What Is A Retirement Community?

Retirement should be the best time of your life. A time to focus on the things you enjoy. However, for many retirees, time is filled as comprehensively as their career was. Their time becomes distracted with home maintenance, gardening jobs and all the little worries that take up time they could instead spend enjoying themselves.  

This is not true for everyone, however. Some retirees fill their time with leisure activities – focusing their time not on boring tasks like cleaning out gutters and replacing windows, but instead, taking up the hobbies they’ve always dreamed of and spending more quality time with loved ones. These are the people who’ve chosen to stop worrying about maintaining a large house, and have instead moved into a retirement community.  

A retirement community can be viewed through a number of benefits: 

Lifestyle: They typically contain a number of lifestyle facilities alongside apartments. This often includes restaurants, activity suites, coffee bars, cinemas and outdoor spaces, along with a programme of interesting events to get involved with. 

Well-being: Your  well-being can also be improved by becoming a closer part of a thriving community. Personal and domestic care can be arranged within the apartments, but is not the primary reason to move there.

Integrated within the local community: A retirement community is typically positioned within easy reach of local shops and facilities, and often has established connections within the local area. 

To sum up a retirement community; think independent living, a supported and supportive environment where you can connect with like-minded people, and an apartment where you can retain your privacy and enjoy more quality time with fewer worries. 

Hear from homeowners’ daughter Michelle on how The Woodlands in Heaton Mersey has changed her misconceptions, since her parents made the decision to move to an Adlington community:

Do I Have To Be Retired To Live In A Retirement Community?

No, you don’t need to be retired. Adlington communities do all have minimum age requirements, with some starting at 55, depending on location. Many people are still working at this age, they have simply chosen to live with similarly aged people so they can stop worrying about looking after their properties and have the reassurance that they have future-proofed their independent lifestyle.   

What’s The Difference Between A Retirement Community And A Care Home? 

Communities like Adlington, make an independent lifestyle easier to maintain for longer. A place where you, and your loved ones, have the peace of mind that your new home is within a fully maintained and safe environment, where there is always someone to call on within the building 24/7. Places where you can socialise if you wish, but your privacy is respected when you choose not to. Should you need some extra help at a later stage, our care partners discreetly visit you in your apartment and can carry out rehab and physio treatments in our therapy suite, should that be needed.  Adlington are part of ARCO, a body that represents all the companies that provide retirement communities. They also help to explain the differences on their website.

What Is The Lifestyle Like In A Retirement Community?

Homeowners within a retirement community are typically thriving in their life stage and not reliant on 24/7 care. They often meet daily for a catch-up in the coffee lounges, share lunch in the restaurant and arrange clubs and trips for each other. They can often be found enjoying the landscaped gardens or taking afternoon tea in the summer house. A trip to the in-house hair salon and therapy suite are fitted in around their active lives. Friends and family often come to stay and agree that life is a like a 5-star hotel, with the fully prepared guest suites making overnight visitors easier to accommodate. 

If you think you might enjoy living within a new home surrounded by a welcoming group of new friends, whilst remaining independent, find out more today by finding a location right for you.

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