Allingham House Care Centre, Altrincham, Greater Manchester, has one a competition that encourages care homes to get the most out of their back gardens.

The Care Centre provides nursing, residential and dementia care to the elderly, picked up the award for making their garden more and interesting and accessible for residents.

The care home added gazebos, parasols, blankets and cushions to make it more comfortable to residents when spending time in the garden. The home has also increased the number of events they hold outdoors.

The project was about sharing best practices on the creation of successful outdoor spaces in care environments and encouraging home to develop their gardens based on guidelines produced by Stirling University.

Judges were team members from Living Through Landscapes – an organisation who offers free resources and training to care settings on how to improve outside spaces and make them dementia-friendly.

The judges said: “We especially loved how there were such a variety of activities available to the residents, those that are more gardening specific, but also activities that might have otherwise taken place inside, and the opportunity to just be outside.”

Allingham House received a new set of garden furniture for winning them competition.

“External spaces of care settings need to be more than aesthetically pleasing. It’s just as important that the gardens are functional, stimulating places for residents and their families to spend time together,” said regional director for Maria Mallaband and Countrywide Care Homes, Stephen Young.