A CARE home in Almondsbury has been showing visitors from Bulgaria how to provide better quality of life.

Russell House, which cares for adults with physical and learning disabilities, played host to visitors from an institution in Bulgaria this week.

Pete Brady, from the Aspects and Milestones Trust, which runs the home, invited Yuksel Aliev and Porlina Raycheva, from the Samuil Institution for Adults with Learning Difficulties, to Bristol for the week to share ideas about standards of care.

Mr Brady first came across the Samuil Institution while visiting Bulgaria with the charity Holding Out Hope, which he is also the director of.

The Samuil Institution in southern Bulgaria has 110 residents with learning and physical difficulties but has limited staff and resources.

Mr Brady said: "During the week we will be showing them how inexpensive activities such as sports and drama activities can be very beneficial. We hope to demonstrate and encourage good practices.

"Homes like this in Bulgaria have been called warehouses of neglect in the past but we want to help change that.

"The people from Samuil are extremely welcoming when we have visited them in the past and we want to support them as much as we can in the changes they are looking to make.

"This trip isn’t just about encouraging them to change practices, but attitudes as well."

Mr Aliev, who is director of the Samuil Institution, said: "We hope to see how homes like this one function and work. We would like to make changes and this will be a good experience for us.

"We have only just started this process at the moment the homes are very big not like this but we hope to take ideas back with us."

Later this month Holding Out Hope will be visiting the Samuil Institution, taking with it £1,000 worth of resources to introduce a range of new activities with patients.