Would you downsize to a retirement village ?

It's a no from me. Too much like an Elephant's Graveyard for me. I don't want to spend my time going to funerals and hospital visiting. I am more than aware of my own mortality and don't want to be made aware of it constantly which is, I'm sure what happens.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-57316602.amp

Some enterprising 60yr olds in Edinburgh have been acquiring a large house to convert into some sort of community housing, future proofing in mind
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I'm watching that with interest because if it wasn't enormous and you had your own privacy the location would be attractive.

To resolve the big garden care, I host young people for a few weeks at a time, who cut grass, chop wood and are often quite useful. I feed them in return and they seem to like the arrangement.

Not a retirement 'village, but i'm downsizing to a retirement apartment. I need to be closer to my family and I can't cope with my garden any more. I'll let you know sometime next year how it's going!

It wouldn’t be for me, either. I like being able to go out of my own front door, into my garden and mix with a variety of people all ages.
We also had a 2 bed flat in London, when DH worked there during the week. Great for visiting and enjoying the London attractions, but flat living in a confined space is not for me.
But I can see the attraction for some people, we’re all different, just as well!

MOnica even if it had been practical and possible the sheer size would have left you bankrupt if you are not halfway there already!

It does sound good, I hope you are pleased with the end result.

My 3 bedroom house is modern with a small rear garden which I have block paved but the front and sides are a different story. There is so much I have to employ a fellow to cut the grass fortnightly.

Concentration camps for oldies with annual costs. I like my own house in a real community.

I would hate to live in an apartment ( been there done that, didn’t like it)

If we moved again I would like to go back home (South) and a smaller house, near to shops or on a bus route, with a smaller garden.

But it’s a No to moving into any kind of retirement village.

Not for me, I find it’s the mix of ages that keep me young.

Charleygirl our back garden is 150 feet long and 60 feet wide. It also goes gently uphill. Landscapers have only this week finished the new patio we needed renewed and extended after having an extension built. It required mechanised earth diggers and retaining walls, so more paving is impractical.

I wouldn't want to live in a village where everyone was very elderly. I like a mix of ages. Where I live though, it's predominantly older people because the houses are mainly bungalows. I'm the youngest by far!

Hi everyone ☺

Despite the fact I am not retirement age, it has been a topic of discussion. The part I would like to mention is the garden part.

Well this has been at the forefront of my mind for various reasons.

I loath gardening with a passion and even if I wanted to do any, am now unable to do much ( health wise ). My husband does the gardening. So the reason for stating THAT bit of useless info ( hahaha ) is that if I was on my own, I would have to have a gardener ( despite loathing it, no way would I want it looking unkempt)

Sooooo the next bit of info is my neighbour has a HUGE garden that at 1 time was her and her husbands pride and joy l then her lovely husband died ) and the garden is now nothing but a noose round her neck, she is 90, can hardly walk nevermind tend to a huge garden, and so the gardener comes and my neighbour pays ££££££ to keep this beautiful garden looking beautiful.

Soooooo ( phewwwwww..
I'll get there in the end ) its not wise to put a garden up there on your important list for those very reasons..... a balcony with a few pot plants maybe ????? ?

Sorry for loooooonnnnnng post. ?

We too have a large garden and thinking ahead, prepared to make it as maintenance free as possible. Flowering borders were cleared and planted up with shrubs. I still have a variety of pots and planters to enjoy tending to and our gardener comes weekly to cut the grass or attend to any heavy work required.

No I prefer to mix with a range of different ages. OH's parents moved into a newly built McCarthy and Stone property, it was fine initially but gradually everyone got older and more infirm, had to move to care homes or died and tbh it became a rather depressing environment. After FIL's death, MIL came to live with us and it proved very difficult to sell her property even with a poor resale value. The service charges remained payable even when she was living with us and they were pretty steep.

MOnica may I suggest if the garden is your only bugbear at present because of its size, why do you not sort out a large area with block paving (expensive) or gravel? The problem with the latter is that it occasionally has to be weeded as does the former.

It would at least allow you to stay there with much less gardening to be done. Another option would be to pay somebody but that mounts up.

I'm looking at this thread with interest.
My 97yr old DMiL asked me if and when I was selling the house! (She is still in her 3 bed Wimpey House with stairlift and downstairs loo with her DC staying with her as companions for a few weeks at a time)

I have a huge old house but I use it. I let part out and have a studio which I share. I would struggle if I became frail though and I look at other people's solutions.
You need to have your name down for sheltered housing well before you need it.

I would not care for an elderlies compound.
Move me into a carehome when I am too dotty to notice.

The size of what you need is different when its one of you, and if you can afford a property where you can put family up anyway , and what your hobbies are as regards the space issue.

I would never live anywhere without nice gardens or leafy views tho. And quiet!

Our auntie moved to a small retirement village in a very nice area she had everything there and her own little apartment. She soon decided she couldn’t stay there and moved as she didn’t like the instant friends available. She was a private person who wasn’t sociable with other people. We thought it was ideal and it was a lovely environment but it wasn’t for her.

I think it depends on what you want in life and how sociable you are too. If I was a lot older and on my own I would certainly consider it but as a couple we would not. Our house and garden are a too big for us now but everything we need is here and we are too lazy to move.

I do not know what it is like in Australia, but I find most of the properties sold in retirement villages in the UK are very small. One, or may be two bedrooms and only one living room. The individual rooms being quite small as well.

Our neighbours recently downsized - from one large 4 bedroomed house to another large 4 bedroomed house, but one with a much smaller garden to the acre or more that came with their previous house, and while our garden is just a large suburban garden, it is only the garden getting to much work, or physical disability, limiting our ability to look after it that would lead us to downsize to an urban house the same size as we have atthe moment, but with little or no garden.

I moved into one here in Sydney nine years ago. Love it. Not all old people, no maintenance, join in or not. I prefer to do my own thing and glad I moved.

I'm trying to mull it over, but with a slightly different focus.

More a block of flats where its over 55's or over 60's, but in a normal community where things like more of the world going by, GP near, cafes, near my gym, near a shop without getting in a car etc.

MerylStreep

I’d go nuts being surrounded by old people ?

Snap! ?

I love my house and private garden. DDs know the only way I will be leaving here is if I no longer know what’s going on, I’m only half way there!

Yep, I didn’t quite like to say that ,though?

I’d go nuts being surrounded by old people ?