This story is sponsored by Lovett Care.

A stunning new purpose-built care home is set to open on Wetherby Road in Harrogate this month. Fairfax Manor will provide high-quality residential, dementia and respite care, 24 hours a day.

The new home, from award-winning care provider Lovett Care, also has an enviable range of truly exceptional facilities, including a café, bistro, library, orangery, beauty salon, private dining room and bar – placing it in the top rank of care homes in the region. The home has 90 fully-furnished en suite rooms with outdoor space provided by balconies, patio areas and landscaped gardens for all to enjoy. 

One of the lounges at Fairfax Manor.

The home have recruited an activities team who will promote a healthy lifestyle and positive wellbeing all year round. Their holistic approach to care and support will ensure the team provides a full and varied activities programme that meets the needs of everyone who lives in the home. The dedicated team will arrange daily supported sessions and activities to ensure everyone benefits from life at Fairfax Manor.

Lovett Care also employs two people to lead activities seven days a week, including morning exercises, an art club, trips out in the minibus, and a lot more – all tailored to the residents’ needs.

General Manager Gillian Allatt said: 

“We know the key to a successful home is down to the individuals who work there.

“We have recruited an exceptional team who have been selected for their individual qualities but most importantly their dedication to wanting to make a difference. I truly have a team who cares.

“I am looking forward to welcoming our new residents to Fairfax Manor as that is when it truly becomes a home. The unrivalled facilities have all been thoughtfully designed and will offer an exceptionally high standard of living yet with a homely feel. My team will be on hand 24 hours a day to provide the very best care and support, enabling our residents to enjoy their next chapter.”

The landscaped gardens will have plenty of beautiful seating areas.

Lovett Care already operates nine homes across the North West and north Wales, supporting more than 500 residents. Fairfax Manor will be its first east of the Pennines. 

The company employs more than 700 people, and a further 100 or more will be employed in the new Harrogate care home, which is located within a mile of the town centre. The home will be a welcome addition to the local area with the growing demand for elderly care and support. 

You can find more details about Lovett Care on the company website, lovettcare.co.uk. 

To register your interest in one of the fabulous rooms at Fairfax Manor, contact us here.

The owner of Harrogate’s Grove House has said he is “absolutely delighted” after planners finally gave the go-ahead to convert the grade two listed building into a luxury care facility.

Graeme Lee, chief executive of Springfield Healthcare, bought Grove House for £3 million in 2019 and then spent five years working on plans to transform it into what he calls “the holy grail of care”.

North Yorkshire Council finally granted approval this month, which means the former home of Harrogate mayor, inventor and philanthropist Samson Fox will be converted into a care home consisting of 24 flats. In addition, a 62-bed care home and eight houses providing supported living for over-65s will be built on adjoining land.

Mr Lee, whose company already owns seven care homes, including Harcourt Gardens in Harrogate and the Chocolate Works in York, said:

“I’m absolutely delighted that after a five-year journey we can now bring to life what I believe is going to be the most innovative and unique intergenerational care scheme.

“When we did Chocolate Works I wondered how we would top that. But this will.

“Grove House will be restored to its former glory. The building, which has lots of leaks, will be given some TLC. The grand hall and billiards room will remain. We will bring it back to life and reforge the spirit of Samson Fox.”

Mr Lee admitted there were doubts about whether the scheme would go ahead because of the length of the planning process. He added the cost had risen from £15 million to £20 million due to inflation and the cost of living increase.

An artist’s impression of part of the new care facility.

An aerial view showing Grove House opposite the fire station on Skipton Road.

Mr Lee, who lives in Harrogate, said he hoped to appoint a contractor — probably Simpsons of York, which undertook Harcourt Gardens and the Chocolate Works — by spring and then begin work in summer. He added the scheme would be built in phases, with a planned opening date of summer 2026.

The six-acre site, which has been unused for years, will host an annual community day and be used widely by pupils at nearby Grove Road Community Primary School.Children will hold lessons on site and build relationships with residents with dementia to make the project a pioneering multi-generational scheme, Me Lee said.

They will also be able to track wildlife such as foxes and badgers on site through hidden cameras and use a new wildlife pond for study.

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A £15 million transformation of Harrogate’s Grove House into a major new care home and community facility has finally been approved.

Grove House, a grade two listed building opposite the fire station on Skipton Road, was the home of Victorian inventor, philanthropist and mayor Samson Fox.

It was later used as a hospital during the First World War and as the headquarters of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes.

Harrogate’s Graeme Lee, chief executive of Springfield Healthcare, bought the six-acre site from the Buffaloes for more than £3m in 2017.

Samson Fox lived at Grove House.

Plans were submitted five years ago to create what Mr Lee calls “the holy grail of care”, combining high quality facilities for residents with extensive community use.

Now, after a lengthy planning process, North Yorkshire Council has published a decision notice approving the application, subject to conditions.

It means Grove House can undergo extensive conversion work to create a care home consisting of 24 flats. In addition, a 62-bed care home and eight houses providing supported living for over-65s will be built on land alongside Grove House.

How the site will look.

An aerial view of the site.

Grove House, which is hidden from traffic on Skipton Road, has stood derelict for years.

Talking about the project last year, Mr Lee said schoolchildren from nearby Grove Road Community Primary School will be invited to participate in activities alongside residents and use the gardens for study and play, and the site would also host an annual garden party for the community.

He said it would become “one of the best examples of developing relationships between older people and young people in the UK”.

Mr Lee’s company already owns seven care homes, including Harcourt Gardens in Harrogate,

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A local authority has been obliged to pay about £17,000 of taxpayers’ money to a residential care home patient after it was found to have failed to use the correct language when explaining her charges.

North Yorkshire Council has also been recommended to pay the patient’s son £350 “to recognise the distress and anxiety caused” by its decision to treat monetary gifts to her children and grandchildren as capital that should be included when assessing how long she should be responsible for the full cost of her care.

Who should pay for social care remains a pressing issue with the council spending £230m a year on adult social care, equating to about 40 per cent of the authority’s budget.

This year it has received £19m additional grants from the government, but the council has spent an extra £36m on adult social care services.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman said it had “found fault causing injustice” and to remedy the injustice by completing a financial assessment calculating when her capital would have fallen below the £23,250 threshold under which people pay the full costs of their care.

It also recommended the council reviews the financial assessments completed for other service users over the last 12 months where gifting was not deemed to be depriving the public purse of assets.

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While the Care Act 2014 states people should be able to spend the money they have saved as they wish, rules also state councils should ensure people are not rewarded for trying to avoid paying their assessed contribution.

Councils must therefore assess a person to decide whether they have intentionally deprived themselves of assets to avoid paying care fees, for example by making a lump sum payment to someone else as a gift.

The ombudsman’s report states the woman in care had previously gifted no more than £20 to her family, but in the two-and-a-half years following the sale of her property she gifted £19,500.

It is understood the officer who dealt with the assessment had been trying not to inflame a “deprivation of assets” situation and did not use those words when spelling out the reason for taking extra money from the woman.

Councillor Michael Harrison, executive member for health and adult services who is also the Conservative councillor for Killinghall, Hampsthwaite and Saltergate, said:

“We accept the fault that the ombudsman identified in the language we used.

“We need to be very careful if we’re going to make an assessment that someone has deprived themselves of capital to avoid paying social care fees that we are explicit in the language we use.”

The authority undertakes an average of 6,000 financial assessments every year.

Cllr Harrison said:

“Whilst we accept the ombudsman’s findings, we did disagree that this should be a public report.

“It has cost the taxpayer around £17,000, which is disappointing. It is a costly couple of words, but we are also mindful that we are dealing with people in sensitive circumstances and circumstances that can be quite emotional where people are having to look at their relatives’ finances in quite a cold way.

“Council officers will quite rightly want to treat people with respect, with empathy and due consideration. The learning here is that must not lead us to using words that a family may find difficult if we use if it’s going to cost the taxpayer money.”

A new care home is set to open in Harrogate in January 2024.

Fairfax Manor, which will be based on Wetherby Road opposite Harrogate Town’s football stadium, will be operated by Staffordshire-based Lovett Care Ltd.

The 90-bed care home was built on the site of the former Tate House after being given planning permission back in April 2021.

The company said the home would be a “welcome addition” to Harrogate amid increasing demand for elderly care.

Gillian Allat, general manager at Fairfax Manor, said:

“I am thrilled to be joining a growing organisation. Fairfax Manor will be somewhere that our residents will be proud to call home.

“I am passionate about providing exceptional person centred care and looking forward to growing a team who share my values. If anyone is interested in living or working with us then please get in touch.”

Visual inside Fairfax Manor.

The new facility is set to offer ensuite rooms, 24-hour care and landscaped gardens.

It will also feature an orangery, coffee lounge, bar, cinema, beauty salon and private dining room for special family get togethers.

The move comes as Lovett Care Ltd agreed to acquire the home from Harrogate-based Angela Swifts Developments.

The firm also completed acquisitions for Eden Manor Care in Carlisle and another facility in St Helens.

Fairfax Manor will become the tenth home to be operated by the company.

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