The time of your life?
By Tony Watts - Editor - 20/02/2009
You’ve shrugged aside the nine to five, wondered how you ever found time to work, started exercise classes to keep the body in trim and taken up painting and geneaology to keep the grey cells working. But now the time has come to make the move to a retirement development: can you still stay mentally and physically fit.
Well that depends to a large extent on where you move to.
There is an increasing choice of dedicated developments you can rent or buy into. And uppermost in everyone’s ‘check list’ before making the big decision should be the life you can lead when you get there. Yes, it’s important to make sure that you can access aspects such as care and support should they be needed, but enjoying a long and fulfilling retirement is as much about keeping as active as possible.
Most developments have communal facilities – such as a meeting room. And if that’s all that’s on offer, find out what activities are run from there: often you’ll find there are days out and theatre trips to join in with – encouraging friendship and companionship. Many welcome in outside pensioner groups and forums, or hold games afternoons, or invite in people to give talks or run fitness classes.
A stage on from there and forward looking developments also have ‘cyber cafes’ where residents can access a computer with internet access to keep in touch with friends and relatives – especially the younger variety!
But, increasingly, you’ll find developments putting aside areas for keeping fit – gymnasiums, saunas and trim trails in the gardens.
Recently we had news of what some residents at Denham Garden Village in South Buckinghamshire have been up to. Norman Pearson and his wife Barbara recently downsized from their four-bedroom house with an enormous garden in Chorley Wood. In April last year they moved into their new two bedroom apartment with patio overlooking the village green at Denham Garden Village run by the Anchor Trust.
Norman’s green fingers are now coming into good use by growing his own vegetables. “I have certainly made the most of the space that I now have!” says Norman. “I have put a trellis up on a strip of ground next to the patio which is ideal because as well as supporting my runner beans it also acts as a screen providing us with a bit of privacy. I also have several grow bags where I plant tomatoes in front of the windows and a neighbour has even let me put a grow bag on her patio to make the most of her sunlight.”
Denham also provide support for those looking to surf the web. One resident, Len Scott, has such a passion for the internet that he even helps fellow residents get up to speed. Len who bought a two-bedroom apartment at the development with his wife Doreen not only uses the internet in the communal library, he has now set it up in their own home.
Another developer that takes the Internet seriously is McCarthy & Stone, who actually sponsor the Silver Surfer of the Year Awards. Barnes Wallis Court is a new McCarthy & Stone development in Byfleet, Surrey with a computer in one of the communal areas, and which runs taster sessions for residents. And some are already using the computer to make video calls to their daughter and granddaughters – including some living overseas.
Seriously impressive are the facilities of dedicated ‘retirement villages’ like Richmond Villages in Painswick, Gloucestershire, where residents have their own gym and sauna, while others of their developments even have their own bowling greens. Their newest development – at Letcombe Regis, near Wantage – will have facilities which will include a restaurant, café, shop, IT room and library, craft rooms, a bowling green and a wellness spa with a swimming pool. The development will nestle in beautifully landscaped grounds, which will include lakeside gardens and a nature reserve with disabled access for all residents.
Inevitably, the more on offer, the more a development will expect you to contribute in the way of service charges or purchase price – but if you are downsizing your home, and don’t want to downsize your life, that extra cost may very well be worth paying.