It broke my heart

Sharon and her partner, Chris, have recently visited Kingham Cottage. As carers for Sharon’s daughter, Sarah, in her 30s, and Chris’s Mum who is now 90, they have a hectic life. Sharon says there were times, when she was caring for Sarah, that it broke her heart. A little background… Chris and Sharon Rigby have […]

Helping to Combat Loneliness for Carers

We laugh. Nearly cry and we definitely have fun! All within our community of carers and with the amazing support of The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). Their collaboration with The National Lottery Community Fund brought funding our way. We pressed on the day we heard the good news. Since, we have […]

I was drawn like a magnet to After Umbrage

Atiq Hassan felt pulled towards After Umbrage. ‘It is because the charity understands that caring for a loved one is very emotional and difficult’, he said. ‘I was drawn to After Umbrage like a magnet.’ ‘Our stay at Kingham Cottage was wonderful.’ Atiq, originally from Karachi, Pakistan is a registered carer for his daughter who […]

Thrilled to stay at Kingham Cottage

Suzy Piazza and her family are one of 190 carer families who have visited Kingham Cottage. She was thrilled to stay at Kingham Cottage and has kindly written this blog post for us. She captures her thoughts to share with other carer families who are coming to stay. In so doing, she also sheds light […]

Five top features of Kingham Cottage

After Umbrage beneficiaries are an inspiring group of people. They are great at providing feedback and sharing top tips for things to do near Kingham Cottage. We want to capture these – for future visitors – paying and carers alike. Furthermore, it’s our way of showing beneficiaries how much we value the time they take […]

100% of booking proceeds fund free breaks for carers

After Umbrage has an interesting funding model. Kingham Cottage is leased to the charity as self-catering holiday accommodation for both paying guests and carer families. We are proud to say that, paying guests visit safe in the knowledge that 100% of booking proceeds fund free breaks for carers. So it’s ideal for the discerning holiday […]

5 Things you may not know about After Umbrage

After Umbrage won funding in December from The Big Lottery Community Fund. Woohoo! Naturally, we were delighted with our early Christmas present. Since then, we’ve received many more referrals and our cottage is nearly fully booked for 2020. It shows our awareness campaigns are working and there are lots of carers and their families in need […]

The Struggles and Joy as a Carer

We started Katharina’s story in Part One and here we are catching up with her to capture her positive approach to life. She tells us of her joy as a carer. You may recall, Katharina and her son Jan, are the first international carer family to visit Kingham Cottage. We are proud to continue her […]

After Umbrage Welcomes First International Carer Family

This month, After Umbrage welcomed our first international carer family to Kingham Cottage. Katharina and her eldest son, Jan are from Berlin. They heard about us via a Facebook Group for parents whose children suffer with the same rare chromosome disorder as Katharina’s son, Mattis. Life at home is stressful caring for Mattis and Katharina’s […]