New Cheltenham care home to open with local heritage-inspired name

Crofton Springs, which will be the first Ideal Carehomes home operated by HC-One, is named after landscape painter Frances Emilia Crofton, who resided in the town during the 19th century, and the town’s mineral springs which were discovered in 1716.

Maria Taylor, the Head of New Builds Commissioning at HC-One explains, “Whenever we’re building a new care home it’s really important for us to make connections to the local area and begin to become part of the existing community. One of the best ways of doing this is by celebrating local history with the care home name.

“We chose to honour Frances Crofton because of her charitable work to aid in the care of local vulnerable communities. Caring is a huge part of Crofton’s legacy, so it felt right to us as a care provider to celebrate this.”

Frances is well known for her work Eight Views, a collection of landscape paintings portraying views of Britain and her home country of Ireland. These picturesque scenes have inspired the décor throughout the new care home and the launch of a community art competition, which will see winners display their artwork and win a £100 voucher to spend at Winsor and Newton art supplier.

Maria comments, “The sense of togetherness we’ve discovered in the local art scene has been incredible, and we’re excited to showcase the talents of artists in and around Cheltenham.”

The second half of the name ‘Springs’ was chosen to mirror Cheltenham’s spa town status and as a nod to the local legend around the town’s springs being discovered by William Mason in 1716.

“Whilst a care home and spa may not have much in common at first glance, we always aim to provide our residents with a relaxing and comfortable environment, so it’s very fitting to reference Cheltenham’s spa town heritage in our name,” Maria says.

“We hope that our new care home can add to Cheltenham’s rich and varied history and we can’t wait to continue to celebrate the local community when we open to residents in October.”

Further information and how to enter the community art competition can be found on the Crofton Springs webpage. Entries will close Friday 13th September.