Sensory Garden official opening

After a long time in the making – starting as an idea over five years ago, followed by fundraising all of last year, and meticulous planning of each element over the last 12 months – we’re proud to be almost finished with our sensory garden project!

Having a space for our rescue dogs, the team and volunteers to explore, decompress and learn has been invaluable.

It’s no surprise that the behaviour of the dogs we see coming into our care is getting increasingly worse (with the average stay before rehoming rising from 68 days in 2022 to 129 days in 2023), with abuse and neglect towards animals still on the rise, accounting for many of these behaviours.

For this reason, we needed to create a space that served a purpose beyond just being an exercise area – a space that could help dogs from troubled backgrounds learn, develop, and progress through to rehoming in a safe and controlled environment.

The sensory garden is filled with new smells, textures, doorways, digging opportunities, training equipment and much more. Our team selected every aspect based on the lack of ‘real-world’ experiences that many of the dogs coming into our care often lack.

The grand opening of our sensory garden was to thank the volunteers, sponsors, supporters and wider team involved in making this project happen and we are overjoyed to have completed such a fantastic space for all to enjoy.

Our special thanks go to Dee & Terry Cosford, Offset Fillms, Vets4Pets Ipswich, Fitology Studio, Yoga Felixstowe, Kamala Yoga for supporting our fundraising efforts; H.R. Knights, Tars Ltd, Eco Chippings, Lumberjacks, Marmax Products, Collier & Catchpole and Katie’s Garden for donating materials and expertise; and AXA, Mercedes-Benz Ipswich, Milestone Infrastructure, Callagher, Smartest Energy and No Fuss Fill for volunteering their time in helping to prepare and construct the garden.