Care home · Colchester
Four Winds
Typical fee here £1,310–£1,600 a week Estimate
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Illustrative photo, not of Four Winds- Address
- 32A Church Road, Brightlingsea, Colchester, CO7 0JF
- Run by
- Consensus Support Services Limited (59 services)
- Type of provider
- Independent (private company)
- Service
- Residential care home
- Beds
- 6 (registered with CQC)
- Nursing care
- No, residential care only (CQC registration)
- Dementia
- Not listed as a specialism with CQC; ask the provider
- Registered with CQC
- July 2011 (15 years)
- Registered manager
- Helen Jane Downs
- Company check
- Active, trading since 2000 (26 years), accounts up to date (Companies House 04081379)
- Last CQC check
- 18 Dec 2018
- Typical fees Estimated
- £1,310–£1,600 a week for residential care. Estimate only, from published local rates. How we estimate
CQC regulated activities: Accommodation for persons who require nursing or personal care
More in Brightlingsea: Care homes in Brightlingsea (12) · Best rated care homes in Brightlingsea · Care homes for elderly care in Brightlingsea · Care homes for learning disability care in Brightlingsea · Care homes for care for adults under 65 in Brightlingsea
Open CQC's full report · CQC location ID 1-130588313
Four Winds at a glance
Four Winds is a CQC-registered residential care home in Colchester, run by Consensus Support Services Limited. Its CQC registration covers adults of all ages, including people living with learning disabilities.
At its most recent rating, CQC judged it Good overall (December 2018). It is one of 12 CQC-registered care homes in and around Brightlingsea; 9 of those are rated Good or Outstanding.
Specialisms
As listed with the regulator.
How long it has been running
Registered in July 2011, it has 15 years on the CQC register.
CQC has published 2 overall ratings for it (2016–2018), starting at Good and staying Good every time.
It has gone 7 years without a new overall rating. CQC schedules inspections by risk, so this is not a bad sign in itself, though leadership may have moved on.
There are 6 CQC reports on file for this address; the newest is from 18 December 2018.
Reading Four Winds's CQC ratings
CQC rated every one of the five key questions Good here, so there is no weak spot in the published ratings.
For leadership (Well-led), it shares its Good rating with 270 of the 364 other care homes in Essex that CQC has rated.
Safe, effective, caring, responsive, well-led
- Safe291 of 365 in Essex
- Effective327 of 365 in Essex
- Caring341 of 365 in Essex
- Responsive323 of 365 in Essex
- Well-led271 of 365 in Essex
From CQC's latest report, published 18 December 2018. Under each rating: how many care homes in Essex share it.
What it may cost
We estimate Four Winds at £1,310–£1,600 a week for residential care, based on published prices in the region. Over a year that is roughly £68k–£83k.
Ask whether the fee changes if needs increase, and what is extra: hairdressing, chiropody, outings and newspapers are often charged separately.
Essex Council can help with costs for people with savings under £23,250, starting with a free assessment.
The inspection, summarised
- Four winds is residential care home for up to four people with a learning disability.
- People lived in a domestic style house within the local community.
- The care service has been developed and designed in line with the values that underpin the Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance.
- These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion.
Inspected 20 November 2018; report published 18 December 2018. In CQC's words, from its published findings (Open Government Licence). Read the full report.
The local picture
There are 12 other care homes within 3 miles, 9 of them rated Good or Outstanding; the nearest is Stronvar Rest Home, under 0.5 miles away.
18 of the 25 nearest rated care homes have a more recent rating than this one.
It sits in Brightlingsea ward, classed by ONS as larger rural (nearer to a major town or city), among the 50% least deprived neighbourhoods in England. NHS services here are planned by NHS Essex ICB.
Within about a 10-minute walk there is a GP surgery (9 min), a pharmacy (8 min), a shop (7 min), a park (8 min), a café (8 min) and a bus stop (1 min), which matters for residents who can go out and for visiting family.
Past CQC ratings
- Jul 2016
- Dec 2018
- Today Rating 7 years old
Every overall rating on record for this location, earliest first.
CQC reports
- CQC inspection report 18 December 2018
- CQC inspection report 19 July 2016
- Inspection report 19 July 2014
- Inspection report 14 February 2014
- Inspection report 13 February 2013
- Inspection report 18 January 2012
Council food inspection
The kitchen has a food hygiene rating of 5 (very good), from an inspection on 15 December 2022 by Tendring. Try to visit at a mealtime: it shows how food, choice and help with eating work in practice.
From the Food Standards Agency (listed as "Four Winds"). Open Government Licence.
Location and local area
- Ward
- Brightlingsea
- Council
- Essex County Council · paying for care
- Parliamentary constituency
- Harwich and North Essex
- NHS planning area
- NHS Essex Integrated Care Board
- Setting
- Larger rural, nearer to a major town or city
- Neighbourhood deprivation
- Among the 50% least deprived areas in England
- Postcode district
- Care homes in CO7 (19)
View on OpenStreetMap · How to get there · © OpenStreetMap contributors
Within walking distance
- Bus stop 70 m (1 min walk) · 15 stops within 600 m
- GP surgery Colne Medical Centre, 750 m (9 min walk)
- Pharmacy Boots, 640 m (8 min walk)
- Shop Tesco Express, 590 m (7 min walk)
- Park Lower Park Playing Field, 680 m (8 min walk)
- Café Cafe Chic, 620 m (8 min walk)
- Place of worship St Sabina, 530 m (7 min walk)
- Library Brightlingsea Library, 700 m (9 min walk)
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). These are direct-line distances, so real walking routes, and times, will be longer.
Ward, NHS area and deprivation from ONS and NHS postcode data (postcodes.io, Open Government Licence).
The registered provider
Four Winds is run by Consensus Support Services Limited (company 04081379), incorporated in 2000, 10 years before this service registered with CQC.
At Companies House, the company is listed as active, its accounts are filed on time, it has 2 active directors and there is no insolvency history.
Its registered business activity is care for people with learning disabilities, mental health problems or substance misuse.
Consensus Support Services Limited runs 59 CQC-registered services across 24 council areas; 53 of the 56 with a rating are Good or Outstanding (95%), against 83% for the same mix of services across England.
6 of its services are in Essex.
Family reviews
No reviews yet. If you or a relative have used this care home, your review helps other families choose.
Reviews are separate from CQC ratings. We verify the reviewer's email and never let providers remove reviews. How reviews work.
Four Winds in local context
- Rated Good. Across Essex, 84% of the 364 rated care homes are Good or Outstanding and 7 are Outstanding.
- Its rating (December 2018) is more recent than 17% of care home ratings in Essex.
- With 6 beds it is smaller than 76% of care homes in Essex, where the typical home has 22.
- Registered with CQC in 2011: it has been registered longer than 53% of care homes in the area.
- It lists 3 specialisms with CQC; the typical care home in Essex lists 3.
Benchmarked against all CQC-registered care homes in Essex (Oct 2026).
Nearest care homes
Guides for families
Other care homes near Brightlingsea with recent ratings
- Stronvar Rest HomeMay 2026
- SilverspringsMay 2026
- SilverspringsApr 2026
Frequently asked about Four Winds
- Where is Four Winds?
- It is at 32A Church Road, Brightlingsea, Colchester, CO7 0JF.
- Is Four Winds registered with CQC?
- It is. The CQC register records Four Winds as a care home, location ID 1-130588313 and was rated Good overall in December 2018.
- What services is Four Winds registered for?
- Its CQC registration covers residential homes. Ask Four Winds how it would adapt if needs increase.
- Does Four Winds support people with dementia?
- Not as a registered specialism. Some services still support people with mild dementia, so ask.
- When did CQC last rate Four Winds?
- Its current CQC rating dates from 18 December 2018, 7 years ago. Ratings can be several years old; ask what has changed since, such as a new manager.
- How big is Four Winds?
- Four Winds has 6 registered places. Ask how many are free now and which rooms have en-suites.
- Who runs Four Winds?
- The registered provider is Consensus Support Services Limited, according to CQC.
- How much does Four Winds charge?
- Four Winds hasn't shared a price list with us. Residential care home typically costs £1,455 a week (average 2026 self-funder fees in East of England). A written quote should spell out weekend, bank holiday and short-notice rates.
- How is Four Winds rated for safety and leadership?
- By key question, CQC gave: Safe: Good; Effective: Good; Caring: Good; Responsive: Good; Well-led: Good. Safe and Well-led tend to say most about day-to-day reliability.
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Register data from the Care Quality Commission, refreshed Oct 2026, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Provider-written text is labelled as such. We are an independent directory, not a care provider.