Walking groups
Short loops and longer ones, with a bench never far away.
Lifestyle ideas for the planned community
What a normal week might hold at Alpine Brook Harbor, written as intentions. Nothing here is scheduled, staffed or priced yet, and every activity would be optional.
Read this first. The programmes below are ideas gathered while planning. Instructors, rooms, days and any fees are not set. The pictures are illustrations and may show places that differ from what is eventually built.
Movement
Moving the body, gently
We would like to set aside a bright room for group exercise: stretching, chair yoga and balance practice, plus walking groups that leave from the front door. These are sociable activities, not therapy, and nobody would be expected to keep up with anybody else.
If you live with a medical condition, your own doctor is the right person to say what suits you. We will not suggest that an activity treats or prevents an illness.
Stretch and balance
A weekly class for people who enjoy moving in company.
Garden work
Raised beds at a comfortable height, for those who like soil under the fingernails.
A quiet corner
A room with no programme at all, kept for sitting still.
Learning and making
Something to learn, something to make
People who move later in life often say they would like more time for the things they never got round to. We would like to offer room for that: a table for drawing and handwork, a shelf of books, and an evening now and then when somebody talks about what they know.
Which classes run would depend on who lives here and what they ask for. We would rather start small and listen than print a long list of courses.
Craft and drawing tables
Open sessions, with or without a guide.
Phone and tablet help
Patient, unhurried help with video calls and photos, when it is asked for.
Reading and talks
A reading group, and occasional talks by residents or visitors.
Writing a life story
Paper and a quiet room, for those who want to set memories down.
Company
Company, when you want it
Friendship is not something a brochure can supply. What a place can do is make meeting people easy: a common table, a garden that people pass through, clubs that begin because two neighbours happen to share an interest.
We would like residents to start and run their own groups, with us providing the room and the kettle. Visitors and family weekends would be part of the same picture.
Resident-led clubs
Books, birds, cards, knitting: whatever two or three people want to begin.
A common table
An open place at mealtimes for anyone who fancies company.
Giving time outside
Help with local causes, for those who like to be useful beyond the gate.
Visitors and family
Space for grandchildren to run about and relatives to stay a while.
Independence
Your home, your choices
Independence is not doing everything alone. It is deciding for yourself. Nothing on this page is compulsory: you would choose which activities to join, when to eat with others and when to close your own front door.
If your needs change over the years, we would talk openly about the options, including moving to a provider that offers the care you need. We will not promise care that we do not provide.
Choice
Join in, or do not. Both are normal.
Privacy
A front door that closes, and a home nobody enters unasked.
Respect
People are addressed as the adults they are.
Change over time
Honest talk about what we can and cannot do as needs grow.
Ask us
Curious about daily life here?
Tell us which of these ideas appeals, and which does not. Your answers help us decide what is worth building.