Oxfordshire housing association shares its customers’ stories for National Share a Story Month

To celebrate National Share a Story Month this month (May), new homes provider Bromford is telling the stories of its customers who have found their perfect home in Oxfordshire.

In the last financial year (April 2022 to April 2023), Bromford handed over 1265 new homes to happy customers in numerous locations including; Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Staffordshire, and Warwickshire to name a few.

For most people, the story starts with a reason for wanting to move. For Ryan Featherstone, 35, and his fiancée Fern Goddard, 37, from Gloucestershire, it was to provide the best possible future for their three-year-old daughter, Darcie. Ryan said: “Darcie was born with HLHS, which is a heart defect meaning only one side of her heart grew in the womb. Buying our first home is all about her, and securing a future for her”.

For Dorothea Wiltshire, 79, from Oxfordshire, it was the need for a smaller home that required less work. She commented: “My previous home was too large for me to look after as it needed a lot of maintenance. I started exploring different avenues and discovered Bromford’s Park Gardens development near to where I was living in Banbury, which seemed to offer the perfect solution for my current situation”.

The next chapter is finding the perfect home. Harriet Owen, 35, and her partner Sulaimon Lasisi, 43, chose a home at the Hangar District development at Brabazon, where they now reside with their two young sons. Harriet said: “There were plenty of options for Bromford Shared Ownership developments, but The Hangar District is in a fantastic area near to Cribbs Causeway and close to nursery, school and work for all of us. Making this move into a larger home with much more space will be the ideal way for our family of four to blossom as the children grow up.”

Ryan and Fern fell in love with a semi-detached, three-bedroom home at the Twigworth Green development in Gloucestershire, that had everything their family needed. Fern added: “Darcie now has her own space as she grows up, and the downstairs bathroom is a real bonus with potty training. The enclosed garden gives us security when Darcie is playing outside too, so the whole house and layout really suits our needs.”

Janine Whittington, 45, also opted for a home in Twigworth Green for her four sons, George, 17, Louie, 11, Henry, eight, and Oliver, four as she need to downsize from her previous home due to the rise in energy bills. She noted: “We needed to downsize from our previous home to a new-build property without sacrificing the space we needed to function and grow as a family of five. We looked at many developments, but Twigworth Green is in an excellent area and close to my children’s schools, plus it has a great community feel so it was definitely the perfect place for us to settle down.”

Finally, the happily ever after for Bromford customers is the new life and community they build for themselves after settling into their new home. Janine commented: “The home suits us perfectly as it has lots of cupboard space in the kitchen which is very much a necessity for us. The bedrooms are all a brilliant size too which was definitely a selling point. We all feel very settled here and it is such a great feeling to know I have bought this home on my own.”

Dorothea has also met plenty of her neighbours at Park Gardens, and said: “There is a real sense of community here and I have made several friends already. Everyone is very friendly, and we all meet regularly in the communal lounge areas and have coffee mornings every Tuesday. Some of us also often have lunch together in the bistro too. So far, I’ve met about 40 new people here.”

Catherine Jarrett, Director of Sales and Marketing at Bromford, said: “We love hearing from our customers about how happy they are in their brand-new Bromford homes. We’re looking forward to welcoming more happy customers into their perfect homes and sharing their stories in the future”.

Bromford is providing a range of Shared Ownership and outright sale homes for local people across Oxfordshire. Shared Ownership gives those who do not currently own a property the chance to secure a new build home with Bromford. Homebuyers pay a mortgage on the share they own and pay rent on the remaining share, meaning a smaller deposit is required.

To find out more about Bromford and its available properties, visit https://findahome.bromford.co.uk/.