Dunnottar Park, AB39

Please tell us about the good and bad aspects of living in your local area:

Development has style and class, with lots of individual looking homes. It’s very quiet and we have open views to river. So tranquil. Lovely location. Walking distance of lovely little town and beautiful harbour. Great transport options. 15 minute walk for fantastic Rail service. You can travel direct to local City of Aberdeen in 20 minutes, or to Cities like Edinburgh, York and London. Plenty of local bus services too, and great location for accessing an excellent new bypass road direct to Aberdeen airport. Only 30 minutes. We love this development. Only challenge we have had is clay soil. Just takes a bit more work but our garden is already taking shape with a bit of effort. Just down to land it’s built on but wouldn’t swap our home for any other local development. It’s just one of those little things you have to deal with in our view. Having lived in an old farm house with rising damp problems, and constant land management and maintenance challenges we really appreciate a new build home.

Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:

To not take local Facebook groups to seriously as some people can be very vocal and off puting about the town. Unfairly as it is lovely. It’s the usual that you find anywhere a few vocal people can feel representative when they aren’t. We worried about our move into the area but we needn't have. If you are thinking of moving here, do it. It is a lovely development in a fantastic little town by the sea. Judge for yourself.

What is the best feature of your home:

We love the design of our home, the courtyard setting and the views. The house is very efficient and holds heat well with minimal use of our heating system. We have many solar panels that we hope will contribute further to cost savings. In comparison to other new builds locally this house was great value for money, yet it feels quality. Fencing and turf included unlike in many other developments we viewed.

Please tell us about the good and bad aspects of living in your local area:

Carron Den Road is very nice in terms of the street, the neighbours, design of the houses. The whole development lacks rubbish bins, dog waste bins, anti-speeding signs, safe play areas for Children, any other amenities, fast link footpath / bridge to East of the development. No park land or flat grass area for activities. Car park lighting is brighter than street lighting. Transport links from top of road great for buses. Close to Aberdeen, 30 min walk to town centre. 5 mins from woodland. Nearest shop is Brickfield Store. Home parking fine, guest parking limited but space available. Quiet, you can hear the dual carriageway but not too bad. Friendly people, some issues in the Osprey housing area on the development but overall fine.

Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:

Make sure to check all finishing closely, ie. Flooring, Lino, carpets, windows, cooker, white goods, mirrors and showers. Make sure to check garden and sun light hours. Direction of sunshine. Position of where to put shed or out building. Check drainage positions at front and back of house, also on road. Check broadband capability, homes in first phase were not given fibre capability as cheaper option for SM was old copper lines. Ridiculous in a new scheme. It should be law to have the latest communications technology infrastructure installed by developers. Also check spaces for wheelie bins in garden.

What is the best feature of your home:

Design finish on outside of the home, very different to other builds in the town. Location on the development was also key. Room sizes apart from bedrooms as a little cramped but other rooms all excellent. Private back garden, with double opening doors great for Summer. South facing so sunshine all day.

Please tell us about the good and bad aspects of living in your local area:

It is only a short walk to Stonehaven town centre and also the train station, there is also a bus stop just outside the development. The development itself is lovely with a couple of walking paths, one of which leads to Dunnottar woods. Parking availability for visitors is minimal and the roads are quite narrow which makes it difficult when cars are parked on the street. The choice by Stewart Milne not to include pavements makes it difficult when out walking especially with children.

Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:

Dealing with Stewart Milne customer service can be very difficult

What is the best feature of your home:

The size and design works really well for our lifestyle and I think the larch frontage is a stand out touch

Please tell us about the good and bad aspects of living in your local area:

Stonehaven is a lovely town with excellent amenities and connectivity to all modes of transport. There are lovely areas of green open space providing excellent footpath links to nearby amenity areas and the town itself. The street is quiet but very friendly with no issues of car parking or unruly behaviour and weekly refuse collection; it is the perfect place to live and is excellent value for money.

Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:

I wish I had known of this development sooner as the homes appear to be selling very quickly.

What is the best feature of your home:

The external appearance, and the fully considered internal design makes it the ideal family home.

Please tell us about the good and bad aspects of living in your local area:

The area I live in is awful. We constantly lose electric, huge machinery up our streets all day every day, roads are a mess, my driveway is placed awkward to enter and leave without going over a kerb, no park, no shop, dim street lights, bins constantly left out on the road, neighbour gets police raided on a regular basis.

Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:

That my front garden would be open plan for anyone to walk over right in front of my living room window.

What is the best feature of your home:

The French doors opening onto the back garden are the best feature of the build.