Chris, Louise and Pam may have only been in their home at Middleton Waters – the beautiful Emsworth – since Summer 2024, but they've already settled in and made it their own.
We recently visited them and spoke all about what they love about the house and the development, and how they found the Homes by Carlton buying process.
Q: What’s it like living at Middleton Waters?
Chris: It’s very peaceful and everyone's very friendly. We've just moved from Darlington and no one would really talk to eachother where we were, but here it's a really friendly community vibe.
Louise: It's lovely. The reservoirs are just behind us too and our dog loves to swim, so they're really pretty to sit at on a night. I absolutely love it.
Pam: And I've got a new lease of life here! I love it.
Q: What’s your favourite thing about living in Middleton St George?
Chris: So we love the house, that's why we picked it, and then we got to know the area after and it's really, really nice. It's close to Teesside Park – only about 15 minutes away – there's loads of dog walks around, and the local businesses are unbelievable.
The local café's, like Caffe Italissimo, and the Chinese takeaway are great. The Devonport's lovely, too.
Louise: We walk our dog to The Devonport most Saturday mornings and get breakfast (they do one for the dog too).
Chris: And then if we're being naughty we'll head to MJ's Cafe and get a huge pancake stack.
Louise: Also, where we are, we're out of the hustle and bustle of town but we're close enough to our jobs, which is really convenient for us.
Q: Why did you choose the 3-storey, 5-bedroom Emsworth?
Louise: We were moving with my mum, so it had to be a big enough space that we could all have our own area in the house. We also wanted enough space to entertain as we have big families.
We loved the third floor, and myself and Chris were able to take that as our space and have our bedroom up there as well as a snug. And I love the skylights. It's just perfect for multi-generational living I think.
Chris: The layout of this house is so spacious too. Every bit of space has been used to its maximum, which is useful.
Q: The Emsworth is very similar to The Eleanor showhome, we just made a few tweaks. How did you find that?
Louise: When we viewed The Eleanor and were told about what was changing for The Emsworth, I could definitely see the benefit of the changes, so it was easy to imagine what it was going to be like.
Plus, the Sales Team were great. We were always able to come and ask questions and have a look at the space. We were sent lots of pictures too which helped, especially for the kitchen area, to see how that was going to be different.
Q: What's your favourite part of your home?
Pam: For me it's the kitchen and living area. I love that we can be cooking and chatting, it's a very sociable room.
Louise: It's the heart of the house isn't it.
Chris: It makes entertaining so easy too. Even when you're cooking, you're still part of it. And it's not like everyone is on top of each other either, the living area is far enough away that it isn't a problem.
Q: How did you find out about Homes by Carlton and what drew you to us?
Louise: We'd had an offer on a house accepted but they pulled out and we were only a couple of weeks away from completing on our house sale, so we were frantically looking online, and Chris had mentioned booking to look at Middleton Waters.
Chris: We always visited our friends who live on this development and I'd look at the showhome and think well, that's probably out of budget. But we saw The Emworth online and it wasn't, and then we saw that it was set over three floors and just thought it was perfect for us.
We'd been to view some second-hand houses and they were nice, but they needed a lot doing to them, such as updating the kitchens etc. And then we came here and viewed the showhome. We'd seen around 10 other houses that day, The Eleanor showhome was our last viewing. Within five seconds, myself and Pam said "we need to buy this house right now".
Louise convinced us to go to MJ's around the corner to discuss it for five minutes, and then we came back the same day and reserved.
Louise: We'd heard really good things about Homes by Carlton too. You hear horror stories about a lot of new-build developers, but our friends who live here had nothing but good things to say, and that put our minds at ease.
Also, the Sales Team were so inviting when you walked into the showhome, it just made us feel like we wanted to be a part of it. Nothing was too much. We were obviously very excited and were wanting to bring other people to show them around, and it was welcomed with open arms.
We just knew it was right. You get a feeling.
Q: What did you think when you first visited the Middleton Waters showhome?
Chris: I was wowed, I actually had goosebumps. The best moment for me was when I was walking up the stairs to the third floor in The Eleanor showhome and saw the skylight – there was so much light.
Q: How did you find the Homes by Carlton buying experience?
Chris: It was great. It can be difficult dealing with solicitors etc. but you helped us so much. We were also informed of what was going on at each step, you definitely kept us up-to-date, and everyone was really friendly.
Louise: It was flawless. Nothing was ever too much.
Q: How have you found the post-handover Customer Care?
Chris: It's been 10/10. Any issues we've had, we've just told Paul and Greg (Site Managers), who have been really friendly and sorted it for us.
Q: Would you recommend Homes by Carlton?
Louise: Absolutely. We're trying to sell the other houses to our friends and family!
Thank you Chris, Louise and Pam for being so welcoming and taking the time to show us around your beautiful home and share your experience.
Discover our beautiful collection of 2, 3, 4 and 5-bedroom new homes in Middleton St George here.