What price old age?

I braved a trip out today - still don't feel up to driving - but a meet up with the in-law side of the family sounded nice, so we set off to the home where Cat's mum now resides.
No-one from my immediate family has ever gone into a home, or not that I've had any interaction with. When her health first started to fail Mollie was very clear about what she wanted, and whilst at first it was daunting, and if I'm honest I found it a little sad, it has been a good and wise decision on her part. Mollie very much wanted her family to not worry and she also wanted a more restful (some might say sedentary) life, she now spends many a day reading books, snoozing, watching Poirot (why old people, why?) and looking out of the window.
This is the view from said window. She likes being on the front of the building because she gets to see people come and go, and she can see the deer in the grounds of the hall opposite. As views go its a pretty good one, over the hill is Morecambe Bay - so Mollie always gets to see the sunsets and the storms rolling in.
Cat & I spent a long time visiting homes - some were depressing, some were ridiculous and some, including this one, were simply, well, nice. The strange thing (to a novice like me) was that whilst they all seem stunningly expensive (Cat & I have more than once calculated that we couldn't afford it for ourselves) -of the six I remember visiting, with one £1000 per week exception, they were all within £25 of each other - yet the differences seemed shocking.
The happiness (if such a thing can be quantified) of the residents seemed to be directly proportional to the happiness of the staff. When we arrive to visit Mollie the staff know us, are cheerful, can tell us straight away how she's doing, its a good atmosphere and its easy to tell that Mollies enjoys it here. It's nice to us that the home is pretty new, the facilities are spotless and well thought out - but what has really become clear to us is that it's the staff that make these places 'good or bad'. We're lucky, and for Mollies sake that makes me very happy.