Peter and Linda: Three decades of care at Ar-Lyn For 35 years, Ar-Lyn residential home in Lelant has been a special place for people in their later years, offering care and support in a warm, friendly atmosphere. Owners Peter and Linda Oxley aimed to match family life as closely as possible, and the presence of gentle Australian shepherd dog Indi, and the scent of freshly-baked shortbread, helped everyone at Ar-Lyn feel at home. Now, the couple are to retire. “We love what we do,” says Peter. “But I’m nearly 75, and Linda is 70, and Covid has had a massive impact on the lives of everybody here.” Ar-Lyn closed just before the first lockdown in March 2020, but a shelter was set up in the garden for visitors, so residents could see them through the French windows. Peter and Linda have always welcomed visits from friends and families, but as Peter says. “We wanted to stop any possibility of the virus getting into the home, while still giving families visual contact.” Peter was a senior executive with a frozen food company until he developed septic arthritis following a knee operation in 1984 and was unable to work for six months. “It gave me time to think about what I wanted to do, and residential care was something I’d always been interested in.” After looked at around 300 houses, he fell in love with Ar-Lyn, a spacious Edwardian house in beautiful gardens in the heart of Lelant. “A few months later, a young lady came for a job interview – and she’s still with me today! Linda is the most outstanding carer I’ve ever come across.” A close friendship developed over almost 20 years and blossomed into love. Throughout those years, the couple have been supported by staff who as Peter says, “care from the heart”. St Ives girl Linda had been a carer for most of her life. ”When I was eight, my grandfather came to live with us, and my job was to wash his back. When I was a bit older, I loved getting old people’s shopping for them. My mum was a cook
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