N°71 — Housemates at ninety-odd

Roisey, 1st April 2026, 

We live in a large, beautiful house – what used to be called a mansion – with seven other people. There are three women and four men, all of whom are widowed. And we’re aged between 80 and 96.

Before this, we had never ever considered living in shared accommodation. We didn’t even know that ‘shared housing’ for older people existed.

But one day in the summer of 2020, whilst we were walking through the village of Roisey, we came across a poster. It announced the opening of Maison Marguerite (a shared living facility for independent elderly people, ed.), not far from our home.

The idea intrigued us. My wife, Michèle, said: Perhaps we could take a few days’ holiday. And so we spent a fortnight at Maison Marguerite to find out more about how it worked. By the end of our stay, we were very satisfied – it met all our needs – and so we decided to stay.

At the time, we didn’t really need to move. We were 88 and 90 then. I’m now 96 and my wife is 94. We have no trouble getting about. I’m lucky – I’m in good health, so I still drive. In fact, I think that if we hadn’t seen the poster, we would have stayed at home for a while longer.

But looking after our house and garden was starting to become a problem for us. Here, we’re free from those day-to-day hassles. And we feel safer in terms of our health. Firstly, because there are almost always people around here – as well as the residents, there are three people who take care of the housework, the shopping and the cooking. There are also two medical centres nearby. If anything goes wrong, which happens at our age, it’s more reassuring to be here than alone at home.

We moved into the house in August 2020. The hardest part about moving in wasn’t living with others, but the fact that we couldn’t fit everything we had in our old house – and which we were very attached to – into our room (each resident has a room measuring between 21 and 33 square metres, ed.). It saddened me, for example, not to be able to take all my books with me. But now I spend a lot of time in the library, which is one of the shared spaces in the house, along with the living room and the dining room.

Six years ago, when Michèle and I arrived, there was only one other couple already living in the house. We got on well straight away and immediately felt at home.

We like the fact that, unlike what often happens in care homes, we remain very free and independent. We live in a community, but we have no trouble maintaining our privacy and keeping our independence. In the neighbouring village, there’s a care home which accommodates far more people: around 70 residents. I imagine the atmosphere is very different, more clinical and, above all, much less free. That wouldn’t suit us.

Sometimes I feel as though I’m living in a holiday resort. There are only nine of us, so there’s a real family atmosphere. Even though we all have different educational and cultural backgrounds, life experiences, and varying levels of health, relationships naturally form. We spend time together every day over shared meals or during activities we all take part in together. Strength training and cardiac coherence classes are held every week; trips to the cinema, the theatre or choir rehearsals take place once a month; and there are regular readings organised by a local village association. Those who enjoy games also spend their afternoons playing Scrabble or Coinche, not to mention walks in the one-hectare park, the vegetable garden, the henhouse and the pétanque court in the shade of the hundred-year-old lime trees.

We also get to enjoy everything the surrounding area has to offer: nature, cultural attractions and public spaces. The house is starting to become known in the local area. We’re well integrated into the local community. Thanks to this house, we enjoy a very supportive social environment, with friendships that have been built up over the years.

Living here makes things easier and more enjoyable. Since we moved in, I’ve thrown myself back into my historical studies. In six years, I’ve written two books and three essays. I’m sure I wouldn’t have been able to do that if I’d stayed in my old house. Looking back, we were very lucky to come across that poster in 2020.

Serge