More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
HRH The Princess Royal is visiting a town today to open a sheltered housing scheme.
Princess Anne officially opens Danemore, a £7.5m complex in Tenterden designed and managed by Ashford Borough Council.
The royal visitor chatted to Danemore residents who were “delighted and thrilled” to meet her.
A plaque-unveiling ceremony was conducted in the presence of Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Kent Richard Oldfield, the High Sheriff of Kent Paul Barrett, the Mayor of Ashford Cllr Jenny Webb, the Mayor of Tenterden Cllr Jean Curteis, Ashford Borough Council's chief executive Tracey Kerly, and chair of Kent County Council, Ann Allen.
Danemore provides 34 affordable home for rent to older people and includes four chalet bungalows which are being sold on the open market to subsidise build costs.
The complex has inbuilt dementia-friendly features and uses colour schemes, light, corridor lengths and patterns to prompt memory and aid navigation.
It's modelled on Ashford Borough Council's award-winning Farrow Court in south Ashford, which integrates housing, health and adult services into the community.
Residents benefit from a communal lounge and kitchen as well as a treatment room offering hairdressing, a manicurist, podiatrist and chiropodist.
It marks Princess Anne's second visit to the borough in recent weeks.
In December, she touched down on the playing field off Osborne Road, Willesborough, before going to tour a new housing development in Warehorne.
As part of a whistle-stop tour of engagements across the county, she visited the village to officially open a small four-home affordable housing scheme and also visited Maidstone and Medway Maritime Hospital.
