Auditcare Group
Kirlena House
Our smaller home in Kennington with 14 rooms, nearly all en suite — a quieter, more intimate rhythm of daily life, with a senior carer and care manager on shift around the clock, every shift.
Rooms
14, nearly all ensuite
Care
Residential & Dementia
CQC rating
Good
Last CQC review
6 July 2023
From Oxford centre
2 miles
Design
Design
Design
Design
Design
Daily life
A day at Kirlena House
A day with its own rhythm — and yours
Most residents wake around 7:30 and breakfast follows shortly after, but the schedule bends to the resident, not the other way round. If someone prefers a slow start with tea in their room, that's how their morning works. Mid-morning brings refreshments and light snacks, with most organised activities scheduled for the afternoon. Lunch is served around midday in the dining room, but residents can eat in a quieter spot, in their bedroom, or — weather permitting — in the garden, however they prefer that day.
Food made here, every day
Our chef has been with us for over five years, working from a properly equipped professional kitchen with Rational ovens — the kind of equipment that means food is genuinely cooked, not reheated. Menus rotate based on resident and family feedback, with themed days a few times a month that residents look forward to. Kirlena's smaller dining room — for our 14 residents — has the feel of a familiar family table, with conversations carrying across it rather than being lost in noise.
Afternoons, activities, visiting professionals
Afternoons usually start quietly after lunch. Our activities coordinator runs the afternoon programme — music, gentle exercise, reading, and themed sessions tied to the calendar. Across both our homes, a chiropodist, hairdresser, and physiotherapist visit on a regular schedule, so residents never need to leave for routine care. Afternoons are also when most family visits happen — close family are welcome any time, but afternoons tend to suit everyone.
Evenings, the garden, and the BBQ
Dinner is around 6:30, generally quieter than lunch — many residents prefer the calm of an evening meal. Bedtime is by preference, never by clock. Our garden has a BBQ area and outdoor seating, used through spring and summer for tea, family visits, and the occasional barbecue when the weather plays along.
The afternoons people actually remember
Not every afternoon is a programme. Some are a dog arriving in the lounge and every head turning; some are a birthday where someone gets up and dances who has not danced in a while; some are simply three people at a table with a pot of tea, talking for an hour. Our activities coordinator plans the calendar — music, gentle exercise, themed sessions, visits from local schools — but the moments families remember are usually the unplanned ones in between.
A bar, a salon, and the ordinary pleasures
There is a bar at the back of the home and a hairdressing and beauty salon beside it. A resident can have their hair done on a Tuesday and a beer on a Friday, which sounds like a small thing and is not: keeping the ordinary pleasures of adult life is most of what dignity means day to day. We also partner with Cycling Without Age Oxfordshire, whose volunteers take residents out along the river by trishaw.
The care we provide
Care types available at this home
- Residential care
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24-hour care and support for residents who need help with daily living — meals, personal care, medication, mobility — provided by a stable team of senior carers and a care manager on site every shift, day and night.
Learn more about residential care - Residential dementia care
-
A dedicated environment for residents living with dementia, delivered by carers trained specifically in dementia-aware practice. Kirlena's livelier setting suits residents who do better with routine, company, and gentle activity.
Learn more about residential dementia care
Our care team
The people who will know your mother’s name
Our team works across both homes. We use no agency staff, and nearly everyone here has been with us for more than three years — so residents see the same faces every day.
What it costs
Fees at Kirlena House
We publish our fee structure because most people never get a straight answer. These are starting ranges — final fees depend on a care assessment we do during your visit.
Residential care
£1,480–£1,800
per week
Nearly all rooms are en suite; en-suite rooms may carry an additional charge.
Residential dementia care
£1,600–£2,190
per week
Includes additional dementia-trained support.
Respite
From £1,580
per week
Minimum one week, shorter by discussion. Subject to availability and assessment.
Fees include accommodation, all meals, personal care, laundry, activities, and most consumables. A full breakdown of what's included and what's extra is on our fees page.
See the full fee breakdown and estimatorWhat families say
Reviews of Kirlena House
All reviews below are from verified families on carehome.co.uk. Read the full set, including any critical ones, on our carehome.co.uk page.
"Mum moved into Kirlena for what was supposed to be a two-week respite stay while I was abroad. She called me on day three and said she'd like to stay permanently. That was eighteen months ago. The activity and company made the difference — she'd been lonely at home and none of us had realised how much."
"After Dad's hospital stay we were in an impossible position — he couldn't go home, but we needed time to find the right longer-term option. Kirlena took him for a month while we worked it out, and they made him feel welcomed and safe. The manager was honest with us about what they could and couldn't offer long-term, which we appreciated."
"What makes Kirlena special isn't any one big thing. It's the small things done consistently — the carer who knows dad takes his tea with two sugars, the activity lady who noticed he used to be a carpenter and brought him some wood to work with, the cook who makes his Sunday roast exactly how he likes it. Four years in, and they're still noticing."
Finding us
How to get to Kirlena House
Address
Parking
Visitor parking available on site. Two miles from Oxford city centre. 110 metres from our other home, Mon Choisy — many families visit both in a single trip.
Public transport
Oxford Bus 35 stops within a minute's walk, running every 20 minutes during the day. Two miles from Oxford city centre by car.
Interactive map coming soon
The next step
The best way to know is to visit.
We invite families to come in person — see Kirlena House, meet the team, ask anything. Visits take about an hour. Tea and biscuits provided. No pressure.
Book a visit to Kirlena House
Prefer to talk first? Call 01865 739223
(Mon-Fri 9-5).
Or email enquiries@auditcare.com.