Carers enjoy laughter and time to themselves on National Garden Scheme visit
Carers Trust has enjoyed an almost 30 year relationship with its longest standing funding partner, the National Garden Scheme. As part of the partnership the National Garden Scheme arranges a number of exclusive garden visits for carers from the local carer support charity within the Carers Trust Network. These visits are a much-needed break from their caring role for carers, as well as an unrivalled opportunity to enjoy the company of other carers in some of the UK’s most beautiful gardens. Carers Trust recently joined Enfield Carers for a visit to one of their local gardens in Waltham Cross.
Life can be unimaginably hard for carers. Many of them are coping with really tough life challenges that come from caring for someone with complex needs like a long-term illness or disability, poor mental health or an addiction. The impact of these pressures on a carer can be daunting. Many face money worries because they’ve had to give up work to find the time to care. Others have to cope with the loneliness that comes from spending day after day at home caring for a family member. It’s well documented that carers are more likely than those without a caring role to experience poor mental health and physical wellbeing.
This is why one of Carers Trust’s top priorities is to help carers get a much-needed break from their caring role. Even if it’s for just a few hours, respite breaks give carers an all too precious bit of time to themselves, away from the pressures of caring. And these breaks can come in any number of ways.
One of the most popular breaks we offer carers is a free, pre-arranged visit to one of the hundreds of beautiful gardens opened by our longest-standing funding partner, the National Garden Scheme.
That’s because, in the face of all the loneliness and worry that can come with being a carer, a garden visit can fill a day with joy. They also help carers cope with their worries. If a carer feels they are burned out and exhausted, a garden visit can soothe and refresh. And when a carer is feeling lonely, a garden visit offers companionship in beautiful surroundings.
This is certainly what happened when a group of carers from Enfield Carers Centre visited a National Garden Scheme garden near them in Waltham Cross, just north of London. The garden belongs to Bryan Hewitt who is now retired but who has worked for decades in gardens in and around Enfield. Fanoula, Anthea, George and Saroj all have incredibly busy caring roles, but you could see their stress melting away as Bryan took them round his garden that’s full of climbing roses, hostas and towering banana trees.
Watch the video to hear carers and Bryan talking about the garden visit.
Sitting in the sun-dappled garden listening to the gurgle of water from the fountain, the carers swapped stories about their lives before they became carers, and what gardens mean to them. Fanoula spoke about the scent of the orange trees she remembered from her childhood garden in Cyprus. And Anthea summed up the feelings of all the carers on the visit saying:
“I have been really inspired by looking at this garden and spending time here. I’ve taken lots of photos and I’m going to go home and do some sketching.”
Speaking at the end of the visit, Penny Laws from Enfield Carers Centre, spoke on behalf of all the carers to thank the National Garden Scheme’s outgoing Chief Executive, George Plumptre, for everything he has done to make these hugely enjoyable visits possible for carers.
“Group visits for carers to National Garden Scheme gardens have proved immensely popular over the years,” says George Plumptre. “The visits not only allow carers to step away from their responsibilities for a few precious hours, but they also allow them to step into spaces full of natural beauty, human warmth and laughter. Gardens can be hugely restorative, and a visit is an incredible gift to carers (and indeed all visitors) – something intangible and precious, and in its own way just as important as the grants that are made to carers through National Garden Scheme funding.”
Our sincere thanks go to Bryan Hewitt for welcoming carers from Enfield Carers Centre to his beautiful garden in Waltham Cross. He is a font of knowledge on all things horticultural, and kindly put on tea and cakes for the carers.
Please note: Carer visits to National Garden Scheme gardens are pre-arranged through the partnership leads and are not included as part of the published garden openings.
For more on the partnership with Carers Trust click here
