Is there anywhere like Cooper's Chase? (Thursday Murder Club)

[BlackAmericanoNoSugar]

I'm about 20 minutes into Thursday Murder Club and I'm wondering if there is a real place like that, with huge apartments, vast and beautiful grounds, catering, carers and a hospice wing, not to mention llamas.

If there is it'll probably be out of reach of most of us (money wise).

I used to wonder similarly about the Marigold Hotel.

Yes, I know that you can buy apartments in converted stately homes with lovely grounds and they tend to be pricey. When you add in catering to order, carers, medical facilities and llamas it can only be much, much more expensive.

We often think that this place would have the same vibe https://www.audleyvillages.co.uk/retirement-villages/st-elphins-park

Yes - there are two in my city. Decent size apartments, restaurant on site, pleasant grounds - and then as people’s needs increase they move into the nursing home section for more support. My grandparents were in one. Definitely not a cheap option!

Wow @Lobba24 that looks amazing. They could have just filmed there and saved themselves some budget on background extras.

There's the one that Osman’s mother lived in, which first gave him the idea for the book

https://www.stgeorgespark.co.uk/

I read a newspaper article very recently that said Richard's mum lived (? lives) in a retirement village like Cooper's Chase, in Sussex, which inspired the book.

I believe it's loosely based on St George's Park in Ditchling, Sussex. My DPs live nearby (but can't afford it!). sussexcarehub.co.uk/st-georges-park

Some of these do look nice - but I still have a kind of fantasy older life driving a golf cart around one of these gated Floridian retirement villages with lovely pools etc always in the sunshine while dressed in brightly coloured golfer or leisure wear making my way to shuffleboard or line dancing with ‘the girls’ and permanently slightly sozzled on the cocktail of the day or rose wine….

I don’t let reality intrude ….

Ooh I love the look of this one. Will plan my savings, pensions for it from now :)

Yes and they cost a fortune. There are a few around where I live.

It’s a growing UK market, more and more are being built and they are whoppingly expensive!

Another Audley one:

https://www.audleyvillages.co.uk/retirement-villages/binswood

I've actually been inside this one and yes, it feels lovely. (We went because it was once a school where my friend's grandmother boarded so we wanted a nosey, but it's changed a bit since then!) I could just see myself visiting the library and having a swim before meeting friends in the lounge area prior to enjoying a gourmet meal :)

The cost of the apartments could be worse - but it's the service charges that are really crippling, and that's before you pay for any of the optional extras.

Other countries do this so much better!

I assume Palm springs retirement is like this

Whiteley Village and Birtley House.

I recommend the film, the plot is weak but the cast is strong enough to carry any old rubbish with charm and style.

It was a lovely setting. I’ve read the book and it stays fairly faithful to it. The acting wasn’t too bad.
I don’t know anywhere like coopers chase!

There is a retirement place that my brother is hoping to encourage my Mum to choose. But it's quite small bungalows and a nursing home, not big gorgeous apartments like the film. And no llamas (surely alpacas would be better anyway, less grumpy). It's right beside my Mum's parish church, which has a good community centre and the home itself has a restaurant, carers, cleaners etc and quite a few of my Mum's friends already live there.

I don't know how much it costs exactly but the model is pretty good. People buy their bungalow and when they move into the nursing home (or die or move elsewhere) the company buy back the bungalow for the price the owner paid for it. The company can then renovate if needed and sell it again. That way avoids problems with the heirs not being able to sell and being stuck paying fees for an empty property.

Whitely village (mentioned above) is a fascinating one - it’s more of a village (has its own community centre, PO, church, library, bowling green for example) with separate small houses as well as more appartment and cared for options. But unlike most linked here it is a charity and available mostly ( I think they now have a small number of private rentals) to those in need of housing with less than £16500 p/a in pension. I live locally and it is so charming - an ideal retirement space imo! https://www.thewhiteleyhomestrust.org.uk

A different kind of place but I'm always fascinated by places like Brinsworth House and Denville Hall which are retirement homes for actors, variety performers and various other assorted thesps.

Richard O Sullivan lives at Brinsworth House (I think Meghan Markle visited him there before she high tailed it out of the country) and Richard Attenborough and his wife lived at Denville Hall in their later years. Amongst tons of others.

These places would be a great place to set a sitcom or a cosy crime.

I was just telling DH about the film, and the inadvisability of llamas and how alpacas would be better when I remembered that I got bitten on the boob by a llama at a city farm about 20 years ago. Which may explain my mistrust of them.