Estimated Price

£1,000

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Project Summary

We seek to buy new garden furniture for the Heather Lodge therapeutic garden, to increase access and enjoyment of the space by service users and the wider community.

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Project Description

Heather Lodge is a not-for-profit holistic therapy centre which provides a wide range of indoor and outdoor therapies, often free of charge as a result of collaboration with local charity and statutory partners. In addition to three buildings which offer working space for therapists, we maintain and run an attractive garden, featuring work spaces, patios, raised growing beds, fruit trees, flower beds, a greenhouse, a fire pit and a woodland area. The garden has recently been enhanced for disability access with the benefit of external funding. Research shows that providing outdoor well-being activities can offer multiple health benefits, particularly reducing anxiety and depression. Heather Lodge CIC has received funding from the Scottish Government’s Mental Health and Well-being Fund during the last three years. Activities in the garden include fitness training, Qi Gong, mindfulness, Shinrin Yoku, therapeutic gardening,  a women’s drumming circle, and spiritual and social gatherings. Participants describe the value of the social contact which these activities give them. Increasingly the garden is in use by clients and members of the community for personal enjoyment and relaxation. We also encourage volunteering. For the last few years we have relied on a second-hand garden table, bench and chairs which were kindly donated by well-wishers but which have now reached the end of their useful life. We want to replace these with benches, a picnic table, and some suitable garden chairs, of pressure-treated wood with a ten-year guarantee. We intend to commission and/or purchase these from local craftspeople or businesses. Anticipated costs are as follows:  Picnic Table £375; 3-seat Bench £265; x2 Chairs £360; TOTAL £1000.