Darren Hicks is thrilled to have moved into a home in Lympsham after living in a one-bedroom house.
We're highlighting the importance of building more rural homes during the National Housing Federation's campaign Rural Housing Week (July 3-7) this week.
Our resident Darren needed somewhere new to live following a relationship finishing, so to start with he moved into a one-bedroom house. But then his teenage daughter Sophie joined him, so he needed to find somewhere with more space to accommodate both of them.
He wanted to stay in a rural location so when this development came up it was the ideal place for him to be based.
So, after putting his name down to get an affordable property at the Sedgemoor Close development in Lympsham, Darren was overjoyed when a suitable two-bedroom home came up and was offered to him by us.
Darren said: “From the small one-bedroom house we had to this two-bed obviously it’s not massive, but it gives us our own space for me and my daughter so we’re not clambering over each other to get to the TV remote now.
“Growing up in Bleadon, I’ve always been in a village environment, in the countryside so I’m not a city person by far so here with a small group of houses it’s better for me and it’s easy access to a degree and you’re not fighting with all the rush hour traffic to get home and it’s just little things like that.
"I’ve driven through other housing estates and it’s like a slalom going through so this is what I prefer really.”
With the demand for housing being high in the area, Darren really appreciates the development having a local element connection criterion as he has lived locally, and this helped him get the home.
He also wanted to stay near friends, and this gave him the opportunity to be closer to his mum who is nearby.
LiveWest partnered with EG Carter and had support from Sedgemoor District Council and Lympsham Parish Council to develop the scheme of 20 homes in the village.
The village hasn’t had housing built for a number of years so this gives people the opportunity to rent and buy in a much-needed area with a mix of two shared ownership, six social rent and 12 open market homes.
Darren said: “The development is really good and LiveWest seem to be good at what they do and their communication with everything. It’s a nice area to be in and it’s quiet around here, the people I’ve spoken to in the community are also friendly.
“There are a lot of people out there looking for housing, I feel very lucky myself that I’ve ended up with this house compared to where I was, and in the situation we were in. Hopefully someone else will get lucky as well one day.”