Country Images Magazine North Edition July 2017 | Page 82

Resize don’t downsize!
Paul Jackson shares his experiences of fi nding the right
retirement property for his parents.
There are many driving factors when looking for a smaller
more manageable property in later life. Today’s burgeoning
house prices mean that downsizing is a sensible way to
release equity. As we get older one of the most common
reasons to move is down to transport issues and access
to amenities, and in my parents case this certainly was the
deciding factor. They lived in a large beautiful rural village
with all their friends around them. What with the demise of
public transport and my mother’s deteriorating eyesight,
this meant relying solely on my father for transportation. I decided to focus only on the higher quality retirement
properties. What seemed like the perfect solution for my
parents was an ‘Assisted Living’ property from Richmond
Villages. I would simply describe Assisted Living as
purchasing your own leasehold home where you pay a
monthly fee, covering all meals, laundry and housework.
This meant that my parents could happily live without the
stigma of living in a care home. So on a bad day my father
can stay in, while my mother goes out, with the peace of
mind that expert care is there, if my father needs it.
My mother is very good at muddling along; she is the type
of stubborn old goat that never complains, one of those
kinds of people that will keep going forever. However it
was my father that I was really worried about, as all the
symptoms were there for Parkinson’s. I didn’t however want
my mother’s future to consist of looking after my father.
He has always led an active life; sailing dinghies, building
model airplanes and walking, so nothing really sedate with
an obvious easy transition. Now that he is in his eighties
and he is more frail, my main aim was fi nding somewhere
for him to keep a focus in life and keep his over active brain
busy with activities and hobbies. My parents have been living at a Richmond Retirement
Village for about six months now and have settled in
extremely well. They have their own group of friends that
they get up to mischief with, which they got to know from
the various activities laid on. Whenever I visit I always meet
them in the bar or restaurant; I am not sure whether that is
my choice or theirs? My parents initially turned their nose up
at the on-site health spa, until they realised that they could
use the gym every day, get back into swimming and take
part in fi tness classes. There are regular scheduled trips into
town, so my parents can escape, and do whatever old people
do in town.
The obvious choice was a ‘retirement village’ where, as due
to size, there would be a wealth of facilities and activities to
keep cognitive functions on the go and abate the potential
onset of dementia. I conducted a lot of personal research
into various options and I can tell you that the jargon,
options and level of car e and quality varies hugely from
company to company. So my advice when looking into such
options is to always look at what extras are provided and
plan for every eventuality. I want my parents to be happy and free; they are still my
parents, the ones that took me camping as a small child.
I still see them as energetic people and I am just glad that
they are in an environment that they can be themselves.
82 | CountryImagesMagazine.co.uk
For more information contact Richmond Aston-on-Trent:
01332 895702, www.richmond-villages.com/aston