A NEW care farm is opening on the Herefordshire and Worcestershire border to offer a therapeutic outdoor environment.

Avenbury Care Farm plans to open in late summer in Bishops Frome and will welcome people with learning and physical disabilities and people with dementia to attend day sessions.

Activities will include gardening and therapeutic horticulture in the 12 accessible raised beds and orchard, animal care, wood working, cookery and arts and crafts.

The care farm recently received a grant from the Herefordshire Community Foundation that will enable the design and planting of sensory garden areas at the site.

Director Ina Dressler-Pearson said: “We were delighted to receive this grant. By creating a sensory environment at the care farm, people of all abilities will be able to benefit from our day care facility.

"Some participants may have very limited mobility and not be able take part in some of the more physically demanding activities on offer.

"They will however be able to enjoy the therapeutic outdoor environment, the aromas, sounds, birdsong, butterflies, colours, tastes and all the tactile elements we would like to include in our project.

"This grant will really help us to further our aims of improving mental health and wellbeing and enabling connections with nature. It means that we can welcome more people to enjoy our care farm at whatever level they choose."

To find out more about Avenbury Care Farm see www.avenburycarefarm.com, follow them on Facebook and find them on Twitter and Instagram. To contact the Avenbury Care Farm about future services and opportunities call 07393 148343.