Spread your wings
ANYBODY who thinks retirement is all about sitting on the sofa watching daytime television hasn’t met Diana Stainbank, 73, who walks five miles twice a week with her rambling club and spent her holidays in Siberia trekking through the Altai Mountains.
Diana, widowed 11 years ago, also enjoys long-distance walks in Britain – she’s planning a four-day trip along Stone’s Way to Stonehenge. She plays tennis most weeks and volunteers at her local arthouse cinema.
But the former teacher says she would never have been able to do half these things if she hadn’t downsized to a retirement development where she can lock up and leave her flat, knowing the management team is keeping an eye on it.
Diana sold her family house and moved into a two-bedroom apartment at PegasusLife’s Carriages development in Purley, south London, this January.
“When I saw this flat I fell in love with it and knew it was somewhere I could live,” she says. “I had a big garden and I was resenting having to do gardening on a nice summer’s day rather than enjoying the outdoors and seeing friends.
“It was a 1960s-built house and was showing its age and it was also on top of a hill. Now I’m much nearer the train station and walking on the flat. The buses are round the corner and shops are on this lower level in Purley.”
She says she is making up for lost time by visiting London’s museums and galleries and going to the theatre. “I was deputy head of a secondary school, so much of life passes you by when you are working 70 hours a week,” she explains.
As Diana has remained in the town where she lived with her husband and two sons for years, she can still see all her old friends as well as having the opportunity to make new ones at Carriages.
But it was the opportunity to downsize easily that attracted her to the development: “I wanted to not have so much stuff and things to look after,” she says with a laugh. “I also like the security of living here.
“The older you get the more worried you are about things like burglary. Here I can just lock up and know it is safe. We have hosts come in every morning to take care of anything that needs doing and take in deliveries.”
Diana describes her top-floor apartment at Carriages as spacious with lots of storage, adding: “It has got a balcony so I can sit outside for breakfast in the morning. It is quite luxurious.”
The development also has a communal rooftop terrace which is accessible from the fourth-floor Sky Lounge. This has an honesty bar and social kitchen with a dining table and chairs plus a food larder stocked with local produce.
There’s a guest suite that can be booked through the management team in reception, who help to organise social events. Apartments are still for sale, from £349,950 (0800 975 0170; pegasuslife.co.uk), all with fully-fitted kitchens and bathrooms. Those wanting to try before they buy can enjoy a free stay in a fully-furnished apartment for one or two nights and there are opportunities to rent rather than buy. PegasusLife has a new development in Hampstead, north London. Hampstead Green Place has its own wellness centre including a lap pool and gym, stretch studio and sauna. Like Carriages, it also has a communal lounge and social kitchen. Prices start from £792,500, off-plan, and there is a furnished show apartment for viewing. And in Wilmslow, Cheshire, apartments with either one, two or three bedrooms start from £367,950 at PegasusLife’s new development Chapelwood, which includes a spa, gym and restaurant.
As Diana says: “Life is for living.”