Family move closer by relocating to Chester

James and Kat Prince have moved to College Park in Christleton, while James’s Dad John has settled into an apartment on the neighbouring Christleton Hall development.

James and Kat previously lived in southeast London and as a Manchester City season ticket holder James spent a lot of time on the train from Euston to Piccadilly. At the time James’s dad was living around 70 miles away on the south coast and while they wanted to be closer to him, he wasn’t keen to move to the southeast London area.

“The stars aligned, and we decided if we were going to make a lifestyle change and move lock stock and barrel it meant trying to find somewhere to live as a family and finding somewhere for my father too,” James explained.

They wanted to move somewhere with a quieter way of life, close to the countryside, with open space where they could walk their dogs and in James’s words “enjoy life a bit more”.

Kat added: “When we put our house on the market last summer, we initially looked around Manchester, Knutsford and Wilmslow but liked the areas around Chester because of connections to London, Manchester and Liverpool. Having lived in London, we didn’t want to live too remotely. We wanted to be able to walk into the city centre, have easy access to the train station and shops. Christleton ticked all of those boxes.

“You can have a pleasant walk alongside the canal and be in Chester in less than 30 minutes. Chester is a stunning city. When we first wandered around it felt really vibrant and alive with shops, restaurants, bars and coffee shops.”

They’d considered older homes with an annexe James’s dad could live in, but didn’t want to have to spend tens of thousands of pounds in repairs and renovations an older property was likely to need.

They saw a listing for College Park, a Castle Green Homes development taking shape on land that was previously part of the former University of Law Chester Campus and registered their interest in the properties.

They booked a hotel and made the trip north for the opening of the show home and were the third people to pull into the car park for the launch.

“Before coming up here my dad was interested in the move but looking at bungalows in the surrounding villages. When we came to College Park and saw the sign for the Blue Oak apartments at Christleton Hall we realised it was the ideal set up. He likes history so the fact that it was an 18th century building appealed. We did video tours with him, and he was completely hooked into it and saw the value of the proposition,” James explained.

James, who works in the finance industry and Kat, a teaching assistant, sold their old home and moved into rented accommodation while waiting for their daughter to finish her A-levels before moving north, along with their two sons and two dogs.

By coincidence, they completed the purchase of their new home just days after his father completed the purchase of his apartment.

“It’s the first time he’s lived so close,” James added. “His grandkids love seeing him more often, they are cooking for him, he pops in for lunch and we go the Ring o’ Bells together. We’ve made good friends with our new neighbours at College Park and he is doing the same.”

The Prince family’s new home is a four-bedroom home, overlooking the public open space.

“With three children and two dogs we needed four bedrooms,” Kat said. “We spend most of our time in the open plan kitchen, dining & family room. It’s an ideal lay out with brilliant integrated kitchen appliances.”

James added: “We love it. It’s been built in a very impressive way.”

The couple admitted they felt a little overwhelmed by the range of options and upgrades available when buying their first new build home, but the guidance and expertise of the sales team, made it easier. Being able to take samples into their new home to see what they’d look like in-situ helped them envisage what their choices would look like.

“The team were fab and were sending us pictures to check we were happy. We’d definitely recommend Castle Green from a buyer’s perspective. We did have some challenges along the way, but that’s par for the course. It couldn’t have gone much better,” James said.

“Given the limited opportunities we had to keep coming to look at the progress of the house they helped smooth that out and were super responsive communicating with us. The sales team were amazing from start to finish and aren’t just sales people, they have become friends.”

They had “the odd snag” post-completion but said Castle Green had been “faultless and super responsive dealing with issues”.

Having relocated they appreciate the intimate nature of the development – there are just 24 homes at College Park.

“It has the sense of a small community and we’ve made friends with our new neighbours,” Kat said.

Their neighbours have created a WhatsApp group and they’ve had nights out together.

Current availability at College Park includes a choice of four and five-bedroom homes, with prices from £797,995.

For more information about Castle Green’s new homes in Christleton see here.