She was 90 then and they have three levels of care here. You can have your own home, which we have, there are serviced apartments, and then there is the nursing home. So we were covered. We also liked the security.

"We have more of a social life than we ever had before." Noeline: "After Cec retired - he was 56 - our daughter sent us every brochure available on retirement villages up here on the Central Coast. In Sydney, we lived in Windsor on the Hawkesbury and she was keen to have us living closer by. We hung out until Cec was 65 and then we made the move. We looked at all the other villages but this was the one for us; it just felt comfortable."

Cec: "Noeline's mother lived with us all our married life, for over 50 years, and this was a big factor in coming here because she was getting frail. She was 90 then and they have three levels of care here. You can have your own home, which we have, there are serviced apartments, and then there is the nursing home. So we were covered. We also liked the security. Back home it was getting pretty scary with the vandalism, things like ripping out the letterboxes. It was alright in Windsor but it was happening all around us."

"I came from a dairy farming family and was the oldest of six kids. My dad died when I was 13, so I quit school as soon as I could, which was at 15. I really, really hated school - which I regret now - so I took up droving. I met Noeline when I was 15, and we got married when I was 21 and she was 19. When I was 20, I got a job with Sydney Water and stayed there my whole working life; I finished up as a resource superintendent."

"It wasn't easy; in the early days I was up and on the train at 4.30am and not getting home until 7.30pm, seven days a week. My first daughter was crawling before I saw her in daylight."

"Getting a social life whilst we could was another important reason to come here. All our married life we had just battled on. The only time we went out was with friends from Castle Hill on a Friday night. Otherwise we just worked. This time we were doing something for us, so we took the plunge. The only thing I wanted was a garage. All my life I've only had one home and I said if ever I move I'm going to have a garage. No more carports for me."

Noeline: "Our new home here was wonderful. I said I must have a house that faces north and gets the sun all day. It does. Our home here was also all done up; the bedrooms aren't pokey and it's got a good-sized bathroom, which I had never had before, and a lovely kitchen. We thought we were in heaven; it was a real step up in our life."

"The atmosphere here is different. It was a change and change is positive. There are lots of people our age who are very easy to get to know. In Windsor, you knew the people on either side of you but nobody else; the women are working and so are the men. Here, there is something going on all the time; someone will throw a party which starts in the day and can carry on into the night."

"We have 50 people living in our little cluster of buildings and we have a regular barbecue plus lots of lunches at the local clubs. We also helped found the Twilighters Club with about 30 others; we meet once a week and the men play pool and some of the women play rummy cards. We all will bring a plate and just have a good laugh."

"Until I came here I was really shy; when I met new people I just couldn't talk to them and now they say it's hard to get a word in edgewise. When we go home to Windsor, they say you have changed so much. We have more of a social life than we ever had before; it's real friendship and happiness. I have to admit even at my age I have really come out
of myself."

"We see our daughter every weekend but our son lives down in Kurrajong - he has three sons - so we go down to see them as regular as we can. We love them all to death, but we don't want to live in their pocket because we had my mum, and that was really hard."

"But this is our home now and when we are driving back from Sydney and we cross the bridge onto the Central Coast, I think I'm back where I want to be. And with this coastal climate I could never go back to the cold of Windsor."

Cec: "I believe that loneliness kills you and makes you sick. Here we keep an eye on each other; if Jesse's blinds aren't up we will go and check on her - we are proud of the way we look after each other. We can also nick away for a weekend; last time we went to Port Stephens and before that to Forster. We like that. My dad used to say, ‘If you are healthy, you are rich' and I reckon that's right. We know we will live longer here and life is certainly a lot richer."

"The atmosphere here is different. It was a change and change is positive. There are lots of people our age who are very easy to get to know."

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