First residents move into new community in Bedfordshire

Michael Smith and Kirsty Maclachlan made their own little bit of history when they were the very first residents to move into Wixams, the new community being constructed to the south of Bedford.

Bedfordshire County and UK Open darts player Michael and his partner Kirsty have bought a two bedroom coach house on the Lagan Homes development and are looking forward to meeting their new neighbours who will be moving in over the next few weeks. "One of the attractions of buying here right at the start is that everyone will be new so it should be easy to make friends," he said. "Wixams will be amazing when it is complete. It looks like there will be loads going on. Everything will be within walking distance and the new train station will be great if you want to go up to London for the night."

Michael and Kirsty were surprised to find that they could afford to buy a detached two bedroom home at Wixams. "We never expected to be able to afford something like this as our first home," Kirsty said. "Most coach houses are attached to another house but this one is completely on its own and we were impressed with the layout."

Wixams will eventually have its own lower, middle and upper schools, transport links, health services, employment, leisure and community facilities. A new railway station will provide direct links to Bedford, London Luton airport, London St. Pancras and the Eurostar terminus, and Moorgate in the heart of the city. There are also excellent, improved road links to Milton Keynes and Cambridge.

Lagan Homes currently have a variety of properties available at Wixams with prices starting at £239,950. These range from a three bed mid terraced house with ensuite shower room, study, living room and spacious kitchen/dining room to a five bedroom, three storey detached home with two ensuites, a kitchen/breakfast room, study, living room and separate dining room.

Rather than putting a set menu of incentives on the table, Lagan Homes is prepared to be flexible with every individual to enable them to finance their move. "Everyone is different and whereas one person might have difficulty in raising the deposit, another might need some ready cash to spend on furnishing their new home or paying the removal costs and yet others might want the reassurance of a mortgage subsidy or even paying for just 75% of the property through a shared equity scheme," says Lisa Shiell, New Homes Manager at selling agents Connells. "Lagan Homes will look at each individual's circumstances to try and find a solution. Come along and talk to Cheryl, tell her what would make buying easier for you and we'll see if we can tailor a solution to help."

The marketing suite is open at Lagan Homes @ Wixams Village from Thursday to Monday from 10am to 5pm.