A busy week at Farnham Mill and after celebrating the Queens Platinum Jubilee, we all travelled to Italy to enjoy the sounds, sights and tastes. This included making Venetian masks, making pizza, enjoying cheese and wine and finishing it all off with cooling ice cream.

Monday 6 June and we started the day with our morning walk, checking on our ducklings.  They are still safe and we can see them grow daily.  It’s lovely to have this wildlife in our garden at Farnham Mill. We then played Italian word hangman.  This gave us an opportunity to reminisce and talk about our travels and experiences of Italy.

In the afternoon residents made some Venetian Masks.  This was very relaxing and gave us the opportunity to chat and enjoy a cup of tea at the same time as being creative.

Tuesday 7 June and Alison’s pygmy goats visited us in the home.  We love to stroke and pet them. They are so gorgeous.

In the afternoon Annie’s baking club was busy making delicious scone. The lovely smells encourage everyone to pop along for a taste.

Wednesday 8 June and another morning enjoying the garden.  Daily walks outside are encouraged and there is so much to see and explore.  It was then back inside for an Italian quiz – there was lots of questions about volcanoes, food and wine.

In the afternoon Natasha came and sang for us. It was a late Jubilee celebration and she was dressed in her wartime costume and sang songs from the time the Queen was in the ATS and the time of her Coronation.  We were all able to singalong and dance.

Thursday 9 June and we made pizzas for the residents to enjoy for their supper.  The freshly made dough was shaped and topped with tomato, ham, onions and cheese and we were very pleased with our results.

In the afternoon we all gathered on the first and second floor to arrange the wonderful flowers and have an afternoon tea when we finished.

Friday 10 June and it was a day of puzzles, art and garden walks, hand massages and manicures.  Something for everyone at Farnham Mill.

Saturday 11 June and we spent the morning enjoying the sunshine in the garden.  So relaxing and peaceful.

In the afternoon we enjoyed tasting some Italian wines and cheeses as our special trolley visited all floors around the home.  It sparked lots of conversations about our favourite cheese and wines and we all agreed it was very tasty.

Sunday 12 June, in the morning, after checking on the ducks, we did an Italian themed word game.  We had to see how many words we could make from the letters used in Sophia Loren.  We made 160 and decided that we deserved a delicious roast lamb prepared by our wonderful chef, Wayne.

In the afternoon, to finish our Italian themed week, we had an Italian themed, ice cream trolley visit residents around the home.  We got to choose lots of different things to sprinkle on top, from mini-Smarties, chocolate vermicelli, as well as chocolate flakes. What a lovely way to spend the afternoon.