Bedfordshire couple half energy bills after buying new with Bellway

Leanne, 43, and her partner Lee Greenmore, 39, purchased the three-bedroom townhouse at Bellway’s Brook Meadows development in Wixams in September last year.

The three-storey property not only provides all the space they and their two young children need, but its energy efficient design also means the house stays nice and warm in the winter. And most importantly for the couple, there’s the security and stability of knowing that the home is theirs, having spent the previous few years living in rented accommodation.

Leanne, a social value manager for a construction company, and Lee, a retail store manager, had both previously owned their own separate properties. After meeting they decided to sell up and move into a four-bedroom-detached rented home in Marston Montaine together – along with Leanne’s son Harley, now nine, and Lee’s daughter Amel, now seven.

But when their landlord decided to put the property onto the market three years later, it prompted the couple to begin looking for a home they could buy. Their estate agent recommended they pay a visit to Bellway’s New Cardington Fields development in New Cardington. It was here that they discovered Bellway was also building nearby in Wixams, which would be a slightly better location for Lee’s commute to work in Milton Keynes.

The couple had viewed a townhouse at New Cardington and quickly began to see the benefits that three-storey living could bring.

“Because we have two young children we liked the idea of future proofing for when they are teenagers. They would have their own floor and we would have our own floor,” said Leanne.

After visiting Brook Meadows, they quickly settled on the Oak house type and reserved their home off plan in April 2025.

“I saw the plans and liked how it looked on the outside. There wasn’t a completed Oak for us to look inside at the time so it felt like a bit of a risk but we went with our gut and we trusted Sarah, Holly and Nicola from Bellway’s sales team. We did get to look inside one at a later date and once we had we knew we had made the right decision.

“Sarah, Holly and Nicola guided us through the process and really kept us in the loop. Being in a rental property that was being sold was quite a stressful time but they made things as stress-free as they possibly could. Richard, Matt and Jess from the site team were also really good.”

Leanne and Lee picked up the keys to their new home on 26 September 2025.

Leanne said: “It was so nice to get it done and to know that the house was ours. After going into rental we did wonder whether we would own again. I didn’t mind renting but there’s something about owning your own home. It just gives you so much more stability and security, which is especially important when you have young children.”

Leanne and Lee bought their new £395,000 home with a 10 per cent deposit – half of which was provided as an incentive by Bellway. Keen to be mortgage-free by the time they retire, the couple took out a 20-year loan, which means their monthly mortgage payments are £2,215 – still only slightly more than the £2,150 they were paying in rent on their old place.

Leanne said: “We always wanted to put 10 per cent down and we had enough in savings for that but not for the stamp duty. Bellway giving us five per cent towards our deposit meant we had enough in our savings to pay the £11,000 in stamp duty and have a bit spare to pay for new bedroom furniture for the kids. It gave us a bit of breathing space rather than us having to use up our own savings.”

Receiving incentives was not the only benefit of buying new. The couple’s new-build house comes with solar panels and is much more energy efficient than their previous property, enabling them to drastically cut their energy bills.

Leanne said: “Our old house was always cold. This house is definitely warmer and more energy efficient. It was even warm in the winter when it was sunny and we hardly had to use the heating. And on a sunny day, we get free energy from the solar panels. We probably pay half of what we were paying in the other house on our energy bills.

“The house meets all our needs. Even though we moved from a four-bedroom detached house, we have not had to compromise. There’s a little space on the first floor near the staircase where we’ve put a desk which I can use for working from home. Lee likes the lounge which has lovely double doors that open out into the garden, and the kids absolutely love their bedrooms. Harley has a double bed and Amel has her ‘princess room’ with a four-poster bed with pink curtains and lots of cuddly toys.

“I always look forward to being at home. Even when we go on holiday I can’t wait to get home to our house.”

Aside from the house itself, Leanne loves the convenience of the location.

She said: “It’s not too far from Marston Montaine which is familiar for us and it doesn’t add time to the journey when taking the kids to school. There’s a lot of development going on in the area with the little town centre which will have a supermarket and a coffee shop. Then there’s the new train station that’s going to be two minutes away, which will be ideal for when I go to London.

“Bedford Interchange Retail Park is only a five-minute drive and we’ve been going there quite a lot to get new things for the house. And we like to go to Ampthill quite a lot because that’s very pretty. We go for a drink and a meal occasionally or sometimes we’ll go to Ampthill Park and have a picnic.”

Leanne also appreciates the strong sense of community on the development.

She said: “The thing that stands out is how nice everyone is. When you walk down the road, there are people out on bikes and walking their dog and everyone says hello. It reminds me of old times when you used to stand on your doorstep chatting to your neighbours. You don’t get that now but we have an element of that here. It’s got a really nice community feel.”

A selection of three-bedroom homes is currently available to reserve at Brook Meadows, with prices starting from £365,000. For more information, visit https://www.bellway.co.uk/new-homes/northern-home-counties/brook-meadows or call the sales team on 01234 232378.

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