A New Chapter In The Peak District For Retirees

Paul and Ruth Watson lived in a converted barn on the top of a hill in the Peak District near Ashbourne, Derbyshire, for over 20 years.    

A new chapter of their lives together began when Paul retired from his career as an international development consultant where he was involved in fascinating projects as diverse as fighting bird flu in Asia, to regenerating land in former communist countries. Ruth, a former nurse, retired early to look after the house and garden and pursue her hobby of stone carving.  

The couple decided they wanted to move to a new home near transport that they could lock up and leave, to allow them to continue to travel and explore new places. They also wanted to stay close to friends and their beloved Peak District where they lead incredibly active lives, running, walking and cycling.  

Paul, aged 76, and Ruth, aged 72, started looking and fell in love with a property that was a world away from their rural home in three-quarters of an acre – a penthouse apartment at Matlock Spa, a beautifully designed new community of apartments, townhouses and terrraces built in Derbyshire stone in a former quarry on a hill, which once supplied the stone used to build the Embankment and Hyde Park Corner in London.

Paul says: “I travelled all over the world for my work, from Romania to Nepal. We had moved 15 times and although we loved our converted barn, we knew it was time to move on.  We spotted this wonderful two bedroom penthouse apartment at Matlock Spa. It has a large wrap around terrace, floor to ceiling windows and great views over the surrounding Peak District countryside. We moved in last October, having taken advantage of the stamp duty holiday. The rooms are spacious with plenty of room for our furniture. The apartment is well insulated and warm and comfortable." 

They have also found their new home highly energy efficient, with energy bills around £1,250 a year based on using 3,300 units a year, compared to 4,500 units a year costing £2,660 a year. 

Paul continues: "At our previous home we had solar panels, storage heaters and economy 7 electricity plus a multi-fuel stove burning smokeless fuel and logs. At Matlock Spa we have a straightforward electricity supply and an air source heat pump. The move was less of a wrench than we expected. Of course, we missed the seclusion of our old house but having shops, buses and pubs all within walking distance was a novelty we soon got used to. In our old house we had a view of open countryside, with the nearest street lights over 20 miles away. However, we found the apartment’s views over Matlock and up the Derwent valley equally interesting. We did look at retirement developments but found the homes quite small and we felt that we could probably organise the support we might need in our own home as we get older. We like Matlock and there are good bus services for getting around in the countryside.”  

He adds: “We are enjoying life in our new home and it has freed up a lot of spare time for our hobbies, keeping active and travelling. The Peak District is such an incredibly beautiful part of the world and we feel we have managed to combine the best elements – a low maintenance home in a lovely setting with incredible views where we can walk out of the door and be in the wild countryside of the Limestone Way.  We like the idea that we are part of this new community that is designed to encourage healthy living and be close to nature - and yet we can walk to the shops in Matlock in five minutes.”  

View www.matlockspa.com for more information.

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