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Paul: We really like it. There’s a good community feel already, which is something we wanted. We feel we’ve settled in well and there’s some really nice people around us. For example, even though some don’t know us all that well, they were more than happy to keep an eye on the house for us when we went away.

Dawn: It’s also quiet here. We’ve got the trees and woodland close to the bottom of the garden so there’s quite a lot of wildlife and it’s nice to sit in the garden and watch that around us. We lived at Wynyard before here, we’d been there since the start, and we just thought it was getting too busy. 

Dawn: You can get out into the open quickly, with all the country paths. Where we were before we moved here, there was nowhere else to go, you were quite isolated. But here there’s some really nice walks, and there’s a community group on a Sunday morning which I’ve joined and I've already discovered some more walks from that.

You also have easy-access to bigger places like Stockton, Billingham and Sedgefield. Both of the pubs close to us (The Hamilton Russell Arms and The Vane Arms) have really nice food and a lovely feel to them too. 

Paul: For us it was about getting back to that village community feel. When we first moved to Wynyard it had that, but it doesn’t anymore. You also had to drive everywhere there, whereas here we can get into the countryside really easily. And we’ve got two pubs instead of one!

Q: Why did you choose the 5-bedroom Jesmond?

Paul: You’re sitting in it (the open-plan kitchen/diner and living area). It was literally this room. We’d first looked at The Eleanor because we were going to downsize, but then we walked into The Jesmond viewhome and thought “oh, could I have one of these?”.

This is modern living now, with the open kitchen, dining and family area. All of our friends, as soon as they walk in, they say “wow”. 

Dawn: Everyone who has been to visit have said they understand why we moved after seeing the house. And we just love it, we haven’t regretted moving once.

All the bedrooms here are a good size for us too. We’ve turned the 5th room into a study and have had that kitted out with bookshelves.

Q: What's your favourite part of your home?

Dawn: The open-plan kitchen/diner and living area and the fact it opens out onto the garden. With the garden being south-facing, we’ve had the decking done so we can sit out on a morning for breakfast on the side the sun comes up, then the patio is on the other side for later on. And if it’s sunny but cold, Paul’s built me a summer house. 

Q: Have you met your neighbours?

Dawn: Yes, we’ve met some really lovely people. It’s nice that it’s a mixed age group, there’s younger people and people with young children as well as some other people who are retired, so there’s a good mix. And quite a few dogs!

Q: How did you find out about Homes by Carlton and what drew you to us?

Paul: I cycled past Thorpe Paddocks when they’d just started building, and we also saw the Redmarshall development when passing through. We always knew that if we were to move, it would be to a village, we didn’t want to go to another big development. So when we saw you were building here, we went to see Laura-Jane (Sales Manager) at Middleton Waters.

Q: How did you find the Homes by Carlton buying experience?

Dawn: Smooth, friendly and helpful. Kirk (Site Manager) in particular was really helpful.

Paul: We had a really nice experience. At the time we bought the banks were doing some changes to eligibility factors for mortgages and our daughter’s mortgage, who was buying our old house, was delayed. But you gave us time to get that sorted and we weren’t ever pushed, so from that point of view you were really flexible.

Q: How did you find the choices process?

Dawn: There was certainly plenty of choice. From a kitchen point of view especially and all the fixtures and fittings, there was so much to choose from.

Q: Would you recommend Homes by Carlton?

Paul: Definitely. 

Dawn: Yes we would. Even down to the style of the houses, they’re that little bit different but not so off-the-wall that they’re not liveable. Even our taxi driver who was from out of the area commented on the development's open-ness and how nice the houses are, which is always a positive.

Thank you Dawn and Paul for being so welcoming and taking the time to show us around your beautiful home and share your experience.

Thorpe Paddocks is all sold out, but we have three other beautiful developments (and more coming very soon) in the North East that we know will blow you away.

If you'd like to find out more, please call 0333 034 1355 or email sales@homesbycarlton.com.