Tell me the ideal location for my Mum

[KickAssAngel]

My mum is needing to move into a home that is suitable for an elderly person with disabilities. We thought that a retirement village, where she could have her own place and still come and go in her car, but with medical care if needed, would be good for her, but she doesn't like any that she's seen. If I give a list of what she's after, could people suggest locations?

In order of priority:
South - between Bristol & Kent.
Single storey (or be able to have a bedroom downstairs)
With a bit of garden/patio/balcony
Quiet street
Off road arking for 2 cars
Larger than a new build 2 bed flat, but doesn't have to be much bigger than that.
Able to access (by driving or on-site or very easy walk) the basic needs of life, e.g. pharmacy, convenience store, maybe a library/coffee shop type place.

If it could also be an easy drive to a larger shopping center (out of town place fine) that's even better!

Her budget can be very generous - so I'm really looking for possible towns/villages, and then we'll keep looking.

Tell me the dream location for these, please - should she be getting herself on Location, or A place in The Country?

That is her main concern, but she does have to move. The house she's in isn't suitable at all.

She has family from Bristol to Kent, scattered around. She loves to talk and if she hasn't seen anyone for a day will chat to me for 2 hours on the phone.

She has this idea of a1950s village, with doctors library etc that doesn't really exist.

She can't walk but is ok to drive. She uses a walker and can manage from a car to the bank, doctors etc. She would consider an electric buggy to get around a village.

The New Forest, lots of villages and small towns fit the bill and a huge amount of retirement properties. Lots of social stuff going on.

I agree with PP that the New Forest, Brockenhurst or Lyndhurst, would be a great location. There is a wide selection of retirement apartments available at different price points.

You say the traditional town/village doesn't exist, but there's Alton, Alresford, bishops Waltham, all in Hampshire and are great places to live with proper little shops. Lots to do for the elderly and proper community feel.

I think Petersfield would be nice. It's small and compact, but well served and seems to have lots of older people around whenever I go there shopping

[[https://www.inspiredvillages.co.uk/village/ledian-gardens Leeds, Kent
T]]

This is a brand new retirement village which is like a proper village, rather than an old peoples home. May be suitable.

Headcorn, Kent = nice, large village with railway station, range of shops etc

Deal, Kent pretty coastal town

Bexhill on sea

Yikes - some of these places have NO places for sale when I look on Rightmove.

I know that housing in the UK is moving fast, but I thought there would be places to browse, to get some first ideas! Maybe she's right, and the ideal home doesn't exist.

There's a new Mcarthy and stone retirement thing currently being built right in the centre of Alton

East Wittering.
Large doctor's surgery, easy access to shops and within a few miles of Chichester. Lots of retirement place.

Watch retirement villages. Especially ones like McCarthy and stone. Standing charges can be huge and they can be very difficult to sell afterwards.

I would think twice about buying a retirement property, there are just too many horror stories about trying to resell. She might be better off looking for a development (e.g. of small bungalows) that attracts an older demographic. How well is your mother? My FIL went to an extra-care scheme. He had an amazing 2 bed flat, completely self-contained in an award winning block with carers on site and a restaurant etc. if you didn't want to cook. You only had carers if you actually needed them but it meant that he never needed to move once he really deteriorated. It was rented and very good value.

Woodchester Valley Village in Nailsworth is owned by the people who live there, not a developer. It is very pretty, there is a huge choice of properties and a great social life on tap. Nailsworth and Stroud nearby are lovely places to live anyway. I know this is north of Bristol but just a short trip up the motorway. For visitors from the South East there is a good train service from London Paddington to Stroud and ready supply of taxis, otherwise a good drive along motorway and good A class dual carriageway.

Echo reselling retirement property concerns!

Also, realistically, how long will she be able to drive for? Would it be more sensible looking for a small town (Marlborough maybe?) where things are all in one place.

BigotSpigot that sounds like the kind of thing she wants. We're hoping to find somewhere that will work for at least the next ten years, so for now she wants her independence, but will probably have care needs in the future. A bungalow that could be adapted for mobility issues is perfect now, but she may end up moving again if there's no care available.

I think the main criteria is finding a large village/small town where she can feel at home, then start looking for properties. She is ok in her current home but it isn't great and can't be adapted around her future mobility needs, so she needs to move in the next year or two.

This is a search engine specifically for sheltered housing etc
housingcare.org/elderly-uk-sheltered-housing

for example, this village is nice
housingcare.org/housing-care/facility-info-17274-orchard-walk-watlington-england

How generous is her budget OP? This one is sold, but properties like this come up relatively regularly in this village: www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/115504727#/media?id=media0&channel=RES_BUY. The village is lovely and pretty close to your mum's 1950s ideal; friendly, walking distance to the library, a good doctors, chemist, a butchers, numerous coffee shops and a well stocked grocery store. There's a large-ish retired community locally, and a well regarded day centre for the elderly that is very active in the local community. The village also has a train station with connections to London and Reading and is surrounded by National Trust land. There's also larger shopping centres locally at Marlow, Maidenhead and High Wycombe; and Reading is a 30 minute drive away. Finally its pretty much smack bang between Bristol and Kent!

My relative lives in Mccarthy and Stone in Heathfield, E. Sussex. Its a small market town with lots of amenities.

This development (there seems to be a lot of flats for sale).
I will be responsible for selling it if she ever needs to, so I do worry that won't be easy to sell, but she is very happy there.
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/115381811#/?channel=RES_BUY

I used to visit an old lady who died early on in the pandemic. She made me promise not to buy a Macarthy and Stone flat.

The warden did nothing and organised nothing. Was only around from 9am to 12noon on weekdays.

The service charge was huge.

Thank you, everyone, for all the info. It's much better to get recommendations/warnings than just randomly picking places from the internet. Some of these places I don't know at all, so town names are great.

Mum's budget is generous, so if a good place comes up she can afford it - but she does love a bargain, so getting her to actually spend the money is harder. Some towns I've looked at I think she'd need to spend nearly a million (gulp!) and she was hoping to spend about half of that. Still, if I can just show her a few examples, it's getting the conversation going right now, so that she's more comfortable about the idea of change and being in a new place. Once the weather is better we'll probably have a little drive around some towns and villages to see what appeals.

@FluBlue

How generous is her budget OP? This one is sold, but properties like this come up relatively regularly in this village: www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/115504727#/media?id=media0&channel=RES_BUY. The village is lovely and pretty close to your mum's 1950s ideal; friendly, walking distance to the library, a good doctors, chemist, a butchers, numerous coffee shops and a well stocked grocery store. There's a large-ish retired community locally, and a well regarded day centre for the elderly that is very active in the local community. The village also has a train station with connections to London and Reading and is surrounded by National Trust land. There's also larger shopping centres locally at Marlow, Maidenhead and High Wycombe; and Reading is a 30 minute drive away. Finally its pretty much smack bang between Bristol and Kent!

This is the kind of place I'm thinking of, thank you!

Ideally, further south than this, and somewhere with a bit more of a village to it, although an art gallery would be appealing, would make this perfect.

Once I get a feel for the towns/villages that look good, I can get onto local estate agents. The link from BigotSpigot earlier is also very useful.