Luxurious retirement residence in West Sussex village set to appear on Channel 5 show

Grade I listed Danny House will be on The World’s Most Luxurious Retirement Homes on Sunday, June 9 (8pm).

Danny House announced that the episode will showcase prestigious retirement homes from around the world, including The Palace in Miami and The Ridge in Pinehurst, Denver.

Richard Burrows, the dedicated owner of Danny House, said ScreenDog Productions filmed at the residence about two months ago with a small crew.

He said: “They spent in total about eight or nine days here and it was a delightful experience.”

People can find out more about Danny House by emailing [email protected] or visiting dannyhouse.org.uk.

Richard said he has seen the episode already, saying the footage had to be condensed into 15 minutes. He said: “They thought it was appropriate to focus on three or so residents who live here instead of having a little bit of everything.”

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The episode tells the stories of 86-year-old retired interior designer Susan Rouse and 90-year-old retired computer programmer Joan Wilson. Richard said: “There’s also a lot about Derek Henry who recently moved here and who’s a professional art teacher.”

Richard said the programme could not include everything about Danny House that he would have liked to go in. But he said: “Overall we’re pleased with what they’ve done.”

He added that there is an ‘extraordinary’ amount of music at Danny House with 70 concerts a year. Of these, there are around 20 charity concerts or events with musicians taking advantage of the great hall’s acoustics.

“We attract some of the top musicians in the country, most of them coming down from the Royal College of Music,” said Richard. “We’re seen as one of the leading venues of classical music in the country now.”

He said: “Over the past 20 years since I’ve been here, I’m pleased to relay that’s facilitated charities raising in advance of half a million pounds.”

Danny House is a 450-year-old country mansion that became a retirement home in 1956. The episode of The World’s Most Luxurious Retirement Homes aims to highlight residents’ unique lifestyle on the a 100-acre estate.

“Some of the apartments are stately in scale,” said Richard. “It provides an opportunity for residents to live in a stately home with a very high level of service. There are only 20-25 residents living here and yet there are ten full-time staff.”

Richard said residents ‘have a similar level of service to what the aristocracy enjoyed back in the turn of the century’ with a ‘very civilised and cultured way of life’.

The house has historical significance too. Danny House was the temporary office of Prime Minister David Lloyd George and the War Cabinet in 1918 and the Armistice agreement was confirmed during Lloyd George’s stay at the residence.

ScreenDog is an independent production company from Brighton whose portfolio includes Channel 4’s The Jury: Murder Retrial and Stacey Dooley: Stalkers (BBC1/BBC Three), Smuggled (Channel 4) and Hurricane Man (UKTV/BBC Studios).