When is the right time to retire

Thanks for that useful,list janerowena.

We took DS back to Cambridge today, and on the journey back I was telling DBH about you. He chuckled mirthsomely at first, as he couldn't bear it up there (even though he was the one who hauled me up there to be near his parents), but admitted that life up there does have its good points, just not during January and February. We were snowed in sometimes and he couldn't always get to school, that was ok, but he didn't like it when he couldn't get home and had to stay the night at school! Anyway, we compiled a list for you.

The ostrich farm. Excellent meat, really good and they sell other meats as well. If you flashfry it, it tastes and cuts like steak should but never does somehow. Small, expensive, but gorgeous. www.oslinc.co.uk/

For grandchildren - www.randfarmpark.com/ They sell venison too, in their farm shop. Children used to be able to drive their own toy tractor around, I don't know if they still can.

My favourite GC up there www.britishgardencentres.com/centres/woodthorpe/

No motorways! Good, yet bad. I can remember loving driving around, yet being desperate to see a sea of cars - weird but true.

Some lovely old-fashioned pubs. We made a list of all of the pubs in the area and tried out one each week. Such cheap food - and so much of it! A good reason to get out on a winter's day.

The Lincolnshire Show. Big but never crowded. Also lots and lots of smaller more localised shows.

Really easy to fly anywhere from N. Lincs. Easy to park, and just use Amsterdam airport as your hub.

Gunby Hall - it used to have stunning gardens, I don't know if it still has. My favourite.
Belton for the children, with its train and wonderful long play park. The walled garden nursery at Belton, just a bit further down the road, was also amazing.

Horncastle for antiques. There are some HUGE shops that aren't big from the outside. They are like a tardis. You could be there all day and still not get around each and every one. I miss them very much. Good for a miserable winter's day out.

Bolingbroke castle. We quite liked to have a walk around on a winter's day.

Louth has a good selection of independent shops, and a very good delicatessen by the huge church of St.James (where FiL was organist until recently).

Spilsby has a nature reserve called Snipe Dales. Get your timing right, and just off the pathway there are whole banks of wild raspberries.

Go to all the Open Gardens you can find. We had a wonderful time doing that, and met some lovely people.

We got quite nostalgic!

I'm glad you liked Streetwise, ours is hilarious to read!

Thanks for those good wishes Annsixty.
Lots of caravan and chalet parks around here.
Most are closed right now but there are some residential sites.
There's a small beautifully kept site near us all wooden chalets with year round residents living there.
Those chalets must be really well insulated because whenever we have ice or snow it doesn't shift from their roofs until long after our pan tiled roofs here have cleared.

My friend's family who were publicans in Nottingham had a chalet in Chapel St Leonard's which was their getaway for the family as they lived over the pub. I went to it just once and am sure it has long gone as this would be in the early 60's. Happy days but I'm sure it is still very quiet. After 50 years of marriage the same friend relocated from Nottingham to Humberstone some distance up the coast from you.I have to say I thought they had made a huge mistake but they seem very settled and happy.I really hope the same for you.

Hi annsixty.
Your Chapel Something is probably Chapel St Leonard's which is the village closest to us.
Lovely beach and the sea does come in twice a day.

Nice link, many thanks janerowena.
I have joined and posted on Streetlife.

LOADS of groups and clubs that I never knew existed! Join yours. Goodness me. I had never heard of it until two days ago!

ooh! It takes you to a forum. Mine are all moaning about speeding through the next village and high petrol prices away from 'civilisation'. Exciting stuff!

Retiredguy - this might be of use to you.

https://www.streetlife.com/

It brings people in your area together. A flyer came through the door the other day advertising it and I thought of you, but couldn't find it. I think I shall join.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to afford both. The city for the winter, the sea for the summer.

I live in London and we occasionally toy with the idea of a rural retreat or seaside retirement, but
- all the family live close by
- we can be in Central london in 20 minutes courtesy of our freedom pass, visit galleries, exhibitions, theatre, concerts, lunch in fabulous restaurants, go for lovely walks, shop etc when it isn't peak time.
- Huge choice of leisure activities, adult ed courses etc
- we don't live in a soulless urban sprawl, but a leafy area with a residents association, a wine club and book group, residents annual BBQ and fireworks party and an online residents forum! People help each other, take parcels in, and chat to each other, it's a great place to live.
So for the time being we're staying put and will go on as many holidays as we can to get our rural / coastal fix . Each to their own, but don't knock all aspects of city living.

When my stepfather retired he bought a little plane with a friend, and took flying lessons. When he got his license he flew me over Lincolnshire. I had no idea. There were acres upon acres upon acres and then some, of caravans. No wonder the Skeg road was so clogged up through our village! (which was High Toynton, by the way).

Chapel Six Marshes was the only beach we went to where you could have an almost deserted beach all summer, because there are no shops, just loos.

Skeggy was our nearest coastal resort Retiredguy so I grew up visiting Skegness, Mablethorpe,Ingollmells and Chapel something? so you will realise I was quite old before I saw the sea!! Is it still like that? We went upmarket later on and went to Blackpool.

Our nearest town is Skegness or "Skeg-Vegas" as some locals term it.
I have no idea why.
Having been to Las Vegas; it's not a bit like Skegness.
For one thing there was no Lidl in Las Vegas nor did the famous 'Strip' bear any resemblance to Skegness's own touristic thoroughfare locally dubbed 'Chip Alley'.

Retiredguy your tales of cafe society was very amusing!

It does all sound like my idea of hell - a dreary seaside town with no amenities.

Do keep us entertained informed on life in the back of beyond!

Maybe you'll feel better after a good summer when it must be so different.

Sorry - Flix in the Stix. Such fun - we stop the film half way through for tea and a natter, or soup on cold nights.

Retirement moves need not entail "going rural" - a small seaside town might fit the bill.

Just to put in a plea for rural - and you don't get much more rural than here! - the trick is to move somewhere with a village community on tap. All the village communities round here have thriving social activities.

If the oil is a problem, have a regular small order so you know you are always safe. We also have bottled gas for the fire and the hob, so if you have a power cut you are able to keep warm.

We occasionally lose electricity - but are happy to put up with that for the views, the peace and the community cohesion. And candlelight is very romantic!

Supermarkets are a fair distance away, but all the major supermarkets deliver, and once they have negotiated the route to your house they are great.

Hospitals? - yes they are a distance away, but it is amazing how soon you get used to travelling for these things. We've been doing it for years and think nothing of it.

The lovely thing is that when you are in trouble people rush to your aid and stick together to care for each other. I remember on very stormy night with water rushing down the lane when a young builder from further up the village just arrived on our doorstep with wellies on to see if we were OK - he was ready to roll up his sleeves and rescue us. And when I was ill recently a lady whom I hardly know turned up on the doorstep with a bunch of flowers, neighbours brought home-cooked meals, and brought back treats from their shopping trips - you cannot buy that sort of thing. We value it above anything.

And no - it does not take years to be accepted. If you get out and about you will soon be "hoovered in" to all sorts of goings-on. We love it. We've been here for years, but always love meeting the "incomers" and seeing what they have to contribute to the community.

Who needs London theatre when you can go to the nearest town for a live feed, or to Fix in the Stix in the village hall or to the village panto, which is priceless! And the musical scene is brilliant - concerts in local abbey, folk festivals.

I would not swop this for anything! I feel grounded and cared for and part of something human scale.

Thanks Jane10.
If magnum opus there shall be I am thinking along the lines of...
" Fifty Shades of Grumpy."

So much to think about retiredguy. I really think you could write about your experiences and top tips. Self publish? On Amazon? You`ve already been very helpful in giving us the benefit of lots of things we/I wouldn't have thought of. Even an online Blog called eg "How not to retire", "Postcards from the Edge (of 60)", "100 things your parents didn't tell you" - over to you........................

A cathedral city sounds nice janerowena.
Mrs Retiredguy is determined to give this place a full year and as houses don't sell here in winter it may well be 2016 if ever so I am kinda resigned to being here.
'Livin' it but not lovin' it' as Grandpa Simpson says.
Northumberland was our holiday destination of choice when we lived in Lancashire. Beadnell just down from seahouses , nice little village and that Robson ( and Jerome?) chap who sings and does those fishing shows on TV has a place there.
Nice coastline and history but not a place we ever considered retiring to.
When we moved to Leicestershire Northumberland was too far to travel hence we began coming here to Lincs for our hols.
Some other aspects to consider when thinking of moving to 'rural'.
1: Is there mains gas?
( Oil fired is a right pain, you can't trust the tank fuel gauges so have to dip the tank and order oil or run out).
2: Does it have overhead cables for your mains electricity feed?
( Ours does along with all the properties around here and it goes off regularly when it is windy especially).
3: How far is it from hospitals?
4: Ditto supermarkets.

If you really can't settle there, you can carry on doing up the house and sell it on, I know that houses there were always in great demand. We used to drive through Anderby Creek and wonder if there were any gardens left at all, so many bungalows were being built behind the houses. However I do think you need to get through a summer as well before making up your mind. I made loads of really good friends there, you do have to make your own entertainment. Sadly DBH prefers his entertainment to be a little less homespun, I think we are more likely to end up retiring to a cathedral city than the seaside. I would prefer the seaside. But not in Lincs perhaps. The good thing about Lincs is that it rains a darn sight less than it does in Weston! We regularly used to drive down to Cornwall for a holiday (because an aunt lived there and we used to check up on her) and it would rain all week and we would have a drought back at home.

My in-laws have just moved from near Louth, Lincs to Warkworth, near Alnmouth. A little village by the sea with not a lot there. My heart sank. Talk about frying pan to fire. And we will be expected to drive for six hours to see them. At Xmas. In the snow.

Forgot to add, should be fairly easy to get a rental off season, many owners would be glad to take the opportunity of a few months (especially without a weekly clean and linen change!) extra income during the quieter times, so you should be able to negotiate a good rate.

I think your honesty has made many of us think very carefully about the retirement move.

Good idea too, especially through a winter.

Or perhaps rent for a few months, (especially out of season if it is a holiday type location) to see what it's really like before making the commitment of buying.