Tuesday, July 20, 2010

ENJOYING THEIR OLD AGE

When they entered their eighties my parents decided that maintaining a four bedroom house with a large garden was beginning to be too much for them.
They still wanted  a house of their own and Dad loves his garden so they decided to sell up and move into a Retirement Village in Hervey Bay.
In this village there are around 300 homes - mainly 2 bedroom but there are several with 3 bedrooms.
The amount of land around each house is small and there are no fences between houses but the gardens are lovely. The lawn is mowed and heavy work is done but residents can personalise their space or leave it to the staff. It's their choice.


With a smaller house and less garden to look after they can spend their time on other, more interesting passtimes.....
like

swimming in the pool or lounging in the hot spa
or

playing lawn bowls
or

joining in a spirited game of table tennis or billiards
or

 
meet friends to play cards, scrabble, mahjong, learn new crafts...
or just chat.
They have a fabulous meeting place they call the Grange

where daily drinks can be purchased at Happy hour and weekly dinners are held.
They have a library, gym and computer room....

and the latest inclusion in this list of occupations is this -

a community vegie garden where residents can acquire a garden plot to grow their own vegies.

It's been a roaring success - as you can see!

Small raised beds make it easy for old timers like my Dad to potter and grow lovely fresh vegies


It also provides a social focal point for the residents to chat ,swap and boast

about the quality and size of their produce.

No wonder the residents are so happy in this lovely place.
They have lovely surroundings and the company of lots of HAPPY people their own age.

Hope I can find something similar when I'm their age.

Cheers.

11 comments:

  1. Well I certainly wouldn't mind living somewhere like that now let alone when I am in my 80s!

    Jane x

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  2. helen, can you get me an application form to fill in please :D

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  3. Me too Helen, it looks idyllic x

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  4. Well I don't have any experience with retirement homes but surely that set up must be one in a million, it looks amazing. No wonder they're happy. You've got some good strong genes in your family Helsie, and your Mum looks fab!!

    Kate x

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  5. What a wonderful place. So clean, neat and tidy.I just love it. Thanks for sharing those beautiful photos Helen.
    Hugs Suex

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  6. It seems the oldies get the best places. I would enjoy it now :-)

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  7. It looks like a holiday camp! I've seen nothing like that in the UK.

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  8. I think it's wonderful that there are retirement villages. I can certainly understand the attraction to living in one. I'm hoping I have a few more years before I have to make that decision though!

    Kudo's to them for including a garden!

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  9. You snuck by me on my blogroll. How did I miss this and the last posting. Maybe it's the time difference. Or maybe I have been working way too hard on the design template change. So glad to stop by and see you are still with us all in blogland.

    What a charming place to retire. I would love to live there and have all those things to do so near by. Wonderful garden. It's keeping them all going... if we all can only be so lucky.

    Toodles,
    Kate - T.G.B.

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  10. DH is looking for a place like this!

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