“My wife Janet and I lived out on a farm a few miles out of Thorpdale, and at that time we were having worries. People were coming in and raiding sheds and all that. We didn’t feel really safe, so we decided to move.

I think this was one of our better decisions to come down here and I can always remember the first night we slept here. We woke up and we said to one another, ‘well, that was good’.

We feel safe. We’re in a gated area, although our house at the time was sitting on its own because it was one of the first built.

And as it’s grown, as the community’s grown, I’ve felt that it’s very much like Thorpdale when I was a kid and grew up and married. A good sense of community.

You know everybody in the village. Everybody doesn’t mingle, but a majority do. One thing that always tickles me is that you can be sitting out in your garage and people come walking along. They don’t walk on footpaths. They walk straight up the middle of the road. And if a car comes along, it’s got to stop and talk to them.

It’s just like the old days. I enjoy it. I enjoy it immensely.

I find one of my better decisions in my life was coming down here in my old age.”

- Les & Janet

“…after a fairly lengthy decision making process we came into this retirement village on the basis of the quality of the resources here in terms of the homes etc.

The size of them and the freedom of them in terms of them being, if you like, a real home.

We were needing to relocate from the big family home, with five bedrooms but now no children, so we were literally downsizing and the big toss up was, do we stay in the town where we were, or move.

But in effect it is a sense of belonging to a community and what you make it, rather than what the community itself is, and I think that’s important.”

- Mick

“Well, we’ve now been living in Encore for six years, and I couldn’t think of anywhere better to be, particularly at our age.

The community, the residents and the management are terrific, particularly when you’re not feeling well, which is not uncommon at our age. They’re always there to assist. Without being too intrusive, we certainly haven’t found that. They’ll help when required.

I enjoy getting out away from the village, participating in my son’s farming activities whenever he might give me something to do.

And my wife, she is not so well and she’s quite happy, very happy, in a secure environment. That’s a big thing, I think, the security of the village, where you’re living with a group of people, like-minded as in age and welfare.

And yeah, we couldn’t be more than happy in here and we are pleased we came in.”

- Russ

“It’s bringing the best of Melbourne to the country.”

- Nola