Celebrating life at Barchester

We celebrate life through everything we do, from our thoughtful experiences and activities to our delicious food. We offer the latest technology as well as sensory engagement to nurture the wellbeing of our residents. With a wide variety of tailored activities and events we make sure our residents have the best physical, mental, spiritual and social stimulation, all bespoke to them. Take a look at what we’ve been up to…

Elgar Court Care Home

Our Allotment updates!

We will be bringing you regular updates on how our allotment is progressing each week. After planting out the seedlings, our residents are now preparing the beds they will go in - making the most of the fine weather has been a great way of getting outside and enjoying day!

Why don't you come along and enjoy an afternoon with us and give us your own gardening tips! Tea and cake provided free of charge!

Happy Birthday Dee!

We love to celebrate our residents, and this week Dee celebrated her 86th birthday with her all time fave chocolate cake made by Chef! Happy Birthday Dee, with lots of love from your friends and residents.

Hola from Hazel Lodge

Our relationship with our next door neighbours is absolutely brilliant and we're so lucky.
Recently Student Language Ambassadors from Claverham community school taught our residents spanish as well as playing a game of Spanish bingo.
Our residents mentioned in a residents meeting that they wanted to learn a language so we reached out to Claverham.We all had such an amazing time, the students were fantastic teachers and they really made the process fun. We look forward to our next language class.

Residents enjoy royal themed crafts

Our residents had a fantastic time creating their own crowns inspired by King Lear. There was plenty of imagination and creativity as everyone added their own personal touch.

A lovely way to combine arts and a bit of classic literature!

Thistle Hill Care Home

Residents enjoy a delicious baking session

We had a lovely time making cornflake chocolate clusters with our residents, using a recipe sheet with images, we talked through each step together, with some residents helping to weigh ingredients and mix everything together.

They were so tasty, they disappeared before we even had a chance to take a photo! Residents shared stories of childhood baking sessions with their own families and recalling wonderful memories.

Thistle Hill Care Home

Operation Charlotte's Way

A huge thank you to our wonderful volunteers from SSAFA! The team kindly dedicated their time and joined us to help revamp our Charlotte Way, giving our little scenic walk a fresh new look for everyone to enjoy.

Their hard work really made such a difference, and it was lovely to see it all come together. Of course, their efforts didn’t go unnoticed—bacon rolls were very well deserved!

We’re so grateful for your time, energy, and continued support.

Mount Vale Care Home

Home achieves veteran-friendly status

Staff and residents are celebrating because the home has achieved veteran-friendly status, a goal General Manager, Trudi Gillespie, and her team set themselves at the start of the year. Mount Vale has strong links to the military and is home to several ex-servicemen and women.

At the start of 2025, the home proudly pledged its support to the Veteran-Friendly Framework and has been working towards Veteran-Friendly Status ever since in order to best serve its military residents and their families

Resident realises dream

Resident, David had always wanted to visit The Fans Museum Sunderland- a place full of football history, passion, and memories. So, staff at the home made his wish a reality.

David has lived at Washington Grange for 4 years and is beloved by staff and residents alike. Staff at the home were delighted to be a part of making his dream come true, as they knew how much it meant to him, and they all wanted to be there to see the smile on David’s face when his dream was realised.

Staff first found out about David’s dream in 2026 and, ever since then, they have been dedicated to helping him achieve it. David was also accompanied by relatives who were there to witness this momentous occasion. In response to this wonderful surprise, David, said: “I have had the best birthday ever, it was a dream to go there- I just never got the opportunities”

Bere Grove Care Home

Happy Birthday Mary!

Happy 94th Birthday to our wonderful Mary!

Today at Bere Grove, we celebrated a very special resident, Mary turned 94! Mary has been a much-loved part of life at Bere Grove since 2023 and is a very familiar and friendly face around the home.

Residents gathered in our café to mark the occasion with delicious birthday cake, lovingly prepared by Nico, our Second Chef. There was plenty of smiles, laughter and birthday cheer as everyone came together to celebrate Mary’s special day.

Wishing Mary a very happy birthday from all of us at Bere Grove!