The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 3 plus 2 plus 4 letter word GREAT BED OF WARE
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
G
R
E
A
T
B
E
D
O
F
W
A
R
E
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "impressive Herts retirement place" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case impressive herts retirement place = great bed of ware.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.