The entrance to the Hospital of St Cross, next to the St Cross Symondians Cricket Club on the outskirts of Winchester, is tucked away down a narrow lane that reminds me of Merton Street in Oxford. Indeed, the ancient pilgrims’ hospital and Almshouse of Noble Poverty resembles an Oxbridge college in so many ways; only instead of accommodating rowdy or earnest young undergraduates, the cloisters and gardens house up to 25 elderly “brothers” lucky enough to live in the grounds – which include a croquet lawn, kitchen garden and a tree planted by the Duchess of Cornwall – of what may well be England’s most famous and appealing retirement home.