To expect that if a retired couple dont want to listen to children playing...

I live in a house which has beautiful communal gardens which go down to the Thames. We have quite a lot of young families around us and their children do play in these gardens, sometimes quite noisily. I don't have a problem with that because I think young children get excited in their play and do make a lot of noise it doesn't bother me I accept it as part and parcel of where we live. The children are young and generally well behaved. I think we often hear these days how children have become couch potatoes and I therefore think it's nice to hear them tearing around and moving about and having fun in the summer. However, some neighbours, a couple who haven't had children, and who we are friendly with often complain. I do understand how they might find it annoying but I guess if you live in a community with young families around you have to expect a bit of noise and sometimes the adults can make more noise in the evenings when sitting out in the grounds with a glass of wine. I don't mind that either I like a bit of acceptable noise around me, such as the tinkling of glasses and laughter. However, I have previously posted on another thread I don't appreciate kids making a racket in coffee shops and restaurants I have to say that really does get on my nerves and I find some parents are quite inconsiderate in the way they let their children behave in that sort of situation.

Glass think of it this way.
He'll have a lot more complaining to do in a few years' time when the little treasures are drinking cans of coke and eating packets of crisps on the way to and from school, and flinging the detritus into his garden, and those are some of the more innocent things that teenagers do
It's lovely that the children have somewhere to play safely outside, when so many don't or aren't allowed to.
Having a nasty adult to deal with is one of life's lessons.
I remember playing outside in the street, and a hazard was allowing the ball to get thrown into a certain Mr Swindell's garden. You then had to make the decision whether to knock on the door and ask for it back, and risk getting told off/your ball confiscated/your parents complained to, or simply enter the garden without permission to retrieve it and still risk all of the above.
So in answer to your question, the old people are being unreasonable, but they are fulfilling a stereotypical role so don't worry about it

When we bought our house, we backed onto a field and, had all the neighbours agreed, we could have bought the land and extended our gardens. Not everyone either wanted or could afford to buy so two houses were built on the land. Both of those have small children living there and, although we love to hear them play, sometimes it does get a bit much. Our solution has been to install two water features with noisy running water.

I agree with absent - tough!!

It's the same with people who move to a house near a pub where there will a certain amount of noise on summer evenings, near a church where the bells will ring on Sunday mornings, next to a school where there will be times when the pupils are outdoors letting off a bit of steam, next to a farm where there will be farmy smells and, possibly, a rooster crowing and so on. People should always visit the location at least two or three times at different times of day to check for noise, a sudden increase in traffic or whatever before buying. This couple have only got themselves to blame and should zip it.