“What can you hear?”

This question was posed to our Potager Peas – one of our six, dementia-friendly groups in Cornwall – at their last session at Potager garden, Constantine. The group meet here fortnightly to take part in purposeful activity in the garden; from picking flowers for the café tables and feeding the chickens, to building bonfires and making damper bread. Continue reading →

This month we would like to share Val’s story. Val is a regular member of one of Sensory Trust’s walking groups attending weekly with her husband George.

Val and George moved down to Cornwall not long before he was diagnosed with dementia. They hadn’t had the chance to make any social connections until Continue reading →

We are excited to be running our first Fun Palace this October titled Nature, Art and Play and we’d love to invite you along.

So what is a Fun Palace? Fun Palaces started in 2014 when 138 venues, locations and communities created their own events both in the UK and worldwide. They are a movement promoting community at the heart of culture, with an annual weekend of arts and science created by, for and with local people. They are always over one weekend and this year its the 7th and 8th October. Continue reading →

Last week we gave you our top tips for designing an age friendly garden so this week we want to talk about planting for sensory interest and stimulation. We’ll share with you our top tips for planting a successful sensory garden. Continue reading →

At Sensory Trust we get a lot of enquiries from people looking to create a more sensory and age friendly outdoor space. So we thought we’d put together our top tips for things you should consider when planning an outdoor space or garden for older people. Whether you’ve got a big budget for major works or just want to make some simple low cost changes we think the below advice will be useful. Continue reading →

Different landscapes and scenes mean different things to all of us, some people see noise and crime when they think of an urban landscape whereas others might see the excitement of the hustle and bustle. Landscapes and scenery can bring about a range of different emotions, memories and feelings and what’s really interesting is that we can all react differently to the same image.  Continue reading →

This month we chat with Neil Mapes from Dementia Adventure

Hi Neil can you tell us a bit about Dementia Adventure?

Dementia Adventure is most widely known for our adventure holidays and short breaks and we have recently delivered our 50^th holiday.  Last year we worked with the Sensory Trust to design and deliver a holiday in Cornwall which included nature based activities at the Eden Project amongst a full itinerary. Continue reading →

We have recently developed a new resource, Getting to know you – conversations about nature. We have had lots of positive feedback from our first Getting to know you activity so we decided to extend it and offer some more ideas for conversations around plants and flowers that are stimulated by sensory clues. Continue reading →

Painting by nature is a great way to explore the different textures and shapes of natural objects to create something beautiful. What’s more you don’t even need to be feeling particularly creative! We recently tested this activity with some dementia carers groups in London and have been really pleased with the results; this isn’t just about Continue reading →

This month we chat with Carol who cares for her husband Ken. Carol has been a member of our Natural Yarns activity club, which connects people with dementia and their carers with nature and the outdoors. Carol and Ken have an amazing positive attitude towards life, taking each day as it comes.

Can you tell us a bit about yourselves?

My beloved husband Ken has been ill since 1994 and 6 years ago  was diagnosed with both vascular dementia and inoperable spinal stenosis. Continue reading →