If you’re thinking of retiring to a park home, then you might be caught up in a whirl of activity checking out the concept and differences between the park home lifestyle versus bricks and mortar. That may be followed by the practicalities of sorting through a lifetime’s worth of bits and bobs you have accumulated over the years but don’t need to hold space for.
But once you’re in, what happens next? Well, you’ll probably be enjoying your home enormously, having looked forward to it for a while, especially if you have been involved in the specification process. However, walking into an expertly designed, ready-made home is just as exciting.
There’ll be no need to spend days putting up blinds and curtains as park homes are turnkey ready; you literally move your belongings in, and you’re in. For those with physical ailments or worried about energy levels, that’s perfect – your move-in will be no vast, exhaustive, draining marathon. So, if you’ve used up all of your energy exiting your old house, don’t worry; by choosing a park home, you will have made the second stage of your move much, much more manageable.
Beyond that, you can settle down and enjoy what will hopefully be the best decision you have ever made. Of course, how much your life will change depends on many things: whether you have also decided to semi-retire or retire at the same time, if you have moved away from your current location, friends, family and activities, or if you have stayed in the same area but moved from bricks and mortar to a park home site.
While some stagger these elements, just as many find that all these changes have happened simultaneously in the move, so they are effectively starting a completely new life. That’s exciting, but you also inevitably have to prepare yourself for a period of adjustment and the fact that your new lifestyle may take a bit of getting used to. It might not all be sunshine and roses without a few moments of wondering if you’ve done the right thing, although hopefully, if you do have those moments, they will be brief and will pass fairly quickly!
For example, I interviewed a couple once who had just retired and moved to a new location to buy a park home back in 2010. They had planned it for ages, personalised their home in the build process, and were caught up in a whirl of excitement about their move.
When I visited, they were enjoying the home and loving the park but were a bit quiet when I asked how their day-to-day life had changed. Basically, having both left work, they were suddenly together all the time after leading challenging careers, and had started to get on each other’s nerves! They were in the process of joining local activity groups linked to their hobbies to get time out from each other, so everything felt a bit strange and it was taking time to adjust.
I returned to the same park a couple of years later to re-interview them as they had refashioned their lifestyle again, but on the same park, buying two slightly smaller park homes side by side and living in one each with the garden in-between landscaped as a joint space to enjoy. Their original change didn’t quite work for them, but they realised that they did love the location and lifestyle and stuck with it to find their perfect solution. They were then getting on brilliantly. While that example may be a bit extreme, it does show that you need a bit of adjustment emotionally to big life changes, although many of us will have tested how well we get on with our partners in lockdown, of course.
Many park plots lend themselves to creating additional seating and social areas outside, so that’s something to consider early on after your move, so you have an additional outdoor living area to enjoy straight away and can make the most of your new environment. It’s also a space that you can chill out in and find a bit of space if you are annoying each other!
I should also add at this point that in 20 years of interviewing park home owners that I’ve found that most who switch to the park home lifestyle are overwhelmingly positive about it, saying it feels like they are on holiday every day, and if anything most retiring couples have said it’s brought them closer together. Moving away from their previous community gave them a chance to shed a few responsibilities that they might have been struggling with, and they had less physical stress as the homes and gardens were easier to maintain. They nearly all have more free time as a result, yet often lead pretty busy lives enjoying days out, hobbies or doing things they simply never had time to do before.
Basically, their move has allowed them to re-fashion their lives to look after themselves, their health, and maybe also release a bit of equity to do some of the things they love while they’re fit and healthy enough to do so. So, far from being a move into a completely sedentary lifestyle, it has created the opportunity to realise a few lifelong ambitions and get out and about a bit more.
We very often see buyers purchase a motorhome as part of their downsizing exercise, travelling several times a year safe in the knowledge that their home is easy to lock up and leave, with others keeping an eye on it, and some parks offer set aside storage space for these; it’s worth checking if that’s what you’re thinking of doing.
A park home move also potentially future-proofs things for the longer term, as a decluttering process will occur during the move, leaving less for relatives to sort later. Mentally that can be refreshing and energizing. After all, the quicker you can find everything you need the less time and energy you waste daily!
Being part of a park home community has its benefits too – most park communities allow you to stay as private as you want, or to interact as much as you want, with some residents even organising joint days out, or enjoying activities and facilities provided by the park owner. That’s great for those who may enjoy pottering round the park to stretch the legs, maybe with a pet pooch in tow, passing the time of day with like-minded neighbours. Many parks have bus stops outside too, so if there’s ever a time when you can’t drive, you will still be able to get out to go shopping, if a neighbour doesn’t offer a lift first!
This can also take a bit of pressure from the next generation, as there’s nothing better than knowing your parents are in a happy and secure environment that isn’t difficult to maintain, living in a healthy and active way without their environment being over-demanding. Being surrounded by a community of like-minded people means that there’s potentially plenty of company, and either other residents or the park owner would quickly lend a hand if needed or notice if anything is amiss. While most don’t need that element of support system straight away, it’s good to know that you don’t have to make another move later on to benefit from it.
So, moving to the park home lifestyle is nearly always about more than the property move itself, it’s part of a wider change of pace and lifestyle. As with anything in life, it is what you make it, but in terms of how you spend your time going forward, it will most likely deliver the opportunity to live your life how you want to without pressure. That can be truly liberating, and a really exciting point to reach in life.
