Written by Juanita Fox
Dick and Kathy Miller discovered Garden Spot Village in 2007. They were in their late 50s and knew that Garden Spot was a place they eventually wanted to move.
“It was always my dream to live in Lancaster County,” Kathy says. The couple completed an application and became “future residents” of Garden Spot Village.
Dick was still working for PECO Energy and they were living in Pottstown, so they were content to wait a few years to move to Garden Spot Village.
When their good friends John and Sherry Hart moved to a cottage at Garden Spot Village in December 2016, Dick and Kathy decided it was time to revisit the community. They attended a Look & Learn seminar and placed a down payment on a cottage. This step moved them to the Radar Screen in November 2017; they hoped to move sometime in 2019.
As they began to think through the timing of their move, they worried that their home in a 55-plus community might take a while to sell, so they listed it with a realtor in the spring of 2018. They were surprised and a bit dismayed when their home sold quickly!
Unfortunately, Garden Spot did not have a cottage available for them. However, the sales team was able to offer them a temporary arrangement—an apartment with one-bedroom and a den. While it didn’t feel like an ideal situation, they prepared for a temporary move to the apartment Garden Spot in May 2018.
They were anxious to move to their new community; at this point, though, the home was not as important as the community.
As soon as they moved in they were amazed by the hospitality of their neighbors. They quickly made friends with couples who lived in their apartment wing. Their new friends suggested,
“Why don’t you just stay? An apartment is so much more convenient.”
Quickly, what was initially a temporary move, became permanent.
“We love this apartment and the people are amazing,” Dick says. “We have not regretted choosing an apartment instead of a cottage one bit.”
The Millers say the proximity to restaurants, volunteer opportunities and their neighbors make their apartment a perfect solution. Plus, the team members they interact with—at the restaurants, in volunteer services and life enrichment—all add to the enjoyment of living in the community.
“When we moved to Garden Spot, we made five friends in 30 minutes. We lived in our previous community for 13 years and never felt like we were part of that community. Garden Spot Village is completely different,” Kathy says.
“I have not looked back,” she adds.