Life at Old Sarum is the perfect blend of much-loved routine and exciting trips to interesting places and destinations.
Every Monday, our residents take a trip to the local shops to do their weekly shopping. It’s then that they often pick up the ingredients for the week’s Cookery Club creation or choose some fresh stems for our Flower Arranging group.
This weekly retail therapy session will always include a trip to one of our local coffee shops for a chat over a hot frothy cup of coffee or a warming tea. As well as a beautifully baked scone or slice of cake, our residents love to have a catch up and a gossip before heading back to Old Sarum.
As well as the usual weekly trips to our local shops, residents also enjoy exploring the wider region and recently visited Porton Garden and Aquatics Centre. Situated just a few miles from the historic city of Salisbury and Stonehenge, Porton is a wonderful local business that boasts an enormous range of seasonal flowers and plants. The displays have inspired our residents to purchase a few plants that they are lovingly tending back at Old Sarum. As well as a beautiful range of plants and flowers, Porton is well known for its aquatics centre and has wide range of other animals, including fish and rabbits, for the residents to view. There’s even a parrot called Max who can – and does – say ‘Hello’ to visitors who stop to speak to him. Max was very obliging for our residents, squawking a huge ‘Hello’ while they were there.
One trip that really stood out for our residents was the trip to the world-famous Salisbury Cathedral and its fabulous architecture. Our visitors marvelled at the detailed stonework and Britain’s tallest spire.
This week, our residents are looking forward to exploring Old Sarum Castle. With views over the Wiltshire Plains, Old Sarum is the original site of Salisbury’s first cathedral. An Iron Age hill fort, Old Sarum Castle has born witness to Romans, Normans and Saxons, and will soon play host to our residents during their day trip.
Weekly outings are organised by our Lifestyle Manager and are planned in partnership with our residents on a weekly basis. They come together and dream up ideas as to where they will go next as well as popping outings in the diary for later in the year.
Our residents rightly didn’t leave Old Sarum during the Covid lockdowns but they are now delighted to be out and about again and – like so many of us- they are making up for lost time. Morale and general wellbeing have dramatically improved and it’s been wonderful to see smiles and laughter on our Old Sarum care home trips.
