Beetle Bank Social Farm
North Yorkshire
Key facts
Beetle Bank Social Farm in York was set up, and is run,by Justin Mazzotta – who has a work background andeducational training in dementia care. Beetle Bankis one of several care farms working successfully withpeople living with dementia.

Our story
Justin has several years’ experience of working
in dementia care. “It is an undervalued industry,”
he says. “Services for people living with dementia
are often run from indoor settings. I wanted toincrease the spectrum of services available andimprove older people’s quality of life.”
That was his starting point and so several years ago
he went off to the local livestock market in search ofa farmer – quite literally – with whom he could work.
“Many of the farmers I talked to thought it was a good
idea,” he says. “But also quite risky, because of theinherent risks on a farm, so they wouldn’t entertainit.” Undefeated, however, Justin went to speak to theauctioneer, and she gave him the names of several
farmers that were engaged with the general public– one of whom, Angela Serino, he has now beenworking with for 18 months.

What we do
The social farm is for people living with dementia –a service user group with whom Justin has worked,
as well as being the subject of his master’s degree.
It operates one day per week (Tuesdays), for aroundfour or five people at a time. Because of the worklike nature of the activities, it has so far appealed
mostly to men.
The operational capacity is a balancing act between
commercial viability and operational necessity. The
ideal ratio is one staff member to five clients, but until
recently Justin hasn’t had any volunteers to help him.

Angela’s mixed, 30-acre farm has lots of small
animals (such as guinea pigs, rabbits and sheep),which are mostly visited for ‘petting’ by parents andtheir young children – whereas the care farm tends
to work with the larger animals such as pigs, ponies,cows, llamas and sheep etc.
When service users first arrive, they and theirfamilies complete a ‘Life History Form’, which gives
Justin a useful starting point for working with them.
“It tells us their interests, and provides a stimulus
for things that we hope our clients will want to be
involved in,” he says. Feeding and mucking out theanimals has proven particularly popular, and forseveral reasons. It’s a job that the farmer needs
getting done, as well as being one where the service
users feel valued – and which, on the whole, theyenjoy. As a routine job, it also helps service users
know what is happening and what they need to do.

The charge for coming to Beetle Bank Social Farm is£50 per day. As a small-sized operation, it’s hard to be
any cheaper – and Justin defends it given the value ofthe experience they are getting. Funding for service
users comes via Personal Budgets and self-funding.

Challenges and achievements

What people say about usService users living with dementia have spoken out
about why they like to come to the social farm:“I love it. That is why I like coming
here – it’s easy. When you get there
you know what you’re doing.”

Local stakeholders are aware of the service,says Justin, but it is not easy to find people who
understand the potential benefits to service users andthat also have the necessary budget – especially in theface of staff turnover. “I think some people may notunderstand the value of social farming, in particular
its value for those in the earlier to middle stages ofdementia,” he says. “Often people with dementia go
into day care – the traditional alternative to social
farming – but that tends to be when a family carer/
partner needs respite, rather than when it may benefit
the person living with dementia,” he stresses.

Andy

Another challenge has been balancing how muchservice users are able to do with the expectations ofthe farmer Angela. “Ultimately, we are aiming to makethe day as pleasurable as possible for our clients, rather
than do as much work as possible” says Justin. Butfor operational challenges such as these, he praises aSenior Occupational Therapist, who volunteers her time
as his supervisor and with whom he can discuss things.

“It has helped me knowing that John is
happy and enjoying life – and given me
time out from caring, which enables me
to be less stressed and able to cope. He
absolutely loves it. Being outside, helping
and being seen as useful is so valuable.”

For those considering going into care farming, Justin
praises the boost he got from attending the two-day
course run by Care Farming UK (now Social Farms &Gardens). But it was just a start – care farming fordementia is a highly skilled area to work in, and there
has been a lot more for him to get on top of.

For more details

He also encourages people to be creative and takerisks. “The care sector is largely risk averse, andtend to think of providing services for people withdementia from indoor settings,” he says.
“Go for it,” he concludes. “But do it seriously and withothers, so that you can support one another”.

“Small group of people work well together”
Brian“In a way we’re very lucky. We’re doing
this, we’re doing that”
Peter“I like being active, I like having things to do”
Keith

SylviaContact: Justin Mazzotta
Email: beetlebanksocialfarm@gmail.com
Tel: 07932 420726
Social Farms & Gardens, in partnership with Thrive,
are delivering the Growing Care Farming project.
See www.farmgarden.org.uk/GCF for more details.