HIVES OF ACTIVITY

Bee hives, bat boxes... villages are coming up with inventive ways to keep residents happy

GARDENS and allotments have long been community hubs in retirement villages across the country. But green-fingered residents have notched things up a level in recent years.

Villages are now awash with bee hives, bat boxes, bird tables and wildflower areas, as well as lakes that attract waterfowl and fish.

Homeowners at Wadswick Green in Wiltshire have been buzzing with excitement ever since hives were installed in 2020.

The bees are now producing enough honey for residents to buy jars produced on site. Some 18 new allotments have also been created.

‘The new area is lovely,’ says one resident. ‘I started working on my plot the day the new allotments opened and have already planted vegetables like beetroot and carrots. They are really well designed with raised beds, a shed, access to compost and water supply. We’re really looking forward to eating our own homegrown produce.’

Retirement operator Rangeford is also supporting initiatives to conserve wildlife at the village (rangefordvillages.co.uk). They have installed bat boxes, native ponds, tree plantations and bird and animal boxes.

Chris Jaques, the landscape gardener at Orchard Yard, a small retirement scheme of one-andtwo bedroom homes in Canterbury, Kent, has noticed how the recent increase in food prices has triggered an uptake in the number of retired homeowners growing their own. ‘The raised beds have always been popular with the residents, but recently the cost-of-living crisis has focused people’s minds,’ he says.

‘Growing your own obviously allows people to eat quality produce for less but there are other health benefits such as keeping fit, spending time outside, and giving you the chance to chat to your neighbours.’

Even retirement villages in urban settings are coming up with imaginative ways to satisfy residents’ demand to grow their own.

Mayfield Watford, a scheme in Hertfordshire of 255 one and twobedroom homes costing from £334,950, is creating three roof terrace gardens — one of which will have allotments (mayfieldvillages. co.uk). The buzz word at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show is ‘bee’. Taking centre stage is the RHS bee garden with its own bee hotel. And surrounding garden exhibits focus on creating habitats brimming with nectar and pollen-rich plants.

‘Alongside the beauty and spectacle of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, the bee garden has an important message at its heart,’ says Mike Gunton, of BBC Studios’ Natural History Unit.

‘That pollinator decline will have a serious impact on biodiversity, food production and our precious gardens globally.’

But retirees are looking to reverse that trend.

At Gradwell Park, a community of 65 homes near Lewes in East Sussex, bee-friendly plants and wildflower meadows are taking shape (retirementvillages.co.uk).

At McCarthy Stone’s Clarence Court in Horsham, West Sussex, residents Andrew Webster and Derrick Carter have created bee hotels, now home to red mason bees.

The housebuilder is enhancing the natural environment at its Gilbert Place development in Swindon, Wilts, integrating bee bricks, terraced sparrow boxes and swift bricks (mccarthyandstone.co.uk).

This has delighted David Manners, 80, who moved in recently. ‘I am a semi-retired farmer and when I saw the fantastic bee bricks, bird boxes and wildlife plants, I was over the moon.’