Zara and Paul Granfield, who have two children, reserved a four-bedroom detached house in Bellway’s Pargeter house style in April and over the following months visited regularly to see how work was progressing.
The couple, both aged 40, lived around the corner from the development with daughters Sophia, eight, and Ella, four, and their dog Khloe, so it was easy to stay up to date with the build.
“We would come and visit and take photos, then go home and put them on the TV and just look at it,” said Zara.
“It’s been amazing. It was one of the best experiences we have had. We absolutely loved every minute of it. Every time we saw it, from seeing the foundations to seeing the bricks up to the windows and the roof going on, it was exciting.”
Zara, who works as cabin crew out of East Midlands Airport and Paul, who is a teacher, originally moved to Desborough when they were in their mid-20s. They chose the location for its easy access to good road links via the A14 which makes the commute to work straightforward.
They bought a new-build three-bedroom end-of-terrace as their first house, but they knew that they would eventually move on from there.
“We outgrew the house with kids and a dog,” said Zara. “Also, we like to keep a spare room for guests because I’m from Belfast and Paul is from Manchester, so visitors tend to stay over.
“We talked about moving for a long time. We knew that where we were wasn’t going to be our forever home. We were looking and thinking ‘what do we want, that we don’t have at the minute’.
“My husband always wanted a detached house. We both wanted more bedrooms, and I definitely wanted a south-facing back garden as the previous house’s garden was north facing and we like to have barbecues, and the kids have a paddling pool in the summer.”
When they saw work starting on the Weavers Fields scheme they decided to have a look.
Zara said: “We went into the showhome and we were blown away. The kitchen sold it for us as it’s very spacious. I love to cook and when I saw it, I could imagine myself in the kitchen and the kids at the table doing homework or watching TV, or us having friends round.”
They were also impressed with the layout of the whole development. Zara said: “It’s very spacious and the houses aren’t built on top of each other. It’s all on flat land and the entrance of the development is beautiful and there are nice walkways.”
The customer service was impressive. Zara said: “The sales team were fantastic. They kept us up to date and they knew how excited we were so if we couldn’t come to get photos, they would send us some. They were really friendly and engaged the kids in conversation and if they saw us walking the dog they would say ‘come in!’
“This put us at ease, and we didn’t experience any of this when we bought our first property. It’s completely different. And the site manager is amazing too. He is a friendly guy and always if we have any queries he replies straight away. Any minor snags were sorted out quickly.”
They used Bellway’s Express Mover service which helps customers sell their old home through an independent local estate agent.
The couple paid £400,000 for their new house. They were given a £5,000 contribution towards their purchase by Bellway, which meant they were able to put down a deposit of £131,000 following the sale of their old home. Monthly payments on their £269,000 mortgage are currently £1,370.
Their new home has everything they were looking for, in terms of being detached, having four bedrooms and with a south-facing garden.
Zara said: “It was amazing when we moved in. I kept thinking, is it really ours; I couldn’t believe it was actually ours. It was so nice being able to move in.”
And Sophia and Ella are delighted to have their own rooms. “They absolutely love it and are desperate to make them their own with wallpaper and paint.”
One of the things Zara loves most about the house is the extra space and the fact that there is plenty of storage.
“In the old house there was no space, so everything was cramped,” she said.
“Here there is plenty of space. The girls have their own rooms and can have time to themselves. It’s tidier because there is storage for things like coats and shoes and schoolbags. Putting everything away makes me happy. Everything has its place.”