Country House Acts CCRC, in Wilmington, DE (6/3-4/2016)

Friday, June 6, 2016
We arrived at Country House after working hours, and the security staff checked us in to the guest apartment. Country House was also a Methodist retirement community, taken over by ACTS in 2010. It was built in 1960.

Country House, Wilmington, DE

Typical hallway

The chaplain's office

Water coolers in every hallway

The jigsaw puzzle corner

The lounge next to the dining rooms,
used for Friday evening cocktail hour

One of three adjoining dining rooms

The middle dining room has the buffet;
note the free apples and bananas!

Here the dining room serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

On weekdays, residents have access to the employee dining room, and can get sandwiches or hot lunches. There is a beverage area where soft drinks and coffee are available for free all day.

They have a gift shop, a beauty salon, a medium-sized library, a fitness room, an activity room, a game room, an art studio, and an auditorium/chapel.

Art studio

Chapel

We did not see a swimming pool, although we did see the rehab center with physical, occupational, and speech therapies.

Storage units in the basement

Brandywine Woods (apartments)

Brandywine Woods is connected to the
main building with a "covered bridge"

Outdoors, there is a huge "front lawn" with walkways and a gazebo. There also seemed to be a ruined foundation of a historic nature. Country House is built on land that was part of the Winterthur estate. Winterthur was the home of the DuPont family, now a museum and gardens.
Country House has no cottages. The assisted living apartments and health care units are in another building that is also connected by a "bridge."

Cornus kousa/Kousa Dogwood

Kousa Dogwood flowers

Again we had dinner with five residents, this time three women and two men, all local. One still owned a house nearby. One woman said everyone expected her to move into Cokesbury Village because her parents lived there, but she chose Country House because her friends were here.
The closest major airport is Philadelphia International/PHL, 22 miles away.
In all three of the Delaware ACTS communities, many residents worked at DuPont, which started as a gunpowder mill in 1802, and has grown into a global chemicals company.

Saturday, June 4, 2016
After spending the night in a Country House guest room, and a breakfast in the Kent Room, we were given a tour by one of the residents, and were shown her apartment. They were having an antique car show out in the parking lot.
All three communities embraced the ACTS quality of life philosophy with active social calendars, and seemed to have the same chefs! The three settings are very different, and any of these three could be a fit for us, but after several more years yet!