Clash of the baby boomers: The reality and future of retirement homes
OUR WRITER reports on a generation with divided views on retirement living but who are united in one key desire: for a better life than their parents.
Lawyer Andrew Evans is selling his glorious former rectory home so he and his wife Sara can downsize but at 65 he would never consider moving to a retirement village for fear of ageing 10 years virtually overnight.
Instead the couple plan to live in an 18th-century Cotswold stone house in Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, close to shops and a vibrant community. “I am not particularly looking forward to retirement,” he admits, “but I don’t want to be with a lot of retired people.
You are ‘badged’ if you are in a retirement village.” By contrast Lillian Heard, 83, is gleeful about her thoroughly modern flat in Woodbridge, Suffolk, part of PegasusLife’s Malt Yard retirement living development. “When I told my daughter and four grandchildren that I was planning to move to Malt Yard they were concerned,” she admits.
“They thought I meant I was moving to an old people’s home.” But she adds: “I may be in my 80s but I play golf regularly, use a computer and love to socialise and travel.” Malt Yard is a seven-minute walk from Woodbridge and has 29 apartments, all different, with the retired residents a mix of singles, couples, widows and widowers.
Lillian decided to downsize when her husband David died: “I am fortunate that I am in good health and after a lifetime of working and travelling, including living in Japan, I wasn’t ready to give up my independence,” she says.
“Malt Yard has wonderful shared facilities including a gym that’s been designed for older people, a cinema for watching films and sport and a communal lounge where we throw parties and entertain friends.” You couldn’t find two more different points of view about downsizing yet it accurately reflects a split in the baby boomer generation.
Estate agent Strutt & Parker has interviewed 1,000 over-65s and analysed the data to come up with six distinct “retirement tribes” all with slightly differing views of how they want to live when work is over.
The only thing they all agree on is that they don’t want to live like their parents did in retirement.
They want flexible accommodation with access to public transport so they can live an independent life in homes subtly designed for them that are part of a wider community of mixed ages with good shops, leisure facilities and medical care to meet future requirements. Strutt & Parker calls these developments Platinum Places and has even suggested ideal locations such as Chelmsford, Guildford, Bromsgrove, Wilmslow and Whitley Bay.
You could argue that any small town – such as Andrew and Sara’s Chipping Campden – already has mixed ages, shops and healthcare but Strutt & Parker says Platinum Place-style developments still don’t exist, although hopefully it’s just a matter of time.
Couple finds love in retirement home
Until then, PegasusLife thinks it offers the next best thing, with CEO Howard Phillips saying:
“The modern retiree is active, mobile and sociable and the homes they choose to live in need to reflect this. Our residents are looking to downsize their properties but not their quality of life.
This doesn’t just mean moving into a property with a communal lounge but moving into a development designed to maximise residents’ living standards and social interactions, located in a place with plenty of amenities for residents. “Our latest development, Chapelwood in Wilmslow, provides a good example.
From a deli café to gym and spa, the development is a stone’s throw from the buzzing Cheshire town and ensures that residents have plenty of space to socialise, exercise and relax.”
In the meantime, if anyone is on the look out for a Victorian rectory in Kent with a pool and tennis courts Andrew would be delighted to sell you one. Call Strutt & Parker on 01227 473720 or go to struttandparker.com.
For details about PegasusLife call 01962 710700 or go to pegauslife.co.uk