Living the retirement dream
DO YOU dream of living in an area that’s quite simply beyond your means? Retirement might just be your opportunity.
London’s Chelsea, which enjoys the joint highest life expectancy in the UK, would appeal to many, especially those with fond memories of youth ‘misspent’ along the King’s Road in the 1960s.
Alas, average property prices there have reached £2.3million – and not all pensioners can don red jackets and find a home in Chelsea’s Royal Hospital.
Enter Auriens, a super-glamorous development just off the King’s Road where amenities include a pet parlour, spa, cinema and gardens designed by RHS Chelsea Flower Show multiple awardwinner Andy Sturgeon. Properties at Auriens can be rented.
The ‘downsize to upgrade’ concept is also seen in Hampstead, North London, another cultural hub. Belle Vue, from Pegasus Life, is offering properties for sale there. Its apartments near Hampstead Heath start at £792,500 for a onebedroom property with dual-aspect windows and balconies. Average property prices in Hampstead stand at more than £1.5million.
And the trend is by no means confined to the capital. House prices in Sandbanks, Dorset, also run into the millions. Nearby,
Pegasus has its popular Woodlands site, with the last apartment, for sale at £570,000, just a 200-yard walk from a seven-mile stretch of award-winning beach.
Thirty miles west lies Poundbury, designed by the Prince of Wales on land owned by the Duchy of Cornwall. Beside the central Queen Mother Square stands Bowes Lyon Court, developed by McCarthy & Stone in a harmonious new-old style. More than 90 per cent of the 62 one- and two-bedroom apartments (from £260,000) have now sold.
‘There is always something going on and I like to get involved in as much as possible,’ enthuses Bowes Lyon resident Rowena Hampton. ‘I’ve always been a sociable person, so it’s lovely that there are always other people around and lots of activities to get involved in, like the film nights and art classes.’
In Gloucestershire is the brandnew Richmond Cheltenham retirement village, boasting a spa and a roof garden with views over the town of Cheltenham.
And the trend is found in affluent parts of the North of England, too. Pegasus Life, again, has apartments at The Chapelwood on Alderley Road in Wilmslow that afford an entree to the ‘Cheshire set’ from £360,000.
A benefit of buying in a retirement development is that complexes can take much of the strain out of the purchase, such as arranging the move and even selling your old home. But such a hands-on touch is not just the preserve of places to wind down. Sellers of new homes for people of all ages work in similar ways. One example is
Mulberry Homes, which has new houses and flats in desirable Richmond, North Yorkshire.
The Smooth Move scheme will help you sell your home to buy one of Mulberry’s, and the company has a dedicated sales team to guide you through the buying process. Two-bedroom apartments in Richmond start at £200,000.
So don’t just envy the wealthy – why not join them?