Forget the traditional seaside retreat. Retirees are opting for bustling market towns with good food and café society, says Caroline McGhie.

Dennis and Joan Chivers considered moving for their old age to Bude in Cornwall, where they could watch the Atlantic rollers sweep in and be close to their only son, who moved there to be a signwriter. “But the seaside is cold in winter,” Dennis says. “I was stationed in a seaside town in the war, and I know the cold only too well.” Instead, they sought out the pretty market town of Wantage in Oxfordshire, close to the chalk downs.

Increasingly, elderly buyers are being drawn like bees to the honeypots of some of our loveliest market towns, turning their backs on traditional retirement hot spots that they feel have become over-burdened with oldies. Research by the retirement specialist Pegasus, using data from Rightmove, shows that a subtle change is being made in the choices they make, away from the coast and towards inland towns with good butchers and greengrocers, coffee shops and a social life as well as gyms and swimming pools.

So places like Hadleigh in Suffolk, New Milton in Hampshire and Dorchester in Dorset now feature among 20 areas with the greatest number of specialist retirement properties for sale, alongside old favourites such as Sidmouth and Budleigh Salterton. Alternative seaside addresses are also being looked at. Exmouth, for example, where Pegasus has recently created a new development, is seen as having a younger spring in its step. “I have had many inquiries from people who want to move to Devon,” says Dianne Chinnock, sales manager in Exmouth. “But they have found the concentration of older people in some towns a bit overwhelming.”

The Chivers, both in their eighties, enjoy the vibrancy of a town on their doorstep. “I can fetch a newspaper in 10 minutes,” Dennis says. “We buy locally made sausages at the weekly market, where we also get our vegetables and our wet fish.” Small-town friendliness has embraced them. The Lamb Inn provided the catering for their diamond wedding anniversary soon after they moved in.

WANTAGE, Oxfordshire

A statue of King Alfred gazes upon the market square, where food producers bring pies and jams to sell, making this town a bit of a quiet charmer. There are plenty of activities including country dancing: the Icknield Way Morris Men (Civic Hall, Weds); clog dancing (Grove village hall, Mon); and 17th-century dancing (Charney Bassett, Tues). There is a big swimming pool in Wantage Leisure Centre, a local cinema and choral society.

Retirement choice: one-bedroom flats at £174,950, two bedrooms at £249,950, through Pegasus (sales 01235 767929).

EXMOUTH, Devon

Two miles of beach, rock pools, an indoor market and railway line to Exeter make the town a good alternative to glamorous Sidmouth. It is more of a working town than a resort, with a large community college that has more than 2,000 students. It is also a wonderland for birdwatchers. There is lots of music – pub gigs, a town concert band, an operatic society – and plenty of sport, with a seafront lawn tennis club, two heated pools in the sports centre and the famous Christmas Day swim in the sea for the hardy (or mad).

Retirement choice: one-bedroom at £174,950, two bedrooms at £249,950, at Pegasus Court (sales 0800 583 8844).

HENLEY-ON-THAMES, Oxfordshire

Picture-book pretty by the willow-draped Thames, Henley has what many older couples might look for. A number of local shops see to daily needs. There are tea rooms to meet in and a newly refurbished leisure centre with gym, dance classes and heated pool. The town bursts into life each summer for the music festival and the Henley Regatta, when it clogs up with boats, rowing teams and pretty girls in big hats.

Retirement choice: three-bedroom Grade II listed Georgian town house in the centre of town with a 150ft garden at £750,000 through Knight Frank (01491 844900).

DENHAM, Buckinghamshire

A pretty village with a terrific golf club created out of a 16th-century tithe barn, an infant school and trains into London Marylebone station (Chiltern line). It is the kind of unspoilt Home Counties village where you expect Miss Marple to pop into the bakery in the morning. Foodies are kept happy with a plethora of restaurants and gastropubs.

Retirement choice: Denham Garden Village for the over-55s. There is a health spa, café, shop, doctor’s surgery. Two-bedroom apartments from £370,000, and two-bedroom bungalows £405,000 to £450,000 (The Frost Partnership 01895 836333).

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/retirementproperty/

Christmas Presents in Devon

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Christmas in Devon

Devon Enterprise

Enterprise in Devon

UK Enterprises

It is never too late to become a serial entrepreneur.

Thirty years ago Christine Roberts founded Roberts Warr Electronics with her husband Ron, supplying electronic components to customers including Acorn Computers and achieving a turnover of £2m. When Ron died in 2003 she continued to run the company, but by 2007 the business was suffering from the downturn in the electronics market.

Then two years ago Christine, 63, established two further businesses in completely different sectors – giftware and tourism. “As if I didn’t have enough to do,” she admits ruefully. It was a light-bulb moment in the middle of the night. “I was flying home from South Africa where I’d seen some beautiful porcelain. Everyone else was asleep, I was bored and began wondering whether anyone sold it in the UK, and if not, whether I could.”

She contacted the porcelain’s South Africa-based designer, Lynne Lange, who was exhibiting at the Summer Fair at ExCel. “I asked to do the show with her, and became her UK agent.”

Roberts set up La La Luna with her daughter Sarah Carter, 35, who had left her teaching career to have a baby. “It meant she could work from home, and be part of the family enterprise.”

She acknowledges that she was over-confident at the start, doing no homework before plunging in. “I had 25 years’ experience in importing and distribution, and thought it was a lovely product which would fly off the shelves. It didn’t.”

She started selling through agents but “small shops don’t want a rep coming with a big box of porcelain and they got quite annoyed”. Now Roberts just exhibits at the Top Drawer gift fair twice yearly. “They’re very expensive, but right for us.”

Initially she invested £25,000 of her own money and in the second year went to her bank manager requesting an overdraft of £50,000. She got a loan of £25,000 “with astronomical interest rates”. The date was September 2008.

La La Luna’s fine porcelain home accessories based on organic shapes are made in China, which helps to keep the prices reasonable. Stock is ordered by the container-load because of costs and a two-month lead time, including four weeks for shipping. It was another new business experience for Roberts.

“In the electronics industry people expect a lead time but the retail sector needs the product on the shelf, so we spend a lot of time on stock control – which is key to the business’s success.” Both companies are run from a converted barn in Devon, with offices on the first floor and storage underneath. “Everyone from the two companies helps out when we’re extra busy.”

La La Luna’s turnover in year two, at the height of the recession, was almost the same as year one – just under £100,000. “We kept afloat, and now things are moving fast – we took lots of orders at the Top Drawer exhibition, and two months in we have already achieved next year’s financial forecast. Our regular customers are placing larger orders, though we’re aware that we must increase our average order value.

“In fact we’re expanding on all fronts, and have a three-year plan to double the turnover for the electronics company. All the staff were involved in a two-day strategy process, something we’ve never done before.”

And the third business? Roberts converted part of her Georgian vicarage for bed and breakfast visitors, and by Christmas will have four bedrooms available.

Mothers and daughters don’t always see eye to eye but Roberts says her skills and Sarah’s complement each other. “She’s in charge of marketing, the website and customer relations while I do the financial side.

“We make a good team, and it’s lovely to see her becoming a successful entrepreneur – her father would have been proud of her.”

RECESSION

TOOL KIT

- Entrepreneurs often start working from home – even if you feel you need larger premises stay put and contain your costs. There’s plenty of time to move when times become more stable.

STARTING OUT

Do

- Keep costs under control, it’s easy when you’re very busy to think you should recruit more people, but if they won’t add value to the business or money to the bottom line you must manage without them.

Don’t

- Expect success to happen quickly. I thought that within a year we’d have a shop in every town and customers ordering every week. Two and a half years later it isn’t happening yet.

- Try to be all things to everyone. We tried to branch out into other home goods, but they took away our concentration from our core product, porcelain. Diversification has to come a long way down the line.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/yourbusiness/startingout/