Choose the quiet life in Tunbridge Wells

A tranquil home life is important to Justin Williams and Michael Leslie because their professional lives are anything but. They both work as cabin crew based at Heathrow, so unsocial hours and long trips are part of the job. Being able to come home to some domestic peace is vital for de-stressing and they are now breathing a sigh of relief now that they’re happily settled in to their new apartment at Barratt’s Connaught Park, in Tunbridge Wells.

One reason they chose Connaught Park was the ease of travel to the airport, getting onto the M25 at junction 5 via the A21. Train travel to London is also convenient: about 50 minutes into London Bridge from High Brooms station, which is a few minutes walk away. “We still like to go out and go a bit wild now and again,” Justin laughs but as Michael adds “We feel very safe here and it’s blissfully quiet.”

The couple have just moved across town into their spacious, two-bedroom apartment at Connaught Park where life is rather more genteel, as one ought to expect in an elegant spa town such as Royal Tunbridge Wells.

Once they’d decided to move, they initially started looking for an older property. “We were a bit anti-new homes,” Michael explains. “We’d had a look at some new flats near to where my parents live and we weren’t impressed; no character at all.” However, Connaught Park definitely did make an impression. They decided, on a whim, just to have a look – and ended up by buying “The show home was gorgeous,” Michael continues, “so we thought we’d be a bit cheeky and ask if there were any special deals going. Barratt then told us about their part exchange scheme, which was great because at that point we hadn’t found anyone to buy our old place.”

Their chosen apartment has two large bedrooms, a luxury bathroom and an en-suite shower room, an ultra modern fitted kitchen, and a spacious living room with an unusual fireplace in the centre of the room. “Unlike other new flats we’ve seen, ours is a bit quirky and different, and that’s really important to us,” says Justin. “And we definitely consider we’ve got great value for money here; we’d always thought new properties were much more expensive.”

Connaught Park, which has been extremely popular since its launch two years ago, consists of a wide range of new homes and apartments, built in traditional style to emulate the Georgian architecture for which Royal Tunbridge Wells is famed. The whole development is beautifully landscaped, surrounded by woodlands, open green spaces, cycle ways, footpaths and even a stream. Just the place for de-stressing. Their verdict now they’ve settled in? “Fantastic. We just love it!”

Current availability at Connaught Park includes one-bedroom apartments from £162,500 and two-bedroom apartments from £196,995.

For more information visit the website: Barratthomes.co.uk.