The Centre & Facilities

The Calvert Reconnections Building

The residential centre is located around 10- 15 minutes walk from the bustling market town of Keswick, providing local shops and facilities.

The building has 8 bedrooms with a mixture of en-suite and adjoining bathrooms and 2 separate independent flats, all of which are contained within the main building itself.

There is a large open plan communal living area, with a sofa, seating, TV and pool table.

There is also a large communal kitchen and dining area. Designed with a home feel rather than a traditional clinical setting.

Video Tour Of Building

Rooms

We can take up to 10 individuals at any one time. We have 2 independent living flats and 8 bedrooms with bathroom facilities. Our rooms are spacious and have been designed so that there’s plenty of opportunity to personalise your space with favourite pictures, bed linen and homely touches. Bathroom facilities are individual to each room, some en-suite, some bathrooms located next door and some with dedicated wet rooms.

This was a very conscious decision on our part; ours are not hotel facilities, rather they are designed to encourage communal living – just as you would at home. Each participant will have a differing needs so we have setup to cover a whole range of goals and outcomes, and these needs will be discussed before arrival. Some bedrooms feature electric raiseable beds which can be allocated if required.

Independent Living @ Reconnections

We have two independent living flats here at Reconnections. The flats are situated in the main building but separate from the other bedrooms, we can provide as much or as little support as needed, depending on a participant’s needs.

Participants can move to a flat as they progress to independent living – or start their stay in a flat, whichever is more appropriate.

Independent Living Page

Food

It’s a well-known fact that you can’t function properly on an empty stomach. So a key part of our programme is re-establishing life skills such as planning and undertaking food shopping for the week, considering other people’s likes and dislikes and creating dishes that everyone will eat, and of course tidying up after each meal.

Participants can take it in turns to plan, shop and cook for each other, supported by our catering manager and neuro rehab team.

Vocational Opportunities

Utilising our relationships with local business and the wider community, we encourage participants to think of vocational interests which can be developed in the longer term.

To support our participants to pursue vocational opportunities we have teamed up with several local businesses including;

Rheged (cinema, café and shop)
Theatre by the Lake (box office, customer service, back stage)
Age UK (retail, customer service, stock checking)
Lower Gardens (horticulture, customer service)
Stables (customer interaction, working with others, animal care)

We are always looking for new opportunities for our participants and forging new relationships in order to provide the best opportunities for everyone who stays at Reconnections.

Other Facilities and Opportunities Offered At Reconnections

The Water Centre

Our state-of-the-art Water Centre, based at our Little Crosthwaite site, is available for Calvert Reconnections participants to use.

This revolutionary purpose-built facility opened in 2011 as part of a £3.5m development and provides a complete sensory experience for users both with and without disabilities. The pool’s sensory features include a spa, bubble pads and a water fountain – all activated by poolside buttons, with a wall-mounted iPad controlling music, blinds and lighting.

The water centre includes:

A full hydrotherapy treadmill. Used to aid a full range of physiotherapy programmes.
A fully accessible 12 x 6m multi-sensory hydrotherapy pool, combining state-of-the-art technology with the warmth of hydrotherapy, being heated to 32°C and a raiseable pool floor.
A poolside sauna.

The Stables

The Lake District Calvert Trust Riding Centre is situated next door to Calvert Reconnections and is a British Horse Society-approved riding establishment. It is fully accessible with instructors who are both British Horse Society and Riding for the Disabled Association qualified and are able to take people of all abilities for a riding or trap driving session.

The facilities themselves are purpose-built, with indoor and outdoor arenas, viewing gallery, state of the art lifts and electronic hoists. For those unable to ride, we also have adapted wheelchair accessible traps, but please note there is a weight limit of 83kg (13 stone) for horse riders and 114kg (18 stone) for trap drivers.

Sports Hall

With Calvert Lakes Centre only a 10 minute drive away, we have full access to the range of facilities on their site – including the fully adapted climbing wall and sports hall.

Skills such as abseiling, climbing and rope climbing techniques can be acquired and developed here and then taken to other venues.

Keswick has two other public climbing walls and a host of outdoor climbing venues with easy reach.

High Ropes / Low Ropes / Zip Wire

Calvert lakes also hosts a (delete small) high ropes course and zip wire alongside a low ropes obstacle challenge.

Depending on participant goals we can make use of these facilities to develop movement, co-ordination, confidence and cognition.

The Boathouse

Based on the shore of Bassenthwaite Lake, the boathouse provides private access to the water. With our range of watercraft – canoes, kayaks, sailing boats and stand up paddle boards – we are able to deliver a wide range of water activities within a controlled environment. These skills are then transferable to other venues.

The Outside Environment

Because of our location within the Lake District, we have access to a great range of outdoor opportunities, hillsides, lakes and coastal areas all within easy reach. From Hill Walking to Birdwatching, Fishing to Swimming, we have numerous venues within easy reach of the centre, both on foot and by car.

Keswick town centre is a short (10-15 minute) walk away, with all the usual shopping amenities of a market town. It is also a much-visited tourism Centre, hosts a large number of festivals and competitive outdoor events and is, apparently, the doggy capital of Europe! The High Street has shops ranging from food supermarkets to outdoor clothing, art and attractive tourism gifts.

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