Three generations settle in to new homes in Sefton

She moved into Orchard Place in Thornton just a few weeks before the birth of her second child and was soon followed by her mum Marie, who’s moved to the same Castle Green Homes development.

They both used the homebuilder’s Easy Move scheme to sell their previous properties – Sarah to upsize and her mum to downsize.

“I was living in the Childwall area and was pregnant with my second child. We were in a three-bedroom property but had turned the box room into a dressing room, so it wasn’t really suitable and we need somewhere bigger when the time was right,” Sarah recalled.

“We lived there for 10 years and we hadn’t planned to sell or move, but my sister lives in Crosby and asked if I’d consider moving here as it’s only five minutes away from her. After we came to look at the show homes at Orchard Place, we didn’t look at anything else and started the Easy Move process.”

Castle Green arranged for local agents Abode to value Sarah’s old home and managed the sale on her behalf, even paid their fees.

“We were really happy with the valuation and went straight ahead with listing with them,” Sarah explained.

“It was very simple and really quick. We expressed an interest with the sales team over a weekend, had a call from the agent on the Monday, they came out the same week, gave us a valuation and the photographer came a few days later.”

Sarah’s mum moved in opposite her and also used Easy Move.

“When we moved in, my sister said the house over the road would be perfect for our mum. It took some convincing because mum had lived in Old Swan all her life, but the timing was right,” Sarah said.

Her mum Marie’s home is a two-bedroom Ashton house type.

“We’d decided we wanted a new build as I was pregnant and we wanted a new start without having to do work with the baby coming,” Sarah added.

“It was stressful being pregnant, moving home and schools – we had to reapply for a school place for Joshua – but we are really happy. We made the right decision. The houses are really spacious compared to other developers and it’s a better environment for the kids to grow up in.”

Sarah, 36, and her partner Andrew Gibney, 35, both work in construction.

They moved into their new Cheltenham style property just weeks before baby Seren was born.

“We’d looked at the Evesham, which has one bedroom with an en-suite and a family bathroom to serve the other two bedrooms, whereas in the Cheltenham each bedroom has an en-suite. It was a hard decision, but I managed to persuade my partner that the difference in price was nothing compared with the better lifestyle as the kids get older,” Sarah said.

“Joshua is five and loves having his own bathroom. He uses our shower and bath at the moment and his en-suite for washing his face and brushing his teeth. He says, ‘mummy our house is like a mansion’ and that he loves our new house compared to the old one.”

Energy efficiency also set their new home apart from the old one.

“The house has solar panels and we’ve found that our energy bills are lower than our previous ones. It’s well insulated – we’ve noticed the rooms heat up quicker than in our old home which was built in the 1950s,” Sarah said.

While more than 85% of homes at Orchard Place have now been sold, there’s still a good choice of two, three and four-bedroom properties available, with prices from £254,995.

Show homes at Orchard Place, on Hollow Drive, Thornton, are open daily from 10am to 5pm. For more information see here.