Rented retirement homes provider Birchgrove has opened its 52-unit Pepperpot House development in Godalming, Surrey.

The community, which occupies a 1.02-acre site. offers one and two-bed self-contained rented apartments to people aged over 65. Facilities include a 24-hour concierge service, lounge, café/restaurant, licensed bar, wellness suite, salon and landscaped roof terrace.

As part of the redevelopment, a Grade II-listed cowshed at the entrance to the site was restored to provide two one-bed apartments.

40% of the apartments in the development are already reserved off-plan.

Honor Barratt, chief executive of Birchgrove, said: “We’re delighted that so many of the apartments at Pepperpot House have been snapped up in advance of opening. It helps that we were able to secure such a central location and we’re really pleased to have been able to bring a disused site back to life.

“We also know that much of the reason for our off-plan success here is that we were able to show prospective residents our other thriving local communities to give them an idea of what it’s like to live in one of our developments. We believe we’re firmly on a roll now and are confident we can achieve even higher pre-let rates as we roll out our successful rental retirement living model further across the country.”

Birchgrove operates four other retirement communities in Southeast England, with four under construction in Hampton, Leatherhead, Banstead and Chiswick.