Novelist to be remembered at Redrow venture in Cottingham
Redrow is honouring novelist and journalist Winifred Holtby by naming its latest venture in Cottingham in her memory.
The award-winning housebuilder has planning permission to build 108 two, three and four-bedroom homes on a 10-acre site in Dunswell Road and has decided to call the development Holtby Gardens.
Construction of the homes is now underway and the first properties are due to be released for sale in April.
Patsy Aicken, sales manager for Redrow Homes (Yorkshire), commented: “At Redrow we are keen to acknowledge the history of the communities in which we build and wherever possible link the names of our developments to the area. Winifred Holtby’s family lived locally in Thwaite Street in Cottingham, just a short journey from where we are building; and, given that she is one of Yorkshire’s best loved authors, we felt that it was only fitting to honour her in this way.”
Holtby was just 13 when her first book of poems was published. She died in 1936, aged 37. Her final novel ‘South Riding’, published six months after her death is a modern classic. It has recently been adapted by Andrew Davies for a new three-part TV serial, the final instalment of which is due to be screened on BBC1 this weekend (March 6).
Her father David was a wealthy farmer and her mother Alice was the first ever woman on East Riding Council. In her early childhood Holtby developed a love for the Yorkshire countryside and later portrayed its people and landscape in her fiction.
While Holtby is now perhaps better known for her literary work, during her lifetime she was well known as a journalist, political activist and social rights campaigner. In 1928 when women were given suffrage with the same rights as men, she produced ‘A New Voter's Guide to Party Programmes’, aimed at helping new women voters find their political feet.
Holtby Gardens, in the East Riding village of Cottingham is the latest parcel of land to be added to Redrow’s portfolio and will offer a selection of family homes from the New Heritage Collection.
“Designed in response to customer feedback, the New Heritage Collection is a premium housing product that combines the charm of traditional properties but with the latest statement making, high specification interiors. It’s received critical acclaim and has been wowing customers across the country and I’m confident that it will be equally as popular in Cottingham,” Patsy said.
The New Heritage Collection is influenced by the Arts and Crafts era, with many external features reminiscent of one of the most popular and enduring of British architectural styles.
Some of the features which typify the Arts and Crafts era – and will be seen to varying degrees in homes across the region - include dropped eaves, projecting plinths, bays and other distinctive window styles, often with leaded lights. Other highlights include timber or tiled canopies over doors and windows, supported by decorative gallows brackets, and the use of larch lap boarding, while front door styles and colours also reflect the ‘heritage’ feel.
The traditional exteriors of the homes hide convivial open plan living areas with fashionable kitchen designs fitted with floor to ceiling units and bathrooms that are sleek, modern and pleasing to the eye.
Holtby Gardens is well placed with a train station nearby and the Kingswood Retail Park just a short journey away. The city of Hull is easily accessible by road and rail.
Redrow also has plans to build further homes in Steeton, near Keighley, Guiseley, near Leeds, and Wakefield.
The New Heritage Collection is already available at Redrow developments across the region including: Kirk’s Paddock in Grimsby; Fox’s Fold, Barton upon Humber; Mulberry Grange, Hambleton; Saxon Court, Sherburn in Elmet; Danum St Giles, Doncaster; and Wheatley Chase in Halifax.
To register your interest in the new homes at Holtby Gardens, see Redrow.co.uk.
