If you’re just beginning your retirement living journey and haven’t yet experienced retirement living firsthand, it can be difficult to understand all the offerings and envision what life would be like.
At Oak Tree, we feel that the best way to understand the lifestyle is visiting the village and taking a tour with the Village Manager so you can see the villas and facilities in person, experience the atmosphere firsthand, and meet some of the friendly faces that call Oak Tree home. However, you may still be in the early stages of exploring options, and not ready to take this step just yet.
To help you understand what your life would be like at Oak Tree, here are seven of the most common questions people have about our retirement villages, answered.
WILL I LOSE MY INDEPENDENCE?
A common misconception people have is that when you move to a retirement village, you’ll lose your independence, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. At Oak Tree, you are free to continue with your current lifestyle but with the added benefits of less maintenance worries, more facilities to use at your leisure, new friendships, and so much more.
You’ll be living amongst likeminded neighbours within a gated community, in a villa that you can make your own, just like you would a regular home. Our villas are thoughtfully situated in a way that ensures you have your own privacy, space, and won’t feel like you’re on stop of your neighbours. Of course, there are village rules that must be followed, but these are very reasonable and are put in place solely for the safety of our residents.
While there are regular activities and social events that are held in the communal Village Centre, there’s never any pressure or expectation from anyone to join in on these. You can attend every event, or none – the choice is completely yours and everyone will respect your decision! If you’re a bit of a lone wolf, you are free to keep to yourself and just enjoy the feeling and security of having likeminded neighbours near you.
HOW BIG ARE THE VILLAGES?
At Oak Tree, each of our villages are slightly different in terms of size and number of villas, but all of them are boutique and smaller scale – an intentional decision to foster a tight knit community feeling. They’re small enough that our on-site Village Manager knows every resident personally, and you can be sure that you’re not just another number to us and you’ll never feel lost in the crowd. There are many benefits that come with living in a smaller village, including a stronger sense of belonging, more access to facilities, and easier access to management to name a few.
IS IT A NURSING HOME?
At Oak Tree, our villages are not nursing homes or aged care facilities – they’re independent living retirement villages for people over 55. This means that you must still be living independently in order to move in. You can move in as a single, or as part of a couple, and we several different floorplan options that vary from village to village.
Unlike a regular house or apartment complex, our homes are designed thoughtfully and purposefully for seniors, to help you continue to live independently for as long as possible. Our villas are all on-ground and single level, and our apartment villages include a lift offering internal access to all floors. Each villa and apartment are complete with features like step-free floors and wide doorways that help to future proof your lifestyle and allow you to age in place. Should you need additional support features down the track, there’s the option to add these when the time comes.
From the bowling green and swimming pool to the gym and community vegetable garden, each of our villages have different facilities that are designed to encourage an active, independent lifestyle.
ARE RETIREMENT VILLAGES SECURE?
The safety and security of our residents is our main priority at Oak Tree. Each of our villages are gated communities that are securely locked at night, with a Village Manger on-site during the day to help with anything you need.
Many of our residents decide to make the move because their neighbourhood has changed drastically over the years. People have passed away or moved on, and what was once a friendly community with comradery has become a totally different setting with young families and share houses. When you decide to move to an Oak Tree village, you can guarantee that you’re not going to end up living next to 21 year olds who throw parties every weekend. You can relax in your retirement and be sure that you won’t be kept up till all hours of the night by a crying baby, barking dog, or loud music! You’ll be living amongst likeminded people at the same stage of life, making it easy to feel understood, safe, and at home.
HOW DO THE FACILITIES WORK?
While every resident has their own individual villa, there are shared facilities in each village that are an extension of your home. These are cared for by the Oak Tree team, so you don’t have to worry about anything aside from making use of them whenever you like! Your friends and family are more than welcome to use them too – have a lawn bowls tournament with your neighbours, enjoy a barbeque in the shared recreational area, invite your grandchildren over for a dip in the pool, or have a board game and happy hour night in the village centre!
WHAT IS THE SOCIAL ASPECT LIKE?
The residents in each village are different, so of course the social scene in each village is going to be different. Each village has a resident social committee that drive activities and events from within for everyone to enjoy. These could be anything from outings to the local pub, the races, the museum, or the theatre, to events in the Village Centre for occasions like St Patrick’s Day, Melbourne Cup, Christmas, resident birthdays, or just because! In every Oak Tree village, the on-site Village Manager helps to foster the community atmosphere and organise social gatherings.
In each of our villages there are regular activities that occur weekly like morning tea, happy hour, mahjong, gentle movement, aqua aerobics, and chair yoga to name a few, that anyone is welcome to attend. There’s comfort in knowing that if you’re in the mood to socialise or want some company, there’s always something happening and likeminded people around!
CAN I BRING MY PET?
Oak Tree are one of the few operators that allow pets in every one of our villages, because we understand how important they are, and how much more enjoyment you’ll get out of your new lifestyle with your pet by your side. In saying that, if you aren’t a pet owner and don’t like animals, this won’t affect you at all, as we have rules in place to protect all of our residents and allow everyone to reside peacefully. We have a pet application form that residents fill out prior to moving in, and a pet policy and agreement that is signed prior to pet approval.
If an Oak Tree village sounds like it could be a good fit for your future retirement lifestyle, take the next steps in your retirement journey and book a private tour today. You’ll see all that Oak Tree has to offer and understand why so many residents love to call this their home! Call 1300 367 155 today to learn more.
