Do your homework
IT’S not until you’ve got children that you realise how important it is to buy a family home near good schools, let alone things such as public transport, shops and leisure facilities. Often it’s hard to get all those boxes ticked, especially if you’re looking for a new-build home that will offer higher levels of insulation and lower heating bills than a second-hand house.
But at Crest Nicholson’s Hansford Park near Rugby, in Warwickshire, not only are the new homes close to good primary schools but government funding has been approved for a new secondary school on the site of a former global communications hub.
A multi-million-pound free school, led by the Transforming Lives Educational Trust, will be installed in the Grade II listed former Rugby Radio Station, known locally as the Mast Site.
Before demolition, the masts, lit with red lights at night, were a familiar landmark for drivers on the A5 and M1 and in the 1920s the station sent the first transatlantic telephone call between the United States and Britain.
Once the world’s largest radio transmission station, the masts supported the aerial that transmitted the time signal for the national atomic clock and its radio signals were responsible for “the pips” every hour on BBC Radio.
But the station became redundant when satellites took over and it’s now the site of the new 6,200-home community of Houlton, which claims to be one of the best-connected new UK developments.
Four miles from Rugby, where there are trains south to London and north to Birmingham, it is only a short drive from the M1, with a network of cycle paths and footpaths giving access to 500 acres of open green space.
ANEWLY opened primary school was one of the factors behind Emma and Tim Nuttall’s move to Hansford Park with daughters Alice and Aria. They moved into a four-bedroom house using Help To Buy and have found it easy to fit into the growing community.
“We moved as we were keen for our girls to attend St Gabriel’s primary school when they are older and, being just down the road, Hansford Park was in the right catchment area,” explains Emma. “We are seeing the benefits of having the school on our doorstep as it is also used by the community and my daughter goes to dance lessons there.
“It has meant we have already been able to get to know other families of the children who the girls will be attending school with. When they start school the close distance will mean we can share the drop off and pick up with neighbours and the girls can easily socialise with their friends.”
Houlton already has an award-winning café on its doorstep, The Tuning Fork, and there are plans for a health centre near the development, where one-bedroom apartments start from £169,950 with three-bedroom houses from £257,950 and four bedrooms from £339,950 (01788 524320; crestnicholson.com).
Meanwhile in Berkshire, Paul Roberts and Sarah Dean have moved to their new home for much the same reason: good schools.
Paul and Sarah bought on Crest Nicholson’s Nightingale Fields development within the new garden village of Arborfield Green near Wokingham, where prices start from £459,950 for a three-bedroom house and £612,950 for four bedrooms (0118 451 0050; crestnicholson.com).
Daughter Lucie, 11, goes to a secondary school within walking distance and sevenyear-old daughter Emma goes to a nearby primary school rated outstanding by Ofsted.
“The main attraction for us moving here was the school”, says Sarah, “and with a children’s play area within viewing distance too, we’ve found that Lucie and Emma are enjoying life here every bit as much as we are.”