The Activity and Resource Centre is a space for people with learning disabilities can enjoy arts and crafts, music, cooking, gardening, sport or as a base from which to explore the local area.

The centre is used by 100 people and has a large garden, which is a great space, but it’s mostly lawn, so it’s not suitable for people with greater mobility needs.

At Certitude, we pride ourselves on giving people choice and control wherever possible. 

Over the last year we’ve spoken to families, people we support and staff who support people who are non-verbal about how we can make the most of this amazing space. We’ve also watched how people use the garden, the activities they enjoy, how easy it is for them to move about and which areas of the garden are inaccessible to many of the people we support.

We plan to transform the garden, making it more accessible and inviting for people who use the centre. We recently met with some landscape architects who came in to do some pro bono work, consulting with people we support on what they’d like to see in the garden and producing the enclosed plans.

New pathways will make the whole garden wheelchair accessible, raised beds open gardening up to people who can’t get down to ground level. We’ll have raised walkways, water features, new seating, sensory plants and a native British hedgerow, creating a haven for local wildlife.

We’d also like to use the space to host events, inviting the local community and groups into the ARC, expanding social networks and supporting community cohesion. People using the ARC will see a host of physical and mental health benefits from low impact exercise and time spent enjoying the great outdoors; happier and healthier.