Stuart and Mary moved to one of our cottages from Hawkes Bay a few months ago, we spoke to them about how they are settling into Village life...
“My son lives in Kaikohe and my daughter-in-law had worked at the village and she said what a lovely atmosphere it has here. Every now and then my son said, “Mum you really should look at retirement places”. One day an advert for Kerikeri Retirement Village popped up on my phone. What caught our attention was the fact that it was not run for profit, which was really attractive to us. Some retirement villages keep piling the costs on but not here, we know where we are with the costs here and that’s reassuring. As my son said, ‘you’re not only buying into a lovely place to live you are also getting peace of mind.”
“I can’t drive anymore because I have problems with my eyesight. So, the fact that I can walk to church, doctors and we are right next to New World, that sealed the deal. I can get everywhere I need to without being reliant on a car. We can even walk to the cinema! Just that fact removed a great deal of anxiety about the future for me.” Said Mary.
Stuart added, “It is a big adjustment because we have moved away from our community, and we miss our friends and our church, but we are both social and enjoy meeting new people. They have interesting activities such as the climate change exhibition at the Turner Centre, and it was walkable! You really feel you are a part of the community when you are invited to take part in these events and that’s important to us. People in the Village are friendly but people in Kerikeri have also been very friendly, courteous, and happy to help.
“We had a lot of work keeping up our property in Hawkes Bay, we came here and all the maintenance is done for you and we can just sit back and enjoy. We love how the Village is relaxed but at the same time so well organised and managed. If you want to take part in something – it’s there. We go to the Potting Shed Garden Group, Mary does two exercise classes every week and we went to the community dinner last night. Sometimes we don’t feel like doing anything and that’s fine too!” said Stuart
“Moving from a three-bedroom house to a one-bedroom has been a big challenge, having to part with a lot of our possessions was hard, but we are adjusting, and we are loving Village life.”
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