Page 9 - link magazine

Building houses of excellence

Buying house is a big move for the majority of people. Many factors affect the decision - site location,
convenience to work, schools, leisure facilities. Clarke Homes have been building houses in West Swindon
for nearly 20 years and have developed a reputation for quality of design and construction.

Extra space for a growing family

The Youngman family's relationship and we didn't want to move away."
with Clarke Homes goes back a Working from home as an ac-
long time. They moved to count manager for Burmah Castrol,
Longmeadow four years ago after Andy Youngman is impressed by
the company bought the house they the way Clarke Homes helped
were moving from, and when they them. "It's well known that mov-
decided that they needed more ing house is one of the most stress-
space for their growing children, an- ful activities. With the market be-
other Clarke's house at ing what it is, and having part-ex-
Longmeadow was a natural choice. changed with Clarke's before, it was
"We looked at four bedroom natural to go for it again. They
houses elsewhere, but nothing made us a fair offer and it was the
matched our needs," said Mandy convenience and knowledge that
Youngman. "The children are we were not going to be let down."
happy at Salt Way School which is The Youngmans moved into a Longmeadow sales representative Audrey Downes -Hall presents
doseby and all West Swindon's fa- four bedroom Windermere in Oc- Andy and Mandy with a bouquet on moving day in October
cilities are within easy reach which tober which they were attracted to
was very important to us. We've because of the unusual design: the purpose room spanning the third its customers. "Even though we
made some good friends in the area whole roof space is a large multi- floor of the house. Andy will be were only moving 500 yards, they
using it as an office and there's made things so easy for us," said
plenty of space for a spare bed, the Mandy. "We were able to move the
Flexibility is the key children's toys and perhaps a garden shed the week before and
Another family who wanted to stay snooker table! we had two days to move our be-
in West Swindon are the Hopkins The actual house move went longings down the hill. It was a
who moved from closeby Grange very smoothly, once again thanks great stress reliever and has allowed
Park. Longmeadow was their to Clarke's cooperative approach to us to settle in very easily."
choice because of its proximity to
RAF Lyneham and Greendown Improving the en viro nment
School which their sons Glyn and
Chris attend. Clarke Homes take a 'whole site' signed, practical houses, the com-
They could not find a second approach to the living environment pany has also enhanced the site by
hand house large or well placed they are creating. Not only does sponsoring a variety of artistic
enough, and did not like several Longmeadow feature well de- touches.
features in the Clarke's showhouse.
But making changes was easy says Practical design,
Gill Hopkins.
"Buying a new house meant we meticulous approach,
could see it being built. Clarke's Gill Hopkins and son Chris value for money
were very flexible and built the in her custom designed kitchen
kitchen to our requirements, we Pete Hopkins reckons site man- Arthur Beltrami, a Technical Sales
had wardrobes built in and they ager Ron Bye must be one of the Manager for a multi-national com-
were marvellous with the garden. best. 'He is excellent - any slight pany supplying the electrical power
It kept flooding and they dug out problem and its fixed. We've been and transport industry, take a criti-
the old ditch nearby and when that here over a year and the site work- cal view of the houses he buys.
did not work, they raised the level ers are still doing little maintenance "We moved from a Clarke Home
of the garden by several inches of jobs for us. Ron treats every house off Liskeard Way, Freshbrook and
top soil." as one of his babies and it shows." were happy to buy another, espe-
cially in West Swindon because of
its easy access to the M4. Clarke's
Pride on the job take their time and care. They are
meticulous and very thorough in
Longmeadow site manager Ron their approach. The brick laying is Look out for the 'Hey Diddle
Bye, pictured right, has won seven straight, the windows are seated Diddle' sculpture by Portugese art-
awards for quality site management into the brickwork properly, and ist Vega Bermejo at the entrance
and has managed all the Clarke the rooms are very square so there to Longmeadow.
sites in West Swindon since 1978. are no problems with built in cup- Further into the site, there's an
There are some 20,000 site boards. oak and steel seat designed around
managers across the country and "The designs are just so practi- a giant, living oak tree standing in
during the last ten years Ron's cal. All the space is well used and a peaceful green.
name has appeared in the list of top so much is included in the price like And beyond the site altogether,
100 managers on three occasions. carpets, curtains, glass fronted Clarke's are responsible for paying
His work has been commended wardrobe, fitted kitchen, fire and artist Marie Brett to work with chil-
4 times and he has won the South burglar alarms. dren from Salt Way School whose
West title once, which means he "I'm pleased to say that Clarke designs adorn the underpass which
was one of the top 10 site manag- Homes offer extremely good value connects The Prinnells with
ers in the country. for money." Middleleaze.