Redrow made our move from Scotland to Lancashire smooth – and easy

But for Josh, 32 and Natasha Wilson, 31, the move from Falkirk to Leyland couldn’t have gone better.

“Everything went so smoothly, and it was only afterwards we realised how big a deal it was. But we’ve absolutely no regrets,” said Josh, a manager for Sainsbury’s supermarket.

“The sales and support teams were so helpful then and now. They appreciated and accommodated differences in the Scottish and English home-buying processes and, because of the distance, when we couldn’t make a hard hat visit during the relocation period, they sent us a fantastic video visit which was the same experience, just not in person.”

Armed with the knowledge that Josh could move stores and Natasha could work remotely as a chartered accountant, they began to look in the North West because of its accessibility and proximity to several major cities. And while they finally agreed on Leyland – “that two-hour radius is really important to us and it’s amazing, from here we can be on the coast, in cities, in Wales, and in the Lake District so quickly’ – it was whose property they would move into that they decided on before where.

“We chose Redrow before we chose the location,” said Josh.

“We had a list of things we wanted, like a driveway and a garage, a detached if we could, a utility and a cloakroom, and no one ticked all the boxes like Redrow did. We don’t have Redrow in Scotland, so when we first pulled on to one of their developments it looked nice, we were blown away by the street scene. When we viewed the show homes we could really see the difference there too, in the high ceilings, the deep skirting boards, and the high-spec that was standard in the homes. They were beautiful.”

Josh and Natasha chose a four-bedroom detached Marlow property at Worden Gardens in Leyland. Downstairs there’s a spacious kitchen and dining room with double doors leading onto the rear garden and space to create a sitting area, a separate lounge, utility and cloakroom, and an integral garage; while upstairs are four bedrooms, the main with en-suite, and a family bathroom.

“My favourite space is the kitchen where we tend to live because it’s so airy, and we’ve just extended the patio and had the garden landscaped so it’s like an extension of that living space,” said Josh.

“And we love the lounge as it’s totally homely. We made the decision not to put wardrobes in the main bedroom to maximise the space, and we have never had a bedroom before where we’ve been able to have a separate dressing table. Bedroom four is Natasha’s office and it’s nice that she can close the door on work at the end of the day; bedroom three is a generous guest room, and bedroom two is a bit of a storage space for now but also a ‘future-proof’ room. If we do decide to have a family, we’ll have a room without losing the guest room.”

And he adds: “Worden Gardens and where we are feels semi-rural; you don’t feel like you’re on the edge of a town because we’re next to so much green space. Our home is set back which means it’s private and secluded, we’re close to the path to beautiful Worden Park and we can walk 10 minutes through there and be at the supermarket in town with everything you need. There are so many routes and pathways it’s great for walking which we love, and Natasha runs.”

The couple have been in their Marlow for just over a year and while they feel settled now, it felt like home straight away thanks to the upgrades and extras they selected from the My Redrow online tool to ensure they could move straight in and start living.

“We chose an integral door so we had access from the house into the garage which was the best money spent, we upgraded the bathrooms to half-height tiling and tiles on the floors, we had an integrated dishwasher, and chrome sockets and fittings downstairs,” said Josh.

“We didn’t have to upgrade the kitchen because there was so much choice and we loved the contemporary units that were standard. It’s so well designed, insulated, and energy efficient, that we hardly ever need to put the heating on and when we do it stays warm for hours. We had solar panels as standard and we can see how much daytime energy we use is coming from those which is great – and gives us peace of mind. I look forward coming home and driving onto the development. That’s something I’ve never had before.”

Set among open countryside, Worden Gardens will eventually feature a mix of two, three and four-bedroom homes from our award-winning Heritage Collection.