Purpose Built Retirement accommodation.

Retire in style

We’ve done our bit. It’s time to enjoy our freedom. Groovy granny, Monica Flatley looks at the options for relaxing retirement in Spain

I recall scratchy Irish tenors and Bing Crosby but my most vivid memory is her first Beatles record experience.
I’m not sure if her sense of wonder came from that exhilarating Kerrrang! At the opening of A Hard Days Night or amazement at a disc dropping down onto the turntable of our new Dansette record player and a little arm unaided placing the needle on the record.

These days though, grandparents are more likely to be swapping music they’ve downloaded from the Internet with their grandchildren and the closest they get to lavender is in an aromatherapy session after a work out at the gym. What has happened to grandparents? Well we’ve grown up and become them. We’ve worked hard and now it’s time to enjoy ourselves.

For a lot of us Spain is the place to be doing that, as we’ve had a fair bit of practice. We let our hair down there on our first package holiday, believed that holiday fling with José the waiter would last forever, and generally got a taste for sangría and the good life, going back and back over the years with friends.

It is inevitable then that Spain is our first choice for retirement and we are spoilt for choice with developments. Down on the Costa del Sol there’s the buzz that’s been going on for years. The Costa Blanca is a bit more sedate but has its moments.

A Benidorm Sixties Night now refers to both the music and the age of a lot of those ageless wonders strutting their stuff on the dance floor. (And we had that glitter ball the first time around.)

But what do you do as time races past? What are the options?

The UK led the way with Retirement Housing, developments aimed specifically at those of us who’ve left the daily grind behind at last. We wanted independence but we also wanted support when we needed it. We were the generation that lived in communes and we wanted a sense of community but not the institutionalised atmosphere of the Old Folks Home of the old days.

We may have reached a certain age but don’t need nursing care at the moment. We just want easier day-to-day living so we can just get on with enjoying life.

Retiring to Spain

Until fairly recently there was no such private retirement housing for sale in Spain but now more and more attractive developments are springing up, within walking distance of shops and with design features to suit our age group.
You’ll find courtyard cottages, bungalows or apartments with private or shared gardens, and in the properties themselves, low thresholds, straight stairs, and low windowsills. The best retirement properties should give you no real indication that you are living in a retirement home, a bit like after a certain age we don’t want to get birthday cards with a number on the front.
This purpose-built accommodation is usually in the form of grouped houses or apartments with a package of estate management services provided. The service charges depend on the level of care and services available on each development.

KEI HOMES based on the Costa Blanca, is an established independent retirement development specialist company in Spain and have solutions for moving to this particular area renowned for its health-giving qualities, although they can also offer properties in other areas along the south coast. The company have a successful history in purpose built property for the retired and can help you find the sort of home that you are looking for, keeping your personal independence with exclusive ownership or tenancy. They have Healthy Living Retirement Developments plus Health Care Resorts all giving comfort, security, medical cover and facilities that such up-to-date developments can provide for the over 55’s.
Developments are planned to have a distinctive village atmosphere and there are 24- hour on-site medical services so you can sit back, relax and get on with enjoying spending your kids’ inheritance.