Apologies in advance but this is a blatant shout out for our villages – six of which featured in the top ten of a recent international survey of ‘Best Retirement Communities in the UK’.

Independent global website bestretirementdestinations.com ranked five of our villages in the top five positions with a further one ranked in seventh position.

Cedars Village in Hertfordshire was supreme winner with a perfect 100% score, while Roseland Parc, Castle Village, Thamesfield and Elmbridge Village were runners-up and Lime Tree Village seventh.

Criteria for the rankings included residential options, visual appearance, recreational activities, social networking, and safety and security.

All six villages in the top 10 scored excellent or very good across all criteria and I think it is this which is most pleasing. We haven’t excelled in one particular area, we have scored highly right across our service offering, including our facilities.

Top reasons people choose to move to one of our villages, according to our last survey, is size of accommodation, the grounds and environment, village facilities, the atmosphere and the location itself.

Our survey typifies these latest rankings and demonstrates clearly that as people do get older there is no desire and absolutely no reason to compromise on standards of living.

Quite right too – without wishing to sound patronising, the older generation have worked extremely hard for their lot, why should they now be made to accept a sub standard lifestyle if they are in a position to enjoy a better one?

We realise private retirement living does not suit everyone’s desire or pocket but it does provide one proposition for those who want to consider it seriously.

And as the ageing population continues to grow even more top heavy, we see this model becoming a mainstream option – its ranking in this latest website survey tends to suggest the same too!