The Firs care home
Welcome to The Firs
A warm welcome
Find out about making an enquiry and how we ensure a warm and friendly welcome to all new residents.
Anchor's The Firs care home in Felixstowe is a trusted provider of residential care for elderly people, and we offer support for older people who have residential and dementia care needs.
Our care home’s well trained and helpful staff provide 24-hour care and support to help you maintain your chosen lifestyle.
At The Firs, activities play an important role and we aim to enhance our residents’ quality of life by providing a varied range of social activities.
We pride ourselves on the quality of our catering, with our Chef Manager preparing meals daily with a varied choice from fresh, seasonal ingredients.
Set in a quiet location in its own beautiful wooded natural grounds, The Firs is close to local services and amenities. These include beaches, a promenade and award-winning cliff gardens a short drive away.
In times of uncertainty, Anchor is a care provider you can depend on. We are proudly not-for-profit with 60 years of experience.
We’re here to help and look forward to giving you a warm welcome.
The service at The Firs is performing very well
Features of The Firs
Communal facilities
Shared facilities complementing each private residence:
- Engaging activities programme
- Garden
- Communal lounge
- Conservatory
- Library
Care and support
In addition to residential care, we also offer:
- Respite care
- Palliative care
- Huntington's disease
- Dementia care
- Convalescence care
Food and dining
We promote wellbeing through a positive dining experience:
- Communal dining area
Life at The Firs
At The Firs care home, we provide quality 24-hour residential care and specialist care for residents with dementia.
We support and develop our staff on an ongoing basis to enable them to provide the highest quality care for our residents.
At our home we have:
- A library
- A shop for small items
- A games room
- A bar
- A hairdressing salon
- A lift to upper floors
- A personal laundry facility and laundry service
- A pay telephone or the facility for a private telephone line in each room
- Regular religious services and meetings should you wish to take part
- Newspapers which can be ordered and delivered daily to your room
- Wheelchair access and car parking
Nearby facilities:
- Felixstowe town centre is 1 mile away and can be reached using excellent bus services
- The nearest main hospital is Heath Road Hospital Ipswich, while local hospital Felixstowe General is 1 mile away
- Felixstowe Railway Station is 1.5 miles away, while Ipswich Railway Station with services to London Liverpool Street, is 18 miles away
- A theatre, swimming pool, golf course and supermarket are under 2 miles away
The Firs is a unique, purpose-built residence which was designed to provide residential social care and dementia care. Set in a quiet location and in its own grounds, The Firs has single en-suite rooms, the majority of which have lovely views of the gardens.
Our home is fully furnished and decorated to a high standard with a call system which ensures that help is at hand 24 hours a day.
We also have:
- Most rooms with views of the gardens
- A television point and connections for satellite and digital TV
- Tea-making facilities available to make drinks for you and your visitors in unit lounges
Other accommodation facilities include:
- Cosy lounges with TVs and quiet areas for reading and relaxing
- Bathrooms specially equipped so you can relax in comfort
- Safe, enclosed gardens
We encourage you to bring small personal items to enhance your room.
We know how important mealtimes are to our residents, so we always try to make this a sociable and enjoyable experience, whilst recognising individual choice.
The Firs' Food Promise ensures all our menus offer freshly cooked, appetising and nutritionally balanced meals including:
- Cooked breakfast every day
- Wholesome homemade soup everyday
- Freshly baked biscuits and cakes everyday
- Traditional Sunday Roast
- Fish and Chips weekly
- A variety of snacks available all day
Our Chefs understand the nutritional needs of older people and ensure that our meals are prepared using fresh, seasonal ingredients.
We serve tasty, wholesome dishes and involve residents in selecting our menus at a local level. We offer daily choice of meals and cater for special dietary needs and preferences, helping keep our residents healthy and well nourished.
Our care home organises and arranges a variety of opportunities for our residents to enjoy daily activities in our home and in the local community.
We work in partnership with the National Association for Providers of Activities for Older People (NAPA) and encourage activities that enhance our residents’ lifestyle, health and wellbeing.
Residents preferred activities, interests and ability are discussed when they move in and an agreed plan ensures that these requests are fulfilled (wherever possible). Our residents’ suggestions for activities also help shape the planning process.
We organise supervised day trips to leisure facilities and places of interest as well as social events in the home, including themed restaurant evenings, arts and crafts, quizzes and regular entertainers.
Health
At The Firs our caring and attentive staff work with our residents and their loved ones to create a detailed care plan which ensures our residents individual health and care needs are met.
We know how important it is to care for our residents with the dignity and respect they deserve and this is at the heart of what we do at The Firs care home.
Our health and social care partners include:
- A GP who is available on request
- A hairdresser visits every week
- A chiropodist visits on request
- A dentist and optician who visit the home
- The district nurse and physiotherapist who visit by arrangement
Pricing information
We endeavour to be completely transparent about all our charges and fees. For further information please contact us.
How much does it cost?
Care homes
Our current private weekly fee at The Firs is from £1,466. This can vary due to resident dependency, size of room and location. Our Home Manager and other colleagues will be happy to discuss fees and any other questions you may have about paying for care.
What is included in care home fees?
For many people, moving to a care home is a big decision and it can be difficult to know where to start. Care home fees are based on a range of factors, including specific care needs, which can change over time.
Living in an Anchor care home you can be confident that a single fee covers the cost of your personally tailored 24 hour care and support, utility bills and meals, as well as a fantastic range of daily activities. In an Anchor care home our weekly charge includes:
- cost of personal care
- accommodation
- utilities e.g. heating and light
- all resident catering, meals, snacks and drinks
- laundry undertaken on the premises
- television licence, including for person use
- housekeeping services.
The following extra items and services are not covered by the weekly fees, however we can arrange for them to be provided (at an additional cost):
- professional hairdressing
- personal copies of newspapers or magazines
- personal purchases such as stationery, confectionery, toiletries etc.
- clothing, shoes and slippers
- dry cleaning
- private telephone line rental and calls and cable connections.
In the absence of free provision by the NHS, we can also arrange for the following healthcare services to be provided, these will be charged in addition to the weekly fees:
- chiropody
- optometry
- dentistry
- physiotherapy
- other privately arranged healthcare
- care staff accompaniment to regular medical appointments.
No upfront deposit is required at any of Anchor’s care homes to secure a room.
At Anchor we pride ourselves on offering a truly tailored approach to care and therefore need to fully understand your needs to provide you with an accurate fee estimate. Please call us to discuss your specific care needs today. Alternatively we welcome you to visit us to discuss your situation face-to-face.
Want more information on care home fees?
Learning about the different funding options available to you can also help you feel confident in your decisions. Anchor know that securing care home funding can sometimes appear a rather daunting task and so to help we have put together a free guide covering requesting assistance, top up fees and third-party payments.
Care home fees
Julie Reynolds
Administrator
I work alongside my colleagues in a part time capacity, together there is always a warm welcome at The Firs.
Julie Real
Administrator
I have been fortunate enough to have worked for Anchor at The Firs for over 23 years, starting as housekeeping, going on to care, Team Leader and now admin. I have really enjoyed each role for different reasons. When you visit us at The Firs I will be your first point of contact and will welcome you with a warm smile.
Welcoming you
To start your enquiry simply click 'Enquire now' at the top of the page and either call us or complete an online enquiry form.
We’ll provide you with full details of the home, along with any other information you’d like, such as sample menus and activity schedules.
Whether you’re looking to stay with us permanently, or for a short break, we’d be delighted to take you on a show round of the home in person. Simply book a visit with the home manager once you’ve made your enquiry.
If you or your loved one doesn’t live nearby or are unable to visit in person we can provide a virtual show round. Either way, we’re keen to show you what daily life is like here and for you to meet our friendly team.
We hope you decide, following your visit, that you or your loved one would like to move into the home, in which case we’ll organise a pre-assessment to make sure we can meet all your care needs.
Our friendly onsite team will discuss every area of moving-in with you in detail to make sure you and your loved-one know exactly what to expect and feel confident, safe and welcomed when coming to live with us.
Before you move in, we will find out if there are any of your possessions that you wish us to place in your room before you arrive. Please bring your family photographs and most treasured possessions to help make your room your home.
Find out more in our video
We understand how important visits are for everyone and we welcome regular visits from family and friends. We also actively support our residents to enjoy visits away from the care home.
Each of our homes is different and the manager of the care home you’re interested in will provide all the information you need around visiting.
Getting here
The Firs
186 Grange Road, Felixstowe, Suffolk, IP11 2QF
Want to find out more about The Firs?
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What's happening at The Firs
Wow! What a special thank you card we have been given.
facebookPart three!
facebookPart two!
facebookI am really pleased that I can now share all the photo's from yesterday. There are some beautiful moments of yesterday. Once again thank you to all who came. Part one, more photos' to follow.
facebookI would just like to wish a massive thank you to all that attended our opening of our Namaste room. I cannot wait to share the photo's with you. It truly was an event to remember. Once again thank you!
facebookWe are working hard in our garden to get it ready for the summer.
facebookIt was our lovely Sue's birthday yesterday. Your right Sue it was all about you! 💐🎂
facebookGreat job Pat, helping us with the decorations for today.
facebookSuper excited, the day has finally arrived of the opening of our Namaste room. All welcome!
facebookFingers crossed for the weather.
Sara Thomson appointed as Interim Chief Risk Officer for Anchor
Anchor is delighted to welcome Sara Thomson as Interim Chief Risk Officer (CRO).
Don't forget to come and join us on the opening of this fantastic additional to our home.
facebookShaping a career in care: The role and responsibilities of the Service Improvement team
Asa Johnson is Anchor’s National Service Improvement Manager and leads a team of Service Improvement Advisors. In his blog, he shares how he came into the role and his day-to-day responsibilities.
The importance of personalised dementia care
Asa Johnson, our Service Improvement Manager, shares his expert view on personalised dementia care in a featured article on the Care Choices website.
How Extra Care helped one resident gain back their independence
Hear from Mick, one of our residents, about how moving to Anchor Extra Care Housing helped him regain his independence after a brain injury.
Marking the 80th anniversary of VE Day
8 May 2025 sees the 80th anniversary of VE Day, an international celebration of the arrival of peace in Europe and an important moment for Anchor's residents and colleagues. Read more.