BERLIN– A new garden is expected to encourage Gull Creek residents to stay active and enjoy the outdoors.
Construction of a new garden along Meadow Street is currently underway at Gull Creek Senior Living. The area is expected to provide residents and their guests with a beautiful space to enjoy the outdoors.
“The idea is keep people moving, encourage them to get exercise and sunlight,” said William Daugherty of WMD Capital Partners.
For about the last year, Daugherty and other Gull Creek officials have been working with landscape designer Maryann Alberts Malarkey to develop a plan for spacious, easily accessible walking paths through a green space featuring native plants. While permitting and stormwater management took some time, construction of the garden is now underway and should be complete next week. Scott Hill of Interior Design, Home Organization and Staging said the space, which has sidewalks large enough for wheelchair access, would feature dozens of rocking chairs as well as benches. Visitors to the space will be greeted by a variety of native plants and will also be able to admire raised bed containers residents have helped plant.
Terri Dukes, executive director of Gull Creek, said the space would give the facility’s 82 residents an outdoor area to enjoy. She said the facility already had a walking club that would be able to utilize the garden and that it would also provide a good place for staff to take breaks or eat their lunches.
“It’s also going to be a good place for families to meet with their residents,” Daugherty said.
Hill added that the Worcester County Garden Club already hosted programs at Gull Creek and would be able to use the space for future events. More than two dozen residents already showed their interest in the space by coming out to see progress as soon as sidewalks were installed.
“They were joyful,” he said.
Officials said the project was being completed with support from a variety of local partners, including the Town of Berlin, Harkins Contracting, Bluebird Farms, Advanced Irrigation, Absolute Security and Scotland Yards Landscaping. Dukes acknowledged that while plants would take some time to get established, but said residents and staff were already looking forward to using the outdoor space.
“Our overall goal is to improve the quality of life for the community,” she said.
