{"id":19523,"date":"2016-02-02T11:36:25","date_gmt":"2016-02-02T11:36:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/?p=19523"},"modified":"2016-03-08T16:41:58","modified_gmt":"2016-03-08T16:41:58","slug":"wiltshire-leisure-village","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wiltshire-leisure-village\/","title":{"rendered":"Wiltshire Leisure Village – affordable homes for active retirees"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Eddy-and-Jennifer-Shah\"<\/a>Pursue a healthy active retirement at Wiltshire Leisure Village<\/h3>\n

Not all retirees want to bin their worldly goods and move into tiny apartments by the sea. In fact there\u2019s a growing market for older people wanting spacious, modern, homes in locations where they can pursue a healthy lifestyle.<\/p>\n

Former newspaper tycoon Eddy Shah and his wife Jennifer are hoping to\u00a0woo active retirees\u00a0to their Wiltshire Leisure Village<\/a> near Royal Wootton Bassett.
\n\"Shah-Wiltshire-Leisure-Village-4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It’s worth a visit to see\u00a0the\u00a0new style of retirement village they have created,\u00a0with an 18-hole golf course, hotel, and leisure complex.<\/p>\n

There are 25 plots available for two-storey houses measuring 2,000 square feet\u00a0or more which\u00a0can be bought off-plan,\u00a0and designed to your own spec.<\/p>\n

The timber-frame properties with New England style clapboard\u00a0exteriors were\u00a0inspired by the Shahs’ visits to America. \"Shah_Wiltshire-Leisure-Village\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw great developments in America\u00a0offering lots of leisure activities and golf courses for retirees, and we thought\u00a0the Americans have\u00a0a much better time in older age than we do,\u201d said Jennifer, 68.<\/p>\n

\u201cRetirement is a phased part of your life,” she adds. “The first is where people want to downsize and use the money they save to live a fuller life, yet still retain their independence whilst having room for friends and family to stay with them.<\/p>\n

“The second is where they possibly need more support, and the third,\u00a0for some people, is when they need someone to look after them.<\/p>\n

“Our homes are aimed at those in the first phase. That’s why we’ve built\u00a0them on a golf course with a swimming pool, leisure centre and restaurants. It’s only minutes from the M4 and Heathrow is just over an hour away.\u201d<\/p>\n

[pullquote1 quotes=”true” align=”left” variation=”purple”]We are downsizing on price rather than size[\/pullquote1]<\/p>\n

The only restrictions to becoming an owner is that you have to be over 55 with one partner retired.<\/p>\n

Eddy, 71, launched Britain\u2019s first full-colour national newspaper in the 1980s, then pursued other\u00a0business interests in the United States\u00a0before persuading planning officials to accept his ideas for the village in 2000.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell you negotiating with the print unions was a lot easier than dealing with planning officials,\u201d he said. \u201cWith the unions you dealt with the problem there and then, with planners you have to wait three weeks for an answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ret\"Shah_Wiltshire-Leisure-Village-3\"<\/a>ired owners at\u00a0the Wiltshire Leisure Village<\/a> so far\u00a0include a 70 year old businessman from Cornwall, a former RAF group captain and his American wife and a business consultant in his 60s.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost people are from professional backgrounds,\u201d says Francine Watson, associate with Knight Frank, the agents marketing the properties.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u201cWhat they like is the size of the houses because you don\u2019t see retirement schemes which offer larger properties. These buyers may not want to live here all the time at the moment, but plan to eventually.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can use the property as your primary home and there are no exit fees when you sell. \u201cI hate exit fees,\u201d says Eddy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only fees are your annual maintenance charges which are \u00a3420 a quarter and your golf and leisure membership which we are still negotiating but hoping to reduce from \u00a32,300 a year to about \u00a31,000 for residents.
\n[pullquote1 quotes=”true” align=”right” variation=”purple”]We are creating a year-round community here and are very flexible to people\u2019s needs[\/pullquote1]<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of my newspaper and TV background I like the simple life. People get very confused with prices and fees and everything we do here is very straightforward.
\n\u201cOnce you\u2019ve decided on a property you pay one per cent deposit and your home will be ready in 21 weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are downsizing on price rather than size,\u201d adds Eddy, who reckons a four-bedroom home in his village priced at \u00a3475,000 would cost well over \u00a3600,000 outside. \u201cI\u2019ve built the houses\u00a0at low cost and I want to pass that saving on to the customer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Jennifer-Shah-Wiltshire-Leisure\"<\/a>Eddy\u2019s wife Jennifer, who is wheelchair bound after cancer treatment caused spinal damage 30 years ago, has made sure all the properties are wheelchair friendly, and have a downstairs bathroom and space for a lift.<\/p>\n

Jennifer started renovating houses back in the 1970s. \u201cI even did long boats and barges but then stopped when I got ill,\u201d she said.
\nShe also looks after the interior details such as kitchen white goods and plugs.<\/p>\n

\u201cJennifer is crazy about plugs \u2013 you can never have too many,\u201d says Eddie, a keen golfer who can often be found teeing off with owners or catching up on the gossip in the bar. All homes are future proof for TV and wifi and have enough space around them to give you privacy from your neighbour.<\/p>\n

\"Shah-Wiltshire-Leisure2\"<\/a>There is 24-hour security and an on-site manager.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are creating a year-round community here and are very flexible to people\u2019s needs,\u201d adds Eddy who lives seven miles away with Jennifer and their three dogs.<\/p>\n

There are 25 properties\u00a0for sale\u00a0priced from \u00a3405,000. For more information visit www.knightfrank.co.uk<\/a> \/ 0117 317 1999<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pursue a healthy active retirement at Wiltshire Leisure Village Not all retirees want to bin their worldly goods and move into tiny apartments by the sea. In fact there\u2019s a growing market for older people wanting spacious, modern, homes in locations where they can pursue a healthy lifestyle. Former newspaper tycoon Eddy Shah and his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":19074,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_analytify_skip_tracking":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[44],"yst_prominent_words":[8835,8831,8825,8824,8832,7647,8833,3901,8836,159,8829,8838,8827,8834,8826,8839,8828,8823,8837,8830],"class_list":["post-19523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uk","tag-uk-2"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-01 03:27:40","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19523"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20883,"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19523\/revisions\/20883"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19523"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=19523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}