Neighbours become good friends in Chester

As the world celebrates International Friendship Day on Sunday, 1 August, a new group of friends will be marking the occasion. This time last year they’d never even met but the group has formed a tight-knit connection based around their new, shared home.

The seven were the pioneers at Boughton Hall – the first to move into the new luxury retirement village on the fringes of Chester.

In the few months since they moved in the neighbours have not only got to know each other but have become firm friends.

Last autumn, John and Gillian Gulliver became the very first residents at Boughton Hall.

“We’d lived in Devon for 20 years but we didn’t have a great deal of time to spend with our friends because we were so busy all the time,” said Mr Gulliver.

The couple were quickly joined by others.

“We got to know people as they moved in and friendships developed,” said Mrs Gulliver. She was particularly grateful for that when her husband spent five weeks in hospital earlier this year.

“I’d spend the day visiting John in hospital and, rather than come home to an empty house, there was company here for me. We’d all gelled so well and our new friends were so supportive.”

For Angela Cattell, the move to Boughton Hall meant saying goodbye to neighbours she’d lived next to for 26 years.

“Before my husband died, they’d promised him they would look after me,” said Mrs Catell. “And they did. Then they announced they were moving and I just couldn’t face staying in my house without them.”

Mrs Catell feared she wouldn’t find anywhere she could be as happy. She needn’t have worried.

“After I’d visited Boughton Hall for the first time, I rang my son up and told him I’d found the only place I could live other than my bungalow,” she said. “I moved in this spring and I can honestly say I’m happier now than I have been since my husband Jack died.”

Mrs Cattell threw herself straight into village life and meets up with her new friends regularly in the bar and restaurant for drinks, coffee and cake, and evening meals.

Former High School Head Mistress Mary Lunt has a broad social circle in the wider community of Chester and Cheshire but she says she’s still undergone ‘a total life change’ having moved into Boughton Hall.

“It’s a whole lifestyle change,” said Mrs Lunt. “I thought I was simply moving house but this whole new life has opened up to me – with friends quite literally on the doorstep.”

The warm weather and long evenings have given the new friends plenty of opportunity to sit out on the terrace at Boughton Hall, overlooking the landscaped gardens, and enjoy a glass of wine, iced lemonade or cup of tea.

“There are a lot of social opportunities here, both organised events and just us residents getting together,” said Arthur Gould, who lives with wife Olive.

But the beauty of a friendship of course is that while you enjoy spending time together, you also respect each other’s privacy.

Peter Porter had lived on his own after his wife died two years ago.

“My carer came in morning and evening and, unless a friend called, I saw no one in between,” said Mr Porter. “There is a community here. I can come out of my apartment and see someone – it’s made so much difference to my life.

“My neighbours here are friends - I know I can sit in the lounge and talk to them – or choose to ignore them and that’s fine too!”

Boughton Hall is a luxury retirement community in Filkins Lane, Chester offering privately-owned apartments with extensive communal facilities.