ELIZABETH Earle in her letter published on May 12 made various references to Hartrigg Oaks, the continuing care retirement community opened by the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust in New Earswick eight years ago, which is where we live.

We discussed our experiences with your reporter, whose article appeared on April 17.

Elizabeth Earle quotes one sentence from that article: "At the moment we pay quite a lot and don't in that sense get much back for it."

She omitted to quote the preceding sentence: "The majority of us are paying sums of money now which will remain exactly the same when we receive full-time nursing care.

And she also left out the sentence which followed the one she quoted: "But we know that if either or both of us need full-time care we will get that while paying the same amount."

That is the essence of the financial package which we have selected. And that is one of the main reasons why we have chosen to come here.

Has Elizabeth Earle not noticed that costs of everything go up year by year? It's known as inflation.

Here at Hartrigg Oaks, we have a legal contract with the trust which limits annual fee increases to the increase in the retail prices index, plus three per cent to cover above-inflation rises in care staff salaries. That formula could have justified an increase of 53.1 per cent in the annual fees over the eight years. In fact, they have gone up by 28.5 per cent.

Whether the costs are "high", and whether our facilities are "lavish" will be a matter of opinion. In our judgement we are receiving excellent value for money and are thankful to be where we are.

Janet and Tony Dale,

Lucombe Way,

New Earswick, York.

Updated: 10:51 Wednesday, May 17, 2006