A NEW summerhouse has been opened at a Burnham-on-Sea care home to ensure residents can continue to safely visit their families during the coronavirus pandemic in the winter months.

On Thursday (September 24) staff and residents gathered at The Towans to watch The Mayor of Burnham-on-Sea Cllr Mike Facey open the new facility.

Staff at the home worked hard during lockdown to ensure residents and their families could still communicate.

For the first few moths they used Zoom calls to help families to stay in touch and later on they set up a gazebo so families could have socially distanced visits outside.

But with winter weather on its way the home’s owners decided that something else was needed and purchased a summerhouse.

The facility is big enough for residents and their families to have conversations while staying at a two meter distance.

A spokesperson for The Towans, said: “Moving into the autumn, as the weather begins to turn, the provision of a safe functioning area for socially distanced visits needed to be reviewed.

“The solution has been a wonderful new space purpose-built, heated summerhouse. We are constantly looking at ways to meet the wellbeing needs of our residents.”