South West England is the largest of the country’s nine official regions. It stretches from the Isles of Scilly at the south-westerly tip of the UK up through Cornwall and Devon to Gloucestershire and Wilshire at its easterly border. The largest cities in the region include Bristol, Bournemouth and Exeter. The National Parks of Exmoor and Dartmoor sit within South West England, with other key visitor attractions being Cornwall, with its beautiful beaches and fishing villages, Stonehenge, and the historic city of Bath.
Great if you want to live near a city but not in it
Let’s start with the good…There is a retail park on your doorstep with an M&S, The Range, Costa Pets at Home, B&Q and a gym within 2 min walk (the one in the building is very disappointing). The community are really nice (not everyone but for the most part). It is easy to get out to the mendips and is close to the airport. Unfortunately, it is the lack of transport links and then even worse lack of parking that really lets this development down. The apartments themselves are well insulated from outside noise, retain their heat well and are sturdy. When we moved it we were told there would be communal BBQ areas built but there is really only 1 area and it isn’t officially a BBQ area, the residents just use it as one. There is petty vandalism of cars around the area which links me back to the lack of parking.. Unless you are lucky enough to be able to rent or buy a space under the building there is no where safe to park your vehicle at night. Also the bike storage is a joke as many bikes get stolen or you go to find you are missing a tyre in the morning.
Please review your development:
I think the design is interesting, functional and safe but they didn’t quite finish off the building and the carpets could definitely do with being changed. The outside area of the complex is great and was perfect during lockdown as it felt like our own personal park. We are lucky enough to look out on the pond/lake and seeing the ducks, annual heron and even the odd otter has been delightful. The apartments themselves are basic and allow you to put your spin on the place quite easily which we liked. The management company are useless (that is probably still being too kind) but the staff that work in the grounds are really nice and polite and try help as much as they can.
Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:
I wish id know just how terrible Urban Splash were going to be at getting back to me about fixes (we have been living with non-working bedroom lights, a leaky shower and a dented front door for 4 years).
What is the best feature of your home:
We live in one of the “penthouse” apartments and we save a ton on heating. The insulation ensures we never need to put the heating on and in the summer we can open our massive sliding door and keep ourselves cool.