Gary and Cheryl Summers
Wealthy baby boomers have never had it so good when it comes to finding a luxurious retirement property
Wildernesse, Sevenoaks
Downsizers can upscale to a grand estate like Wildernesse House in Sevenoaks, where one-bed apartments, priced from £595,000, can come with a kitchen island and stone fireplace.
Or there’s the country-house-style retirement community like Great Alne Park in Warwickshire, surrounded by 78 acres of land, where homes cost rather less – £374,000 for a two-bed apartment.
There’s the chic modern urban schemes like Riverstone Kensington or Riverstone Fulham for city lovers with private cinema, restaurant and gardens designed by Chelsea Flower Show winner Andy Sturgeon.
Luxury at a high-end Audley Village – you have 20 to choose from now – comes with modern art, antique furniture, designer fabrics and on-site restaurants serving Michelin star-style cuisine.
Audley Fairmile, an enclave of 74 two-bed homes priced from £764,950 has just opened in Surrey, and, Audley is also offering to pay your stamp duty if you complete on a new home by Christmas.
If you’re a bit of a teccy you will love the cutting-edge technology at Auriens.
Mood lighting and motorised kitchen cabinets come as standard at Chelsea’s most expensive retirement village.
One-bed apartments cost £2,750,00 and two-beds £3,995,000 with other charges too.
But you do get a private cinema with live streams from the Royal Opera House and Glyndebourne, swimming pool and spa, restaurant, weekly music recitals and a chauffeur-driven car.
Competition in this sector is fierce, which is why building is being concentrated in fashionable enclaves like the footballer and celebrity haunts of Cobham and Chertsey in Surrey, Cirencester and Stow-on-the-Wold in the Cotswolds, and Tunbridge Wells and Sevenoaks in rural Kent.
Operators are also keen to invite celebrities to launch their villages.
Audley Fairmile
Joanna Lumley dazzled homeowners at Riverstone Kensington last year when she shared her recipe for a new cocktail and actress Celia Imrie didn’t want to leave the luxurious cinema at Riverstone Fulham.
Luxury living for rock musician Gary Summers, 71 and his wife Cheryl, 53, is a large apartment in a modern ‘super-sustainable’ retirement community that’s within walking distance of an Ivy restaurant.
The couple moved into a two-and-a-half bed apartment at Pegasus’s Cobham Bowers, a retirement scheme for the over 60s, in Surrey last Christmas.
They swapped a large five-bed house in New Malden measuring 1,600 sq feet for a 1,150 sq foot home with a better layout.
“It’s not much smaller,” says Gary, “But It’s more open plan so feels much bigger. There’s plenty of room for my seven guitars and for entertaining friends, and Cheryl’s 13-year-old daughter when she comes to stay.”
“Luxury for us is having a modern apartment that’s so energy efficient we haven’t had to put the heating on since moving in in December,” he adds.
“We’re walking distance from Cobham High Street which has an Ivy restaurant, boutiques and everything we need. The development doesn’t have a restaurant or gym but we have the Cobham Centre nearby which has a gym and café and organises activities.”
Gary, whose musical highlights include playing with legendary drummer Mick Underwood and appearing at the 02 Academy in Sheffield with former Whitesnake rockers Snakecharmer, still performs with his Gary Summers Band and plays gigs most weekends.
“There’s a more contemporary feel here which means there are younger older people in their mid 70s here who have all had interesting lives,” he adds.
Another luxurious bonus for Gary and Cheryl is that there are no exit fees to pay if they move or sell which will be good news for the six children they have between them.
One-and-two-bedroom apartments at Cobham Bowers cost from £480,000 and rentals from £2,841 a month.
