What is a Retirement Village?

What is a retirement village?

Retirement villages in the UK are usually large-scale developments of up to 250 homes. Often, they’re built outside towns and are designed as complete neighbourhoods. They usually offer a range of village services, such as a health club, a café, a swimming pool, shop and pub. However, people can still be unsure about exactly ‘what is a retirement village?’ as the term can mean different things and offer different levels of services and facilities. A retirement village is similar in many ways to a McCarthy Stone retirement development. In both cases, you'll have:

A secure, self-contained retirement apartment or retirement bungalow
Shared spaces and gardens that are professionally maintained
A little extra help and support on tap if you ever need it
A community of similarly retired neighbours and an active social life on your doorstep.

What are the benefits of a retirement village?

At both a retirement village in the UK and McCarthy Stone retirement community, you can keep your independent lifestyle and be part of a supportive community of neighbours with extra help on hand if needed.

Most Retirement villages and McCarthy Stone Retirement Living communities offer these benefits:

Flexibility – being able to live independently and come and go from your retirement property as you please
Facilities – having access to communal areas including restaurants, lounges and gardens
Community – the chance to make new friends with your neighbours and being able to participate in social clubs, events and activities
Security – the peace of mind in knowing the retirement village is safe and secure and protected by 24-hour security systems
Support – being able to access different levels of care, even when one person in a couple may require more support than another
Maintenance – not having to worry about maintaining the grounds or dealing with any external repairs to your property.

It’s important to note that all retirement villages are different and won’t necessarily offer the same levels of care, support or facilities.

How is a McCarthy Stone development different?

We build properties that are either in, or close to, the heart of the local area so you'll have a full range of shops, restaurants, leisure centres, public transport and amenities within easy reach and feel like an integral part of the wider community. While we don't offer onsite pubs or swimming pools, Retirement Living PLUS developments usually have an onsite licensed restaurant or bistro for when you don't feel like cooking and some offer wellness suites or beauty salons and hairdressers too. Our smaller-sized communities of around 40 properties make it easier for us to give the right level of personal care and support and can feel friendlier - you're more likely to know everyone.

What levels of support do you offer?

We offer three types of development depending on the level of support you'd like: Lifestyle Living, Retirement Living and Retirement Living PLUS.

With a Lifestyle Living development, you’ll receive:

A secure, self-contained property that you own, rent or Part Buy Part Rent
A high level of security, with door camera entry, a fire detection system and, at selected developments, a gated car park
A private outdoor space or balcony
All the gardening and exterior maintenance taken care of.

For a little extra support, then in a Retirement Living development, you'll also find:

A friendly House Manager on-site during office hours
A 24-hour emergency call system.
A luxury hotel-style guest suite for visitors to stay in
A communal lounge and large landscaped gardens for socialising with neighbours.

And for added peace of mind at a Retirement Living PLUS property, you'll also get:

An Estate Management team that's on-site 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
One hour of help around the house each week as standard provided by our in-house YourLife Management Services (YLMS) team. All of our staff are DBS checked and YLMS is registered with the CQC
A flexible level of personal care, so you only pay for what you need, when you need it
An onsite chef-run bistro or restaurant, plus sometime a wellness suite, beauty salon or hairdresser too.

We pride ourselves on making a profound difference to the lives of our customers, so if you'd like to own a beautiful retirement home with the same feeling of community and independence as a retirement village in the UK – but with the added convenience of being close to to the heart of your local town, city or village – start your search for a retirement property today.