idyllic settings.

With happiness at the heart of our homes, we recognise and respect the contribution made by our residents to society during their lifetimes. Valued by residents and their families; our reputation, investment in each property, and approach to appointing and developing our staff makes each home unique and the benchmark in premium care.

Oct, 11

2024

Bartletts, Dementia, Design, New Extension at Bartlett's, Personalisation, Wellbeing

Now Available to Reserve – Bartlett’s Garden Lodges, Opening Spring 2025

A NEW STANDARD IN PREMIUM RESIDENTIAL CARE

At Bartlett’s, we are proud to announce the opening of The Garden Lodges, offering a truly exceptional blend of comfort and personalised care, set within one of Buckinghamshire’s most picturesque environments. Rated as the number one care home in the area for the last nine years on Carehome.co.uk, Bartlett’s continues to lead the way in providing care and high-quality support for elderly residents.

PERSONALISED CARE IN A PREMIUM SETTING

With only 12 exclusive bedrooms available, opening in Spring 2025, we invite you to discover a new way of care – where independence meets compassionate, 24/7 support in a luxury residential home setting.

Each of Bartlett’s Garden Lodges is designed to offer a high level of personalised care, with just three residents per lodge. This intimate setting fosters a close-knit community, where each individual receives tailored, responsive support. Our dedicated Health Care Assistants provide round-the-clock care, ensuring that every resident receives the attention and compassion they deserve.

THOUGHTFULLY DESIGNED FOR COMFORT, INDEPENDENCE, AND REASSURANCE

Designed by the award-winning Atelier, each Garden Lodge is a sanctuary of comfort and tranquillity. Featuring fully accessible en-suite bedrooms, these lodges offer a perfect blend of independence and safety. The lodges are equipped with private kitchens and lounge spaces, allowing residents to enjoy the comforts of home, promote independence, and provide the perfect environment for family and friends to visit.

DESIGNED FOR COMFORT AND WELLBEING

Wellbeing is central to our care philosophy. Each lodge is designed to maximise natural light and features calming interiors that create a sense of comfort. With ergonomic furniture, personalised climate control, and secure access systems, residents can enjoy a safe, welcoming environment that truly feels like home.

18 ACRES OF STUNNING VIEWS AND LANDSCAPED GARDENS

Bartlett’s is set on 18 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds, offering residents stunning views over the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the Vale of Aylesbury. The grounds, designed by renowned landscape architect James Smith, feature wheelchair-accessible paths, woodland sculptures, and herb gardens, providing residents with spaces for relaxation and outdoor engagement.

A THRIVING COMMUNITY WITH EXCEPTIONAL AMENITIES

At the heart of Bartlett’s Garden Lodges is our new Café and Gallery, a vibrant space designed for social interaction and community engagement. The café seats over 30 guests and offers a varied menu, perfect for enjoying meals with friends, family, and fellow residents. With both indoor and outdoor seating, it’s an ideal spot for casual meals or special celebrations. Residents can also enjoy a variety of community events, including art workshops, social evenings, and family gatherings. Bartlett’s Garden Lodges are designed to foster connections and create meaningful relationships with both fellow residents and the local community.

Now is the time to secure your place at Bartlett’s Garden Lodges Opening in Spring 2025

Find out More

Jul, 22

2022

Bartletts, Best Care Practices, Business, Care & Technology, Care Management, Community, Design, Future of Care, Leadership & Management, Merryfield, Real life, Social Care & Society, Social Care Strategy, Stone House, Workforce Development, Workforce Intelligence

In search of continuous progress in care

At Peverel Court Care, we embrace the opportunity to continuously improve our business and, as a result, the lives of our residents and staff. In this post, we wanted to explore further what a continuous improvement model is, and how our commitment is driving positive results.

Whilst there are a number of different methodologies for identifying and implementing opportunities for improvement, these all share a number of core principles. It is these upon which we have based our model for advancing the way in which we operate.

The core principles of continuous improvement

Beyond that, we have taken the following core principles upon which to base our programme of continuous improvement for our already award-winning care homes in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire:

As the first to test the GP Connect extension within Nourish, we will be shaping the way care environments interact with GP services and taking a significant step towards a joined-up care environment. We look forward to seeing how our care teams engage with GP Connect and the impact it will have on care practice.

Small steps rather than giant leaps are more likely to achieve progress. We have acknowledged that huge changes to the way we run the business are going to be much scarier and more time consuming than smaller changes. So we’re focusing our efforts on identifying opportunities that can be implemented much more quickly, in order to ensure constant progression. This allows fast improvements in the day-to-day lives of our residents and staff, rather than strategic shifts that will take much more time to realise.
The thoughts, ideas and experiences of our employees are invaluable. Our leadership team understands that no-one understands the challenges and opportunities in the business better than the people who work in it everyday. That’s why we want to know which elements of their jobs and our processes, activities and communications are sticking points for our team. This helps us to identify opportunities for us to make improvements that will benefit our staff and residents every day, and help us to make constant progress towards a better business.
Incremental changes can usually be implemented very cost-effectively. Our leadership team has noted that when receiving feedback from the team, the focus is often on smaller changes which can be implemented without a huge amount of expense, yet can make a big impact. Indeed, it has been noted that many ideas from employees involve simplifying processes rather than complicating them. This is a great way to ensure that every step we make adds value to our residents and staff, and reduces wasted time and effort. This insight from employees is therefore fundamental to our continuous improvement programme.
Encouraging employees to own and drive our continuous improvement program. Whilst appreciating the importance of the key insights we can gain from our team, and the way we can utilise these to progress the business, we’re asking for even more from our team. We want them to be proud of the business in which they work, and therefore believe that it’s important for them to not only buy into what we’re doing, but to proactively contribute to the direction of our improvement programme.
Reflecting on our improvement. Ensuring a constant feedback loop is essential for the success of our continuous improvement programme. Open communication throughout the improvement process is critical to ensuring that the changes we make are making the desired improvements. We know that not every idea, or the way we attempt to make change, will be a success. Therefore, keeping track of and communicating our successes and failures will help us to learn more and improve even our continuous improvement programme.
Measuring the success of improvement. It’s vitally important that we don’t just make changes, but that we measure their effectiveness. This might be in the form of time or cost savings, but equally it could be in terms of quality of life improvements for our staff or residents. By measuring the impact that our changes make in the pursuit of improvement, we’re better able to determine whether that change could also be applied successfully to other similar challenges in the business.

Creating a sound continuous improvement programme

A sound continuous improvement programme should be able to demonstrate a number of features which Peverel Court Care’s leadership team aim to embrace:

Baseline – the current situation the service is trying to change
Planning – improvements and the expected benefit to the care recipient
Monitoring – systems to monitor a new process or activity during its implementation
Evaluation – systems to monitor a process or activity once it has been implemented, which should help ensure its sustainability and capture the actual improvements.

The following framework has been utilised to help drive and support the process and to ensure that all changes we make are fully aligned to our business strategy and values:

Care recipient focus
Strategic planning and implementation
Involvement of key stakeholders; crucially ensuring that staff feeling involved and listened to
Innovation – particularly in terms of gathering ideas from staff
Regular monitoring and evaluation.

Progress to date from our continuous improvement programme

At Peverel Court Care, our continuous improvement programme has already been in place for a little while. So we wanted to share a couple of great examples of how it’s already working for us as we seek to improve the day-to-day lives of our residents and staff.

One recent example came from Hillary, one of our Activities Coordinators, who proposed a number of suggestions, including “Around the world through takeaway”, “Virtual family time” and “Glam day ladies club”. There were some brilliant ideas, and we have already incorporated suggestions such as the bespoke takeaway evenings, which take our residents to different places around the world via their cuisine.

We are also implementing quarterly reverse mentoring sessions with our CEO. These sessions are constructive and fun, and allow employees to tell the CEO what they would do differently and why. We’ve found this opportunity has improved insight and communication across management and employees.

About Peverel Court Care

Peverel Court Care is a group of one residential and two nursing homes, located in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire: Bartlett’s Residential Care Home and Stone House Nursing Home in Aylesbury, and Merryfield House Nursing Home in Witney. We are a long-standing family business, providing exceptional, personalised care, delivered by talented and compassionate people, in exclusive and idyllic settings.

Apr, 14

2021

Bartletts, Best Care Practices, Business, Care & Technology, Care Home Maintenance, Care Home Recruitment, Care Management, Dementia, Design, Future of Care, Landscaping and Dementia, Leadership & Management, Merryfield, Property Development, Real life, Social Care & Society, Social Care Strategy, Stone House, Tech, Wellbeing

To succeed care providers must focus on service, employees and the environment

To succeed care providers must focus on service, employees and the environment - Peverel Court Care

We wanted to consider the fundamental pillars on which the success of our group is based. Service, employees and the environment are at the heart of Peverel Court Care’s mission to consistently deliver exceptional care for our residents.

At Peverel Court Care we believe that in order for us to be successful in ensuring a level of service which constantly meets and exceeds the expectations of our residents and their loved ones, we can never allow ourselves to take our eye off the three critical foundations that underpin our business. Therefore, we decided to explore some of the elements which contribute to maintaining success in each of these areas throughout our award-winning care homes in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.

Exceptional service in our care homes

There are a multitude of elements that contribute to the exceptional levels of service that we provide for the residents of our homes, however some of the key ones include:

To make sure that our residents eat a varied and balanced diet, we employ full-time long standing chefs who produce seasonal menus using high quality local produce. Some care homes opt to outsource catering, but we prefer to manage this in-house so that we can provide the food that our residents love. We also offer private dining to our residents, if and when required, so as to best serve their wishes.
Peverel Court Care employ full-time hospitality employees, to look after our residents and to make sure that all of their requirements are met.
We also maintain a bespoke mini-bus at each of our homes for community outings. This makes it simpler for our hospitality employees to organise trips and visits for residents who wish to attend or require the service.
In addition, we have dedicated Activities teams in our care homes, who are responsible for organising entertainment to ensure that our residents can live happy and fulfilling lives while in our care.

Exceptional employees in our care homes

Delivering exceptional service requires an exceptional team. Some of the factors which contribute to the recruitment and retention of the brilliant people who work in our business include:

We utilise Values Based Recruitment to ensure that anyone that we’re recruiting into the business shares our values and ethos about care. Understanding whether a person has the correct attitudes and mindset to deliver exceptional service is fundamental to our decision making process.
Once we’ve brought good people into the homes, we want to make sure that they want to stay. One of the ways in which we do this is through the development of career pathways, which provide opportunities for ongoing learning and development, allowing staff to grow within the organisation.
In addition to helping our employees to progress their careers, we also provide reward & recognition schemes. These programmes are aimed at celebrating success and demonstrating how valued and appreciated their hard work is in delivering exceptional service for our residents.
Peverel Court Care, along with each of our homes – Bartlett’s Residential Care Home and Stone House Nursing Home in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire and Merryfield House Nursing Home in Witney, Oxfordshire – all benefit from having a long-standing management team. The expertise and experience of our leadership helps to maintain our exceptional levels of service, but also allows us to get to know all of our employees personally, which creates loyalty and better understanding between the parties.
As a business, we always aim to be exceptional. This has been recognised during independent inspections, as we have been awarded the rating of “Outstanding” in CQC ‘Well-led’ categories.

Exceptional environment at our care homes

We want our care homes to truly feel like home for our residents. Therefore, maintaining exceptionally high standards across our homes and their grounds is intrinsic to the way that we operate. This includes:

All of our homes have beautiful landscaped and dementia-friendly gardens. These spaces offer our residents access to safe, stimulating grounds and provide them with exercise and natural light.
It’s not just outside where our attention to detail helps to set us apart. We have also utilised dementia-friendly interior designs to make life as simple and comfortable as possible for our residents.
Community involvement and interactions for social stimulation are also a key part of our homes. We would never want residents to feel like they were disconnected from the outside world or each other, so this plays a key role in maintaining mental wellbeing.
We also believe that the use of, and access to, technology improves the lives of the residents who live in our care homes immeasurably. This includes the provision of super fast Wi-Fi and iPads for keeping in touch with loved ones, which has proved especially valuable over the past year with visitation having to be restricted. We have also implemented the use of electronic care plans. to further improve the way in which we’re able to personalise and maintain exceptional care for our residents.

About Peverel Court Care

Apr, 14

2017

Design, Future of Care, Property Development

Innovation in care – Our visit to Holland

When you’re operating in a sector like ours it’s important that you continue to move with the times. Ongoing research means that our sector is constantly changing. If you want to be the best, then you need to have an element of fluidity. That’s why our senior teams are always looking for shining examples of amazing care.

This month we visited the Hogeweyk Care Centre in Amsterdam. In Dutch a weyk is a group of houses similar to a village, and that is exactly what this care centre is. It has 23 houses for 152 seniors suffering from dementia, who all need nursing home facilities and live in houses differentiated by lifestyle. The residents manage their own households every say with a constant team of staff members.

There’s a supermarket in the village, as well as streets, squares, gardens and a park, which the residents can safely roam free. Residents here have maximum privacy and autonomy.

Just like any village, Hogeweyk has a selection of facilities including a restaurant, bar and theatre. Residents from surrounding neighbourhoods are permitted to use these facilities as well.

It sounds amazing, doesn’t it? But it gets better. Prior to admission each resident undertake and assessment to ascertain their lifestyle choices and depending on the outcome they are housed with likeminded residents. This is incredibly important, because it will have a vital impact on the happiness of residents in the village. Housing residents with likeminded people is an absolute dream.

There’s only space for seven people per home, so relatives know their loved ones are receiving all of the care, love and attention they need, with staff who are not overstretched and who know the specific care requirements and personalities of all residents.

It was an amazing place to visit and it gave us some great ideas about how we can apply some of the techniques and uses of space we saw here at Peverel Court Care. We’re already making steps towards improving our garden areas, making sure they are safe and seamless for our dementia suffers to use by removing any abrupt endings to pathways and that our transition from inside to outside is much more fluid.

In our effort constantly increase our environment for dementia patients, we’ll certainly be drawing on our experiences from The Hogeweyk in meetings and brainstorming sessions well into the future.

Jul, 29

2016

Care & Technology, Design, Tech

The importance of the digital age and how it helps our residents

Twenty years ago the whole world looked very different than it does today. So did nursing care and the residential care sector. When people chose to go into care in the 90s the technology we view as basic today was extremely expensive and difficult to procure on a mass scale in the way we can in this more modern age.

Our residents are used to using technology to explore what’s happening in the world and to keep in touch with those they love. Before they came to us, many of them regularly used technology like telephones or computers to communicate or entertain themselves.

It’s important to us that we make sure those who live with us still have access to these items, and that they can use them in the way they want to. That’s why our individual care plans include asking our residents which forms of technology they would appreciate having access to. One of the main items of technology our residents insist upon is a telephone.

At Peverel Court Care, we don’t think it’s enough to simply give all of our residents a telephone. Some of them don’t have the strength to use a phone without help. Often they no longer have the capacity because of illnesses like dementia or Alzheimer’s, or visual or hearing impairments. That’s why we tailor the telephone experience for everyone living in all three of our care homes.

Several of our residents have mobile phones they use to keep in touch with their families. But we don’t just give those we care for a mobile phone and expect them to get on with using it. General usage, maintenance and charging of mobile phones is overseen with the assistance of our dedicated care teams.

Our staff know the capacity of each and every one of our residents. They know if someone we care for understands how to use their phone but struggles to answer it, or if their conditions prevent them from hearing their phones ringing properly. We have a solution for these types of issues. For example, sometimes we ask our family members and friends to call our care home landline in advance of ringing a residents mobile phone so that we can go and help them to answer.

Not everyone likes mobile technology. Four of our residents have chosen to have a landline telephone in their room instead. With the assistance of their families, our care staff have programmed their most regularly used numbers into their speed dial selections, making it as easy as possible for them to contact those they love.

When people come to live at Stone House, Merryfield and Bartlett’s we want them to have all of the same opportunities that they have in their own home, and that includes the opportunity to contact those they love whenever they want to. We do everything within our power to make sure this possible, even funding landlines ourselves. For those we care for we know that nothing is more important than contacting those they care about, and if it’s important to them, it’s important to us.