Honey Lane Provides Shelter and Shade for Horses with Saplings Donation

Residents at Honey Lane Care Home in Waltham Abbey will create shelter and shade for the horses at a beloved local sanctuary with a donation of more than 50 saplings. The home, on Honey Lane, was gifted the young trees as part of The Queen’s Green Canopy initiative to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee in …

Residents at Honey Lane Care Home in Waltham Abbey will create shelter and shade for the horses at a beloved local sanctuary with a donation of more than 50 saplings.

The home, on Honey Lane, was gifted the young trees as part of The Queen’s Green Canopy initiative to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022.

Having received too many to plant in their own garden, residents decided to share the surplus with a charity close to their hearts – the Redwings Ada Cole Horse Sanctuary in Nazeing, Essex that is home to 80 horses.

Lifestyle Coordinator at Honey Lane, Lisa Gamilliere, explains the special link. “We love to visit the sanctuary, it’s a beautiful calming place and the residents love to stroke and feed the horses and ponies,” she says.

“The team at Ada Cole are always so accommodating and welcoming, it has. become a real favourite for us at Honey Lane. Many of the residents we take there have dementia and it’s as if they step out of the shoes of dementia for a split second and live for the moment – the change is really quite phenomenal to witness.

“When we realised we had enough saplings to share it didn’t take too long for a unanimous vote to be reached for the horse sanctuary.”

Honey Lane offers private rooms in a homely, and comfortable purpose-built care home in Waltham Abbey with room for 38 residents. The home specialises in residential dementia care.

Residents made a special visit to Ada Cole to deliver the Hazel, Hawthorne and Dog Rose saplings which were gratefully received by centre manager, Jo Franklin.

“We were delighted to accept this kind donation from the residents at Honey Lane Care Home,” she says.

“Once they are mature, the trees will provide excellent natural shelter for our rescue horses, ponies and donkeys, especially in the summer when they can often be found snoozing in the shade!”

Motivated by their respect for the late Monarch, the lifestyle team ay Honey Lane applied for saplings from the nationwide initiative created to mark the Platinum Jubilee and extended by King Charles in memoriam to honour Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth ll.

The QGC was due to conclude in December – the end of the Jubilee year. However, as the official tree planting season in the United Kingdom is from October to March, the initiative will now be extended to include the full tree planting season, concluding in March 2023.