The Winelands offers a wide variety of options for those looking to retire in a peaceful setting with an attractive lifestyle.
Many people’s wish list for a retirement location is pretty similar to that of a prime holiday destination: beautiful scenery, peace and tranquillity, plenty of activities and a safe, secure environment. Thus it’s not surprising that the Cape Winelands is a popular choice, not just for Capetonians moving out of the city, but also for people from Gauteng and for Europeans looking for a sunshine climate to retire to.
“Returning to the Cape for retirement felt like coming home,” says Bugs Dryburgh, who grew up in Cape Town before living in Pretoria for 35 years. “We looked at retirement options in Pretoria where we’d been very happy, and also on the Garden Route, but in the end we decided that the Cape Town area was a natural place for us. It’s very beautiful here, service delivery is more positive, and the attitude of the people is very enlightening – it’s home.”
Bugs and his wife looked at a number of retirement villages and would have preferred one that worked on a life right scheme, but they finally settled on Helderberg Village in Somerset West. “Helderberg is sectional title ownership, meaning that you buy in rather than paying for a life right. A life right would have been better for us, leaving us with more capital, but the waiting list at these life right villages is 20 to 30 years. In six years, we’d only moved up 15 places on a list of 400!” It’s easier to find retirement properties to purchase outright, but you have to be ready to move quickly, as it’s very much a seller’s market, says Bugs.
For some the decision to move to a retirement village comes at a later stage of retirement. “We retired 20 years ago from Johannesburg and chose Somerset West because we wanted to live at Erinvale, a secure golf estate opposite Vergelegen,” says Warwick Ibertson. “We recently downsized to The Somerset, an upmarket retirement village with well-built houses, which will in time have good facilities.”
The Winelands lifestyle is a huge attraction for active retirees. “We love the country atmosphere of the Winelands,” adds Warwick, “and enjoy playing golf, walking and visiting wine farms with good restaurants.”
The attraction of retirement villages as opposed to old age homes is that they cater for all ages and all levels of activity, so that you can settle into the community knowing that you'll never have to move. You can be active and independent as long as you want, with the reassurance that when you eventually need them, there are facilities for assisted living and frail care, as well as practical support like transport to the shops, social gatherings at the clubhouse, a caring community and good security.
With waiting lists getting longer, and supply not keeping up with demand for retirement properties in the Winelands, a new trend is for established lifestyle estates to add a retirement facility within their estate, as sought-after Val de Vie near Paarl has recently done with Val de Vie Manor. New developments currently under construction include Zevenwacht Lifestyle Village on Zevenwacht Wine Estate above Kuilsriver, which will offer assisted living facilities, and Mountain View Retirement Village in Robertson, with its own medical centre.
Proximity to shops and places of worship, as well as good hospitals, ensures that established retirement estates such as De Oude Renbaan and Groeneleegte in Paarl, Paradyskloof Villas and Stellenoord in Stellenbosch remain popular, especially with locals who want to remain close to their families and communities downsizing.
With demand at an all-time high, planning many years in advance seems to be the key to enjoying an idyllic Winelands retirement. Research thoroughly so that you find the village with facilities that match your lifestyle requirements and future needs.
It’s so good to be able to live in an environment where you’ve got people who really do care about you, whether it’s the security, the admin, the maintenance staff, that caring atmosphere was another key element in deciding that this was a place we could live for the rest of our lives.
-Bugs Myburgh, resident at Heldeberg Village.
Things to do:
- Golf at the several world class Winelands golf clubs
- Hike mountain trails and enjoy unspoilt nature
- Wine tasting at the Cape’s top wine estates
- Discover art galleries, artisan shops and markets in the historic Winelands towns
- Join in community activities from bowling and croquet to clubs and societies
Nature:
- Jonkershoek Nature reserve outside Stellenbosch
- Heldeberg Nature Reserve, Somerset West
- Paarl Mountain Nature Reserve
- Bontebok Ridge Reserve, Wellington
- Mont Rochelle Nature Reserve, Franschhoek
Hospitals:
- Mediclinic Paarl
- Paarl Hospital
- Cure Day Clinics
- Mediclinic Stellenbosch
- Stellenbosch Hospital
- Vergelegen Mediclinic
This article originally appeared in Neighbourhood, Sunday Times.
