New type of retirement living community comes to Tollesbury

Affordable retirement living is coming to Tollesbury, in the form of our unique new development, Saltwater meadows. Located just off Woodrolfe Road – an 11-minute walk from the centre of Tollesbury – the site features gardens and landscaping that adhere to therapeutic principles, as well as homes whose design and specification supports independent living for as long as possible.

We founded Lewis & Scott to offer people the chance to downsize and stay local, while living in a home that supports their needs at every stage of later life, as we felt there weren’t enough retirement properties that met older people’s needs at an affordable price. We chose Tollesbury as our first site, because we felt there was a significant lack of suitable affordable retirement properties in the area.

This affordable retirement living development is exclusively open to the over-60s from the Tollesbury area, whose income is below the threshold set (which is based on ONS data for average household incomes in the area). These freehold retirement properties are available at a 20% discount compared to comparable local market value, with prices starting from £260,000 for a two-bedroom bungalow.

Thought to be the first of its kind in the UK, the Saltwater Meadows retirement community is made up of 29 bungalows, chalet-bungalows and maisonettes arranged around a ‘social heart’ building – which is ideal for use by pop-up shops or health services, to hold a family event, or simply to meet friends for a chat. We strongly believe that fostering a sense of community and avoiding social isolation are key elements for a happy later life.

This affordable new Tollesbury retirement neighbourhood gives local people the chance to downsize and still remain close to family and friends, not only bringing single-storey living down to a price point that is achievable to those with average incomes, but also putting residents’ long-term wellbeing first through its thoughtful design. We think it’s important to design retirement properties in such a way that they support people in living independently for as long as possible, so that’s what we’ve done.

We’ve worked with award-winning retirement specialist architects, to create an entirely new type of home that maximises light and eliminates ‘dead space’ within a compact footprint, enabling these affordable homes to feel bright, spacious and desirable.

Outside, we’re focusing on biodiversity and therapeutic garden principles, with carefully chosen planting to enrich both residents’ lives and habitats for native wildlife. The communal and private
gardens will be planted with a range of climate-suitable plants, shrubs and trees, while the existing hedgerows will be enhanced with a mixture of alder, hornbeam, hawthorn, beech, holly, blackthorn and dog rose, in keeping with existing local species.

A woodland walk also encourages residents to get out of the house and meet their neighbours, and benefit from being outdoors and enjoying nature, as well as lead a more active lifestyle. It includes a railway line feature, as a nod to the Kelvedon and Tollesbury Light Railway (also known as ‘The Crab and Winkle Line’) which once ran across the site.

“We’ve had a really positive response from local residents who are keen to access affordable retirement-suitable properties without having to move away from Tollesbury, and we’ve had some really great feedback on our unique home design and layout, as well as on the attention we’re paying to creating gardens and communal spaces that support the wellbeing of residents and increase the biodiversity of the site,” says Rob Scott, Lewis & Scott’s Managing Director. “We know not everybody welcomes new developments, but we hope that the good we can do – by solving the social problem of a lack of affordable homes that suit the needs of older people locally, and also improving biodiversity, creating natural habitats for native wildlife – will go some way to showingthat our specially designed retirement neighbourhood is designed to support the Tollesbury community.”

Our Tollesbury development, Salt Meadows, has now had its planning application validated. The properties are now available for purchase off plan, and we expect to break ground in Spring / Sumer 2022. To find out more about the retirement bungalows, chalet-bungalows and maisonettes available, please do get in touch, or if you prefer, click here to read our FAQs.