The Barkers begin a new chapter at Wellfield Rise

After living in the same house for all of his 45 years, Richard Barker decided it was “now or never” as far as moving to a new home was concerned.

And within just 24 hours of viewing the showhomes at Bellway Durham’s Wellfield Rise development in Wingate, Richard and his wife Marie, 43, had reserved a new four-bedroom detached property at the site.

The couple, along with their two children Emma, 16, and Daniel, 13, and their five pets, moved from their old three-bedroom house just down the road in Easington to their new home at Wellfield Rise in January this year.

Richard, a production team leader at Nissan, said: “We felt like it was now or never to move and once we found this house, it only took us 24 hours to put down an offer and reserve the property.

“Our old property in Easington was previously my parents’ home, which we bought off them after we got married, so it is practically the only house I’ve ever lived in.”

Marie, a service and investment executive, said: “The house holds a lot of memories for Richard and his family, and it was a difficult decision to make, but as soon as we saw this house, we knew it was the one for us.

“We were worried it might be a difficult transition for all the family, but my mother-in-law loves the house as much as we do.”

The Barker family first visited the sales office at Wellfield Rise on 14 November last year and reserved their chosen property the next day.

Richard said: “Everything happened so quickly. We had looked at a few houses before we found this one and some of them were beautiful, but they weren’t in the right area. We saw on Rightmove that this plot was available, so we drove past the development and loved what we saw.

“We had previously been wary of new-build estates because we thought they were all tightly packed together, but we were pleasantly surprised when we visited Wellfield Rise and were impressed with how open and spacious it was.”

Marie added: “The development itself will have lots of green open spaces and a park will be built on the site, both of which we didn’t expect a new-build development to have.

“We loved how private the development is and although it’s large, it’s quite insular which makes it a lot quieter than our old house. We are also still within good walking distance from the local shops which is great.”

The family used Bellway’s Part Exchange scheme to sell their old property and secure their new home at Wellfield Rise.

Under the scheme, Bellway makes an offer on the customer’s existing home which is based on at least two independent valuations. If the offer is accepted, Bellway will purchase the property and the customer is then able to secure their new home without having to worry about finding a buyer for their old one.

Richard said: “The Part Exchange scheme was really straightforward. The process overall was spot on, and we moved in on the dates we were told we would.”

Marie added: “We had no issues at all throughout the process, which was really great because you do sometimes hear stories about the problems people can face. We had 12 weeks of support so whenever we had a little snagging issue, someone would come and fix it straight away.

“We get a lot of extra reassurances with a new build, like the warranty and on site-support, which we wouldn’t have got with an old house.”

The Barker family chose to purchase the four-bedroom detached Bowyer house type at Wellfield Rise.

Richard said: “The Bowyer ticked a lot of our boxes. We had previously lived in a three-bedroom semi-detached property which had a lot of wasted space. This one is detached, has an extra room and utilises all the space. The separate garage was also a huge selling point for us.

“This house has really good-sized rooms and more of a social space downstairs which is just what we wanted.”

Marie added: “All the bedrooms are bigger, and we have an en suite which is lovely as we’ve never had that before.

“My favourite room is definitely the kitchen/dining room, as the sun always shines in and we can have the patio doors open to the garden which is great now the weather is getting a little warmer. We can’t wait to have more people over for barbecues in the summer.”

As the Barkers only moved a few miles down the road, Emma and Daniel still attend the same school as before, Easington Academy.

Marie said: “I take the kids to school every morning which only takes 15 minutes and I work in Seaham which is only a mile from their school, so I just carry onto the office when I have to be in, which is usually twice a week.”

Richard said: “I’m at the factory in Washington, Monday to Friday as well as Saturday mornings, and it’s only 20 minutes down the road on the A19. We have easy access to the A road from the development which is ideal.

“The site also has a couple of good walking routes nearby which we have taken the dog around and seem to be quite popular with runners and cyclists.”

Bellway is currently building a collection of two, three and four-bedroom homes at Wellfield Rise.

For more information on the properties available, visit https://www.bellway.co.uk/new-homes/durham/wellfield-rise or call the sales office 01429 411 737.