Health had become an issue for Ray and Val. After his long career working with dairy farmers across Victoria and Tasmania, they chose to move to Meadowvale. And they love it, Ray stating: "I keep telling people - while you have good health, go and enjoy life!"

Ray: "Val had started to experience problems with her memory. Three years ago, she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. We discussed this with our three daughters, and decided it was time to leave our home in the Latrobe Valley."

"Two of our daughters live in Queensland and one lives at Cranbourne North - we wanted to move closer to her and the grandkids, so we looked at six or seven places in the area. Two or three units were available at Meadowvale, but they just didn't seem right. Then the village manager showed us a unit that was due to be vacated, and we just knew it was the one. Within four days we had our daughter down to see it - all she asked was what we had to do to hold it!"

"We sold our house quite quickly. The realtor said, ‘I like it, don't touch a thing.' We had been retired for 12 years, so it was neat and tidy. A young couple fell in love with it, and that was that. We ended up moving in on October 26, 2007."

"Maybe we brought too much over from the old place; we are hoarders! It took a while to divest ourselves of stuff, but living in a smaller house you get used to it. It just takes time to adjust, to down-size."

"But we've never been sorry, village life is fantastic! Looking after our old home - the garden, the vegies, the lawn - it all got too hard. Here there are no lawns to mow and that gives me more time to spend with Val, which is good."

Val: "It is so lovely here. When you walk through the door you can see for miles - French Island, Westernport Bay, Hastings, Red Hill, Cranbourne and Berwick. We see sunsets, storms coming, all the weather changes. The suburban lights at night. It's magic."

Ray: "In a retirement village, you can get as involved as you please. There are many varied activities to suit your needs. But up this end, it's quiet. We have a lot of space - the houses aren't dog-boxed together, as some might think - and we have our garden. Each day is as full as you choose it to be - you can go to ground, or go out to dinner! We are eating out more because it is closer and easier to do. We have totally changed our lifestyle."

"We have befriended our neighbours; we take care of each other. If they don't turn up at church, we give them a call and vice versa. It's a form of secondary security without being intrusive. And being at the village has allowed us to visit our daughters in Queensland, hassle-free - all we have to do is leave a form with our travel details at the office and we are off."

Val: "Last time we went to Mackay, we were able to buy tickets on Tiger Airways for $36 each way direct. Fantastic!"

Ray: "I play lawn bowls, and we are going to a musical function organised by the village in town tomorrow. We had dinner out with our daughter just the other night. Two of our grown-up grandchildren also live nearby - I am always getting hugs. I keep telling them to give us some great-grandchildren! It is nice, we well and truly love this lifestyle!"

For more information about Prime Life Meadowvale Village please click here, or call (03) 5941 2711