What's been happening?
This year may be one of the hardest we have faced yet, but English Rural have stayed committed to offering affordable rural homes to local people, and many areas have seen homes completed and residents have moved in:
HRH The Princess Royal visited the village of Roxwell in Essex to officially open English Rural’s new affordable housing development on Friday September 11th 2020. Recently completed, this small development of seven new homes at ‘Glebe Meadow’ provides homes that will benefit local people.
Five homes have been made affordable to local people living, working in or with close family connections to the village. The remaining two homes have been sold to local people at 75% of open market value – a discount locked in perpetuity.
The development secures much needed affordable homes for local people. Like many rural areas, villages across Essex have been affected by higher than average property values and lower than average wages, making it unaffordable for many local people to remain within their home communities close to family and support networks.
Construction is underway on a development of six affordable homes fulfilling rural housing needs in the village of Staple.
The development on Durlock Road in Staple includes two one-bedroom houses and four two-bedroom houses. Under rural exception rules, the new homes will be available for affordable rent for local people – forever.
The development is supported by Dover District Council and Staple Parish Council as part of plans to increase affordable housing in rural areas .
The affordable homes at Durlock Road will play an important role in safeguarding a vibrant, active, and working village that includes a mixture of age groups and income earners.
We always welcome the opportunity to work with other villages to support them with developing their own affordable homes for local people.
This new development provides homes that will benefit local people with local connections. They were supported by both Dunsfold Parish Council and Waverley Borough Council. The new residents with local village connections have now moved in.
These beautiful affordable homes were built with the support of Ansty and Staplefield Parish Council. They provide four homes for rent and two shared ownership properties. The new residents with local connections have now moved in.
These stunning new homes are the second phase of houses that English Rural were invited back to build in Mistley in Essex. The new local residents have now moved in, allowing the village to continue to thrive and benefit from new affordable rural housing. This development in Mistly was also awarded a Gold 'Secured by Design' award. This is an official police security initiative, supporting the principles of designing out crime through physical security.
During the past few months, rural communities have shown how resilient they can be. Rural households have worked together and supported each other at a time of isolation from their families, friends, support networks and local services on which they depend.
The important relationship between town and country has been exposed – with one dependent on the other for food, livelihoods and wellbeing. Having time to look at things differently, has allowed rural communities to reflect on what is important.
Villages have adapted to new ways of working and serving their communities in ways previously unseen. By unlocking this potential, we have uncovered an opportunity to rebuild a new normal and aspire to a ‘rural renaissance’.
The role and appeal of rural communities is now stronger than ever.
But communities need people, and people need homes. And they can only thrive with increased support for – and investment in – homes. Most critically, affordable homes.
Case study - Olivia, Berkshire
Written by Olivia, an English Rural resident from Berkshire
"My partner and I had been looking for our first family home for the entirety of my pregnancy last year when we found the English Rural website. Having lived rurally all of our lives we wanted to raise our children rurally and teach them about village life.
After applying and not thinking we even had a look-in, we finally got an interview and then a little while later a letter came to confirm that we had indeed been chosen to live in the property.
We moved into our English Rural home last year when our daughter was only 23 days old, with nothing but a bed, our clothes and her cot and belongings.
Since we moved into our first family home, we've brought home a wonderful kitten and are expecting another baby this year to complete our perfect family of four. Our neighbours are so lovely and the home we moved into is brilliant - so spacious and perfect for children to grow up in.
It means so much to us that we live near family during our children's young lives and thanks to English Rural we live around the corner from our children's cousins and grandparents. This is something we cannot be more thankful for.
If it wasn't for English Rural giving us the brilliant opportunity to live in this property, we would still be living in one bedroom with our parents or paying a ridiculous rate in a private rented property in a town.
We cannot be more thankful and happy to live in an English Rural home."
Case study - Georgia, Kent
Written by Georgia, an English Rural resident from Kent
“My partner and I are both in our mid-twenties. I work in education and my partner works in the farming and agricultural sector. We live in a beautiful village in Kent – a village where I grew up as part of a mixed-farming family.
We were looking to buy a house and investigated how much this would cost in terms of a deposit and monthly mortgage. We quickly realised that we simply could not afford to live in the village I grew up in. We were devastated as this would have meant moving into a nearby town so that we could afford to buy. It would also mean moving away from our family farm, friends, and the rural life we hold so dear. We love living in a rural community – we’d say it was a privilege. The fresh air, the country walks, the space. We didn’t want to give that up.
At the time we were looking to buy a house, a family friend happened to mention English Rural to us and told us that they provide affordable homes in rural areas. It just so happened that one of their shared ownership homes was available in the village. Luckily for us, they also always give local people priority when allocating their homes. So, we went through a simple application process and to our delight we were accepted and got the keys to our home in July 2020. Shared ownership allowed us to step onto the housing ladder, as we secured a mortgage to buy part of the property whilst paying a low rent on the bit that the housing association still owns.
I can’t tell you how much it meant to be able to stay close to my family. As a farmer’s daughter, my Dad, brother, and Grandad all still work on the farm to this day and it meant the world to remain close to them. It also meant that my partner could stay close to his work in farming without having to endure a long, expensive commute from a nearby city.
Growing up in a farming family I am all too familiar with the long, tiring hours – I barely saw my Dad in the summer months when I was young. Being able to work so close to where you live means my partner has more hours in the day to spend with his family and friends.
We love the house. It’s warm, comfortable, and spacious and has everything we need. The community-spirit is fantastic too. When we moved in, just after the Covid-19 lockdown, the locals put us on a mailing list and sent us newsletters so that we could be kept informed.
I can honestly say that life is great. If we hadn’t found English Rural, we’d be living in a small, expensive urban flat with no outside space. We’re very grateful for the opportunity and to remain close to the farming community we both know and love.”
