Hundreds of thousands of Australians are now calling retirement villages ‘home’, so what makes these communities so appealing to over 55s? -Affordability, safety and convenience and above all, lifestyle!

For many retirement living is about downsizing, ie. ‘hassle-free’ living. Most retirement villages therefore have your maintenance and gardening all taken care of! Other benefits are amenability and ease of living. Most retirement villages have been carefully planned and designed with your needs in mind –from their well-chosen and ambient locations to the finer details, such as ‘no steps’ to easy-to-clean bathrooms. Residents are usually screened, and this, together with the older demography of retirement living, creates a safer and more secure place to live. Finally, the real draw card for many retirement villages is the wide range of social and leisure activities available.

With retirement villages in almost every corner of the country, your choice begins with where you want to live. Some prefer metropolitan locations, because they are closer to friends and family. Others prefer to break away from it all, and escape somewhere rural or coastal. In Victoria, three villages worth looking at are Aveo’s Sackville Grange in Kew, Australian Unity’s Morven Manor in Mornington and Retirement Communities Australia’s Cardinia Waters Village in Pakenham.