Written by Marie

So many people over the years have asked me about the history of The Mountains nursing home and after working 10 years in the care home, I have picked up little details here and there. I thought it would be interesting for our staff members and visitors to get a little background on our care home. I decided to speak to our Manager, Stephanie, and our Maintenance Man, Peter, who happily provided a little more information on the subject…

The Mountains Nursing home building was not always a care home, it started off as a small building serving food and drinks. After a short while, the owners ,Mr Phillips and family, made plans to extend the building to include bedrooms and more rooms that would later include a dancefloor and bar. The plan was to turn the building into a motel. Petrol pumps were also located outside the front of the building.

Peter, our Maintenance Man, who has worked here in the building for 33 years took time out of his busy schedule to talk about the history of the building, over a cup of tea. He explained that he started work here when the building had been turned into a motel and he carried out general maintenance and helped behind the bar and serving food. He explained that the building work to extend the building to accommodate the extra space and bedrooms, was carried out over the years of 1975 and 1976. He knew men who had been working on the extension.

When all the building work had been complete, the Mountains Motel was open. Then, the owners renamed the motel to the Mountains Hotel.  It remained running as a hotel until 1985, then the owners decided that it was time for change. They turned the Mountains Hotel into a care home. Pete explained how very different it was back years ago, he explained there were two residents to each bedroom, and there was very little space. The care home ran under the original owners Mr Philips and family until 1997, then the care home was taken over by new owners. The building continued to run as a care home until the 30th December 2003. Inspections on this date highlighted significant failings. The basic regulatory requirements were not being met so the owners gave 30 days notice to close its doors.  This meant that all the people who resided in the care home would have to be moved into other care placements, within 30 days.

The owners of Milkwood, Janet and Robin, received word that a care home in Libanus had been given 30 days for closure. They decided to act quickly, purchasing the care home. They made plans to quickly bring it back up to regulatory requirements, before the people who resided here would have to find new accommodation.  When speaking with our manager, Stephanie, she explained that at the time she was working in the care home as a nurse. She explained that everybody worked tirelessly with Janet and Robin to communicate what they needed purchasing, basic things like bedding and cutlery were needed! The home pretty much needed everything bought as it was in such a poor state. Stephanie laughed when she remembered staff receiving hoovers for the home and feeling so happy!

Stephanie explained that Janet was not allowed to enter the premises until the final sale had gone through so she would stand outside the window communicating with and supporting the staff. There was so much work to be done to the care home in such a small timescale! They all soldiered on and made the necessary changes to meet the 30 day deadline to keep the care home open.

After the sale of the care home had gone through, the owners of Milkwood Care Limited became the proud owners of The Mountains nursing home. Stephanie remembers herself, Marion and Janet all toasting their hard work with a gin and tonic in the office! Since then the home has grown from strength to strength. It’s all thanks to the dedicated owners, Janet and Robin, our Manager, Stephanie, and the hard working staff throughout the years which has made the Mountains such a lovely care home to reside and work in. This building, with such history, has also got a bright future ahead!