NENE VALLEY CARE HOMES

Garden Lodge Care Home in Glinton

Florence House Peterborough

Three small family run care homes in Peterborough and Market Deeping providing a real home-from-home environment with exceptional care from devoted, trusted carers.

Garden

Lodge in Glinton is a detached chalet style bungalow with a very attractive and peaceful garden.

9 ROOMS

Florence House in Peterborough with all en-suite bedrooms. Situated just a few minutes walk from central park where the residents can enjoy the café and watching the world go by.

19 ROOMS

Garden Lodge: 01733 252 980/07801 273 804 or e-mail: managers@gardenlodgecarehome.co.uk

Florence House: 01733 315 900/07801 273 804 or e-mail: info@careatfl orence.co.uk

The Laurels: 07801 273 804 or e-mail: thelaurels@nenevalleycarehomes.co.uk www.gardenlodgecarehome.co.uk

Inspired by Nature - Kathryn Parsons

The Laurels in Market Deeping (taken over by us in February) is a beautiful Grade-2 Listed Building within walking distance to Market Deeping town centre.

20 ROOMS

The first time I remember creating an artwork about nature was at infant school. I had a wonderful time making a picture of a hedgehog using twigs for spines, and was delighted when the teacher chose it to hang on the wall!

I’ve always had a need to create and to explore what different materials and processes will do. And right from my earliest years I’ve also loved spending time in nature, especially ’treasure-hunting’ for interesting and beautiful natural objects. I’m the sort of person that comes home from walks with photographs of tiny lichens, or happily sets off to find the most beautiful pebble on the beach. Finding and noticing beauty and intriguing small details in nature brings me delight, and a deep sense of wonder and connection.

Nowadays, my work as an artist flows from those same passions – a deep inner urge to create, and the love of exploring nature and materials. I delight in seeking out interesting stories about nature and place, then choosing the materials and techniques that best tell them. It’s an adventure, driven by curiosity.

Though I’m constantly drawn to the beauty of nature, I don’t ignore the increasing devastation of the natural world. The massive biodiversity loss and human impacts on ecosystems and climate grieves me profoundly and adds an urgency and additional focus to my work… it’s there, underpinning what I do, though I generally choose to use a ‘gentle voice’ in which to communicate my concerns.

A recent example of this is my ‘Medicine Cabinet for Westings Meadow’, created as part of my work with Langdyke Countryside Trust. You won’t find Westings on any contemporary maps, but for hundreds of years its 500 acres were an important resource shared by the surrounding villages, including Helpston, Glinton and Maxey. It is mentioned in documents dating back to the 1260s, and I’ve identified something John Clare wrote as being a firsthand description of Westings Meadow! Today many parts of the old meadow have been quarried for gravel, including several nature reserves managed by Langdyke Countryside Trust.

The ‘Medicine Cabinet for Westings Meadow’ tells of ways in which the land is being restored and biodiversity is encouraged through natural processes and the work of Langdyke’s volunteers. The contents refer to some of the key ‘ingredients’ in that restoration. There’s a piece of Field Bindweed –a common plant but an important one as it’s the only food-plant of the caterpillars of the rare and lovely Four-spotted Moth which live on the meadow. The rosehips are for the ‘near-threatened’ Harvest Mice, and Hawthorn because of its importance as a nursery-plant for oak seedlings. In a dish there’s rich soil from the Meadow, full of the microscopic animals and mycorrhizal fungi that are essential to the health of plants. And in the bottom drawer is a copy of John Clare’s description of the Meadow, a reminder of a time when this place was bursting with life, and painting a picture of what it can become again.

As well as telling stories of nature and place through my own artwork I love to nurture the creativity of others. And it’s well-known that connecting with nature is good for our wellbeing in many different ways. So, for the last three years I’ve been running “NatureCraft” mini online workshops, providing a gentle hour of connecting with creativity, nature and others on Monday and Tuesday evenings. With a different theme each session, you can pick and choose which to come to – it’s a great way to try something new. Tickets are by donation (to keep it as accessible as possible). You can find the link to book tickets via my website www.kathrynparsons.co.uk