Family find their dream home at Taylor Wimpey’s townhouse

After moving back to the UK from Switzerland so their daughter can attend a specialised school in Surrey, the couple used the Help to Buy scheme to purchase their brand new four-bedroom ‘Jessop’ townhouse.

With their daughters Sofia, 13 and Edith, 10, the family moved in at the start of April 2016 after renting a townhouse on the other side of the village for 18 months.

Before deciding to move back to the UK the family lived in Switzerland for four years, but decided to return so Edith could go to the nearby Moor House School and College, which specialises in helping children with speech and language difficulties.

Scarlett says: “We first moved to Hurst Green around two years ago when Edith started at school. She was on the waiting list for around 18 months, so before moving to the village we were renting a property in Oxted. Our former property was too big for us and not nearly as nice – the houses at Meridian Square aren’t just bricks and mortar. The ‘Jessop’ is clean, white and modern with lots of glass and wooden panels, so it’s really light inside. It has almost a Scandinavian feel to it, which we really like.

“Both Sofia and Edith now have their own bedroom and one of the rooms has its own balcony and en suite which is fantastic. The entire house is really spacious so we’re not all living on top of each other. The kitchen also has lovely bi-folding doors opening to the back garden, so we’ve been able to embrace outdoor living again like we used to.”

Using Help to Buy, first-time buyers as well as existing homeowners can secure a government loan for up to 20% of their new home’s full price, so they only need a 75% loan-to-value mortgage and a deposit as low as 5%. The scheme is available on new build homes up to the value of £600,000 and there’s no salary cap for purchasers making use of the initiative.

“Edith’s speech and language challenges were diagnosed in Switzerland so we knew she needed to go to a specialist speech and language school in England,” continues Scarlett. “During the last two years most of the equity from our previous property was spent on legal fees to get Edith funding for a place at the school, so it was like we were starting from the beginning again.

“The Help to Buy scheme has made a real difference to us and we’d have struggled to buy again without it. We had a really personable experience with the Taylor Wimpey team and the aftercare has been amazing. The team continue to show so much interest in us, so it’s been a really nice journey for us all.”

The entire family is enjoying settling in at Meridian Square. “We all love it here and we’re very happy to have finally moved into our dream home – it’s very much what we’ve been looking for,” adds Scarlett. “It was Edith’s school that brought us here but for the first time in a long time it feels like home and we plan on being here for a long time.

“Sofia is enjoying it here as well, she’s now going to school in Oxted so she loves catching the train, while Simon also catches the train to work and loves driving to the station on his Vespa scooter! We’ve got great travel links in Hurst Green, it’s like a hidden secret – we can catch the train into London so we don’t have to drive anywhere yet we can be in Kent and the countryside in around 15 minutes.”

There’s still a selection of homes currently available to reserve at Meridian Square, including one-bedroom apartments priced from £264,995 and two-bedroom apartments from £299,995.

Meridian Square enjoys an exceptional location, with the A22, M23 and M25 within easy reach, while Hurst Green railway station offers direct services into London and Gatwick Airport is just nine miles away. Closer to home, there’s a great choice of local facilities and services, while Oxted offers a selection of shops, restaurants, coffee shops and pubs.

View more developments from Taylor Wimpey in Hurst Green here.