The Woods at Merrimack

The Woods at Merrimack was a beautiful place. I'm very happy with it and my mom might end up staying there. I'm impressed with it and everything they offer. They can accommodate people with special diets and they have a wonderful chef. The staff was extremely friendly, knowledgeable, and answered all my questions. They provided an excellent tour experience. All the staff members wore a mask and they had opened just before COVID, so they're pretty brand new and they managed to keep everybody COVID-free.

We did a tour of The Woods at Merrimack. I went yesterday for a full tour, and then I brought my sister back today. That place was phenomenal. The grounds are beautiful, the people are beautiful, they're so helpful. All the residences are full-sized apartments, not just a studio. They have everything that you could want. It's my highest-rated one so far, and we're probably going to go with that one; that's how much we liked it. I just can't say enough good about it. There was an independent living that had a separate building, and then there was the independent living with the extras. I don't know what they call that, but it was a little bit more care. Everything was in the same building, and that's the one that we were going to go for. They have a movie theater. The rooms are beautiful; they have granite countertops. They have a nice bathroom that, they don't have to step over to walk in the shower. The appliances are all in the room. It's a full-sized kitchen. The one that we looked at, which we're going to get, has a balcony, so my mom can sit outside. Downstairs they have a beautiful outdoor courtyard with activities out there; a firepit and tables, a bocce court, and all that. The dinner setting looks just like a restaurant. They have a fireplace you can view from both sides. They have an activity room with a pool table and a library. They have a little TV movie theater that they play movies at, and an art room that you can go in and paint or do other activities. They have other things ongoing. Every week there's something new. They have a little tavern where they do happy hour during the week. It just had everything, all at once. When you pull in and look at the place, you don't think that it's a retirement independent community living. Also, if you need more services outside of that and things in a few years, you can get that type of care.

The Woods at Merrimack was more like renting an apartment, except there was help available at any time you needed it. Meals were not included. Every unit had a washer and dryer. It was a little bit bigger, and there's a little balcony for yourself. They had one building that was only independent, although you could go to the main building and eat any meals that you want to for a nominal fee. They have classes and things like that. You have a choice to do that, or you could live in the bigger building where all your meals are included. They had a reading room, a nice theater, a beautiful outdoor dining room, some bocce and pickleball, and different games you could play. They had a game room there. I like The Woods at Merrimack because they give you choices. If you're going to be on vacation for a week and be away, they would like to know so they wouldn't be worried about you. I only talked to one staff. They seemed very nice. The dining area was lovely. There was a very nice large outdoor area where you could dine. I checked the menu out. There were two or three different entrees. We talked to a couple of people that were playing Wii bowling in one of the rooms. They were quite friendly. Everything was pretty new. Even the one-bedroom seemed quite spacious. There was enough room if you wanted to put a big enough dining table to have a couple of guests over for dinner; you could do that there. It seemed to be a little bit more generous in the size.

The Woods at Merrimack was like a place you see in a home magazine. Everything was stellar. If my mother or father were still alive, this is where I would want them to be. It was like being on a brand new cruise ship. It was absolutely gorgeous. The woman who toured us was very professional and very helpful. She gave us a lot of strategies on how to deal with this life changing situation with my mother-in-law. The dining room was also beautiful, but there wasn't any meal going on when we were there. We were told in our initial email that if we'd like to dine with them, we just had to let them know so they could schedule the tour accordingly. When we left, they again invited us to come back, and they suggested we bring my mother-in-law and share a meal. We saw that they were showing a movie in the theater. There were four people playing in the game room, and people in the lobby chatting. It was amazing. I would like to move there myself. It was really, really beautiful.