Polventon House Gardening Volunteering

It was a great sunny day for the Village Works volunteering day at Polventon House Residential Care Home in St Kevern.

Natalie and Andrew from VW, together with Tim, Timothy, Caroline, Anthony and Laura were involved, with some of the group travelling by bus together.

After being tested for COVID (we were all clear), we met Maggie and Sam in the garden, who had come over to help us to build a bug hotel. Nat worked on that with Laura, Caroline and Timothy, while Andrew took Anthony and Tim over to do some gardening.

A bug hotel consists of wooden pallets, bricks and slate, all put together to form a framework for twigs, bamboo, earth and other materials, for bugs to have somewhere safe and secure to live. It is hoped that it will attract a whole lot of beneficial bugs to the Polventon garden, from Bees to Gramasouses (woodlice).

Timothy got straight into helping Sam with the building work, and Laura helped Maggie to gather twigs, while Caroline and Nat painted a sign, so people would know what it was.

Before we knew it, it was dinner time. Andrew had brought over pasties with plenty to spare and the Polventon staff also brought us some doughnuts and cake.

Andrew, Anthony and Tim went back to the front hedge, cutting back the overgrowth outside the Polventon’s walls.

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Tim also put in some hard work digging dandelions out of the lawn.

Laura and Caroline sat with some of the Polventon residents and made fat balls for the birds to eat, made from lard, bird seed and pinecones. Laura and Caroline interacted really well with the residents, and the staff at Polventon have invited them back to volunteer with the residents again.

Everyone had a brilliant day and would love to go back when possible.

This is what the volunteering team said, after their hard day’s work:

(Hover over for their thoughts)

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