AN EAST Durham care home is celebrating the addition of a new traditional sweet shop which claims to be every bit as sweet and colourful as the residents themselves.

Field View Care Home, in Blackhall Colliery, recently finished work on their sweet shop and celebrated in style by hosting a grand opening for residents and families.

Those attending were invited to try their hand at popcorn and candy floss making before treating themselves to a pick-and-mix from the shelves of traditional treats and from the hand-made sweet cart dubbed Sweet Field Treats.

Joanne Chambers from Sweet Dreams, a traditional sweet shop in nearby Peterlee donated old-fashioned sweet jars and supplied Field View with many of the traditional sweets on offer such as mint humbugs, liquorice, and pear drops.

It will also double as an activities room and can be used for hosting events such as birthday parties and fetes.

The shop has been a labour of love for the care home’s maintenance man Ian Noble, who painted and decorated the room and built the sweet cart by hand.

The sweet shop was the brainchild of Field View’s Care manager Michelle Howarth: “Our vintage sweet shop will improve our clients’ sense of choice and independence, as well as stimulate memories with tastes of the past.”