Sittingbourne comes top with London commuter!

When first time buyer, 29-year-old Paul Wicks was searching for his perfect home, Great Easthall in Sittingbourne - a new community by Countryside Properties and Trenport Investments - came out on top.

Looking for a rural area within commuting distance from London, Sittingbourne fitted the bill and although Paul had never been there before, when he visited the new development he immediately decided that it was somewhere that he wanted to live.

“I visited the site and immediately loved it,” he says. “It is really rural with a pond, walking tracks and wildlife. There are even owls on site!”

“I like the fact that I am able to live on the edge of the countryside but am still near enough to a town to not feel too cut off from everything, and compared to some other new developments I had seen, this felt more like a new village than just a collection of houses and apartments.”

Paul had previously been living with his parents in Croydon, Surrey where he had been able to save for a deposit. When looking for a new home, high on Paul’s list was the ability to commute to London coupled with affordability.

“It would be my worst nightmare to live in central London! I enjoy working there but at the end of the day I like to feel that I am escaping. My deposit wouldn’t stretch that far in London anyway so I started looking further a field. My brother only lives 10 minutes away from Sittingbourne so this seemed a good place to start. ”

Paul, who works at Debenhams Head Office on Oxford Street, commutes into central London each day. He cycles from his home to the station which only takes 10 minutes, and then he catches the train straight to Victoria, which takes just under an hour. Paul then walks from Victoria to the office.

“My journey to work is pain-free compared to some of my London-based colleagues. There are three trains an hour to London and there is a planned a bus link from Great Easthall to the station.”

Sittingbourne is a commutable area that is currently still affordable and Paul’s brand new two bedroom apartment was under the stamp duty threshold. However, due to the amount of planned regeneration over the next five years, the house prices in the area are likely to increase significantly, making Sittingbourne a key area in the South East in which to buy a new property.

Great Easthall will include around 800 new homes and is set in 18 acres of public open space. Fenacres is the first phase of development and features two bedroom apartments and two, three and four bedroom houses designed around a charming village pond.

The homes have all been carefully designed and enjoy high levels of specification. There are contemporary individually designed kitchens with a full range of stainless steel integrated appliances and the lighting is in the form of elegant downlighters. The bathrooms feature sleek modern sanitaryware with chrome finishing touches.

Great Easthall is located to the north east of Sittingbourne town centre and has easy access to the A2 and M2.

The show home and marketing suite are open daily from 9.30am to 4.30pm. For further information visit Greateasthall.co.uk.