Cricketer is bowled over by Barratt

With help from his parents, 25 year-old Tom Huggins has recently bought his first home: a spacious three-bedroom apartment at Bakers Mill, Barratt Eastern Counties’ award-winning riverside development in Great Cornard, near Sudbury.

Tom had been living in Cambridgeshire with his parents, but when he secured a job as Cricket Development Officer with the Suffolk Cricket Board, he needed to move closer to his work and the family stepped in to help him buy a new home.

Tom comments: “My dad’s an architect and he thinks a new home is the best bet because there’s very little that can go wrong, the upkeep is easy and energy costs are much lower than in an older home.”

They looked at new properties around Suffolk, but when they saw Bakers Mill it fitted the bill perfectly. Tom has always lived in the country and loved the peace of the surrounding countryside and the idyllic setting on the banks of the River Stour. He says: “Bakers Mill is in a fantastic location and the design fits very well with the surroundings. We were all impressed by the build quality and the finish of the homes and think they’re an excellent investment.”

Tom put down the deposit and his parents paid the rest in cash for the three-bedroom apartment, which includes an allocated parking space. Tom comments: “Barratt included the carpets, curtains, blinds and a fridge/freezer within the price and they recommended a solicitor and paid £500 towards the legal fees. It was all a huge help.” Tom is making payments to his parents every month, as he would with a mortgage, but is in the happy position of repaying the cost as an interest free loan.

As he works from home, Tom has converted one of the bedrooms into an office. The third bedroom will be handy for having friends to stay and it’s also convenient having two bathrooms, one of which is en suite to Tom’s bedroom. The apartment is based on the first-floor, which provides Tom with relaxing views of the river and meadows.

Although he is based at home, Tom travels extensively to attend meetings. He says: “Getting around from here is very easy. It’s only about a mile to Sudbury and I go to Ipswich a lot on business and that’s only 20 miles away. The large towns of Bury St Edmunds and Colchester are also within a half hour drive.

In his free time Tom enjoys playing and watching cricket and going for a beer with his friends. Sudbury has a good range of shops, pubs and restaurants and there are plenty of country inns to enjoy in nearby villages.

If Tom wants to visit London, it’s an easy journey by train. Sudbury station is about five minutes away and has regular services into London Liverpool Street, taking about 75 minutes.”

As a country lover, Tom has plenty to enjoy at Bakers Mill. The development is surrounded by vast swathes of beautiful countryside and the meadows and river are teeming with wildlife. There’s an extensive network of foot and cycle paths around Baker’s Mill and all the homes come with a free fishing licence for making the most of the river.

Bakers Mill has won a string of top industry awards for the superb quality of its homes and idyllic setting. A new phase of homes has recently been launched and Barratt is offering two and three-bedroom apartments from £120,950 and four-bedroom houses, many with river views, from £289,950.

Barratt has a wide choice of flexible incentives that can be tailored to suit homebuyers’ circumstances. For example, Barratt can pay five per cent towards the deposit or £1,000 towards other expenses, such as legal fees, carpets or removal expenses. To make it easy for people with an existing home to sell, Barratt is offering its Part Exchange service, which can save time, worry and the expense of estate agent fees and HIP packs.

For more information, visit Barratthomes.co.uk.