Chris and Nicola Gerwitz with their young daughter, Isabella, have taken advantage of the benefits of an early reservation on a new home before construction starts to customise the design at Cumbrian Homes' Otters' Holt development in Culgaith Village.

The family had moved up from Stratford for husband Chris' work as a financial advisor with the NFU, renting accommodation in nearby Melmerby for a year before visiting the Otters' Holt development, as Chris explained: "We loved the development but thought the houses would be beyond our budget until we saw a new three bedroom detached home at a price we could afford. Because we'd reserved before construction began, we were able to alter the design to incorporate an additional en-suite bathroom and an office in the garage.

"We never really expected Cumbrian Homes to be as accommodating of our requirements as they were for what is, in truth, one of the smaller houses on the development but they were fantastic and the quality of the finishing here is superb - far better quality than other new home builders' developments we've seen. Our original plan was that Culgaith would be just a stop gap, but Isabella loves the local school and it's such a friendly place, we'll not only be staying, we'll probably be looking for a bigger house on the development before long as Nicola is expecting in November!"


Scott Edwards, Sales & Commercial Manager for Cumbrian Homes, added: "Because Chris and Nicola reserved early enough, there was plenty of time to tweak the upstairs and garage layout to their requirements. We were able to offset the cost of the new en-suite bathroom against the built-in wardrobes we had replaced so that the additions added very little to the original price and came in within their budget. We are proud of what we were able to achieve with Chris and Nicola’s input and are glad that the whole family feel very much at home there."

Scott continued: "It is definitely one of the benefits of buying a new home with us. Where possible we like to involve customers in the finishes and overall design of the house so the finished home suits their own lifestyle and tastes. A lot of which need not add to the overall cost depending on when customers get involved."

The Otter's Holt development of two, three and four bedroom detached and semi-detached homes is situated on the Western edge of Culgaith village and enjoys a tranquil location between Cross Fell and the rugged Pennines to the East and the River Eden which it overlooks to the West. The most recent phase of homes released for sale includes a two bedroom bungalow with other designs scheduled for future phases.

Prices for homes currently available for sale at Otter's Holt start from £225,000 for a two bedroom 'Robin' bungalow design to £419,000 for a four bedroom detached ‘Kestrel’ home with further details available from Cumbrian Homes on (01768) 840840 or on the web site at www.cumbrian-homes.co.uk.

Winners of the NHBC Gold Award and established in 1971, Cumbrian Homes Ltd are builders of high quality homes and currently have homes for sale at four developments throughout Cumbria - Culgaith, Blencarn, Temple Sowerby and Sedbergh.