Empress Gardens Retirement Residence - Peterborough, Ontario

Anne Wilson

My Dad stayed at Empress Gardens for 5 years. The staff there are phenominal from the Executive Director, to the Nursing Staff, Dining Room Staff, Maintenance Staff and Front Reception. All of the staff knew my Dad by name and they treated him with respect. His cat, Riley was loved by all of the staff too.
My Dad's needs and wants were heard, taken into account and honoured whenever possible. The food in the dining room is delicious and the fact that food and drink is available in the Tea Room 24/7 is wonderful and comforting for residents. I am forever grateful for the staff and care and concern that my Dad received. Thank you!!
Anne Wilson

Randall Moore

Empress Gardens has been a wonderful place for dad to live. His needs were met. Love and care are obvious values instilled in the staff and management.

Fay Witteveen

Recently I had the pleasure of staying at Empress Gardens while recovering from an ankle replacement. I must say that the staff were amazing and always very friendly, polite helpful. The food also was very very good. I met a lot of amazing people there of all ages and if I was older or needed help full time I could see myself living there as it’s very central and convenient. Thank you Everyone at Empress Gardens for making my stay very pleasurable.

Karen Bethune

My 90 year old Dad recently moved to Empress Gardens. He is enjoying the food, if he doesn’t like what is on the menu, there are other options. His apartment and laundry are cleaned weekly, there are many activities to participate in, and the staff are friendly, inclusive, and professional. Communication from staff has exceeded my expectations, and has been helpful to get a true picture of how my Dad is managing day to day. The Empress environment is lovely, with lots of warm spaces for spending time. Thanks Empress for taking such good care of my Dad.

Shane Dore

Late last year I had to make the difficult decision to move my mom out of her house, and started to research all the retirement homes, and decided on Empress Garden. Sarah from Empress Garden was extremely helpful in making the transition very smooth for my mom. She loves it there, especially all the events they have every day. The meals are amazing, all the staff are great, she has found a few people to walk with down to the water, which will only get better once the warm weather arrives. The room is cleaned every week, laundry is done, she loves her apartment.
Thank You for making this a special home for my mom.

Paula Sisson

My mom has been living on one of the independent living floors of Empress Gardens for the past 8 years. She has been very happy with the location, the care, meals, and, particularly, the variety of activities and entertainment always available including a shuttle bus taking the residents to a sister building for Aquafit. The building is very close to shops and banks in the downtown core as well as the beautiful Millennium Trail.

Janet McDonnell

I just moved to Empress Gardens Retirement Residence January 30th. I had researched the Peterborough area regarding retirement residences & all were very similar in costs, activities & services. The only thing that stood out from the rest was their menu selection. The selections are what drew me to this facility.

Upon arrival I was greeted with warmth & friendliness.

I had met Rob (Director of Care) at the hospital for an assessment & he was very informative about the retirement home, explaining all the facilities plus activities. The welcome brochures were also very informative.

The home is very clean & orderly. The staff, I can not say enough about them, are very accommodating plus informative as well going above & beyond the call of duty.

I was too late to sign up for the shuttle for an appointment so took a cab that I had used in the past. I highly recommended this retirement home to my other cab driver when I returned to this facility.

As far as I’m concerned, this is the best facility to be in.

Barbara Janet McKinnon

During my hospital stay in psychiatry I made arrangements to move to Empress Gardens and I was not disappointed. I felt safe, I was no longer totally alone and I still had some healing to do. I was surprised (although I shouldn’t have been) at the sincere attentiveness of the staff. It was just not something that I was used to, and I soaked it up like a sponge. After about a year and a half, I began to feel that I was ready to (sort of) be on my own, and I moved to St. John’s Centre. It was very suitable for me as they offered two meals a day, housekeeping every second week, laundry by request. After being at St. John’s for year and a half. I was diagnosed with a fairly serious health condition, which had me very concerned. I found out that Empress had several suites that might interest me. So I came to look, and reserved one. I picked one on the third floor which is just around the corner from their wonderful library, wellness centre and Chapel. My anxiety had started to surface and I knew where I had to be 🙂 I’m right downtown if I want to browse or do some shopping, and we have a shuttle bus that will take us to appointments, shopping, church, and now that things have quieted somewhat with this pandemic, we will be going on occasional out of town short trips. There are many activities here, if you wish to join in, or just watch. Always someone to talk with. I feel content and safe. So grateful to be back here again, and I think this time I will stay. It feels like home now.
Sincerely, Barbara McKinnon