Neighbours on a 'friendly' new build estate in Nottinghamshire have spoken about why they love living in the area. The rural village of Collingham is on the border with Lincolnshire, just outside Newark, and includes an expanding modern housing development.
Residents are enjoying their new homes on the Collingham Brook development and what the community has to offer, but many are also impressed with the village's train station. Collingham Train Station is part of the East Midlands Train network, and sees regular trains to Newark, Lincoln and Nottingham.
The station also sees trains heading to London stop before making other stops in Newark, Grantham and Peterborough, allowing villagers to easily get to London in a little over an hour. Over a hundred homes have been built by the Gusto Group as part of the development, including retirement homes, bungalows and apartments, as well as 40 homes by Larkfleet.
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Radiographer, Simon Johnson, 47, moved from Lincoln to the estate in early 2021 for a new job. He said: "There are lots of facilities in the village and it was well placed for the train station." When asked what his favourite part of the estate was, Simon said: "Probably the community, everyone is really friendly."
He added: "It's fantastic, better than where we were before." Writer Hattie Rees, 26, moved to the estate from Leeds in August 2020 and said "It's a really friendly place to live and the train station is really convenient.
"This seemed like a really good fit because of the transport links with the A1 and train. We've made a lot of friends here which is really nice, mainly through dog walking so we often meet our friends down the field and let the dogs off to play."
Although construction is still ongoing on the development, Hattie is "looking forward to what they are building with the retail section and stuff." Engineer, James Robson, 37, moved to the estate from Witham St Hughes a little over a year ago.
James said: "It's peaceful, and nice people. I'm not massively social but the people who live around are very friendly and welcoming and I've been invited in some of the other village bits and there's been a couple of welcome barbecues."
Retired, John Harvey, 78, retired, has lived in the village for 30 years but recently decided to downsize and move on to the estate. He explained that there was a good sense of community, and he is involved with some of the village clubs, including cricket and bowling.
John doesn't find the ongoing building works a bother and said: "most of the builders here I have known for years" as they are people either he or his son grew up with. Father of two, Ben Weaving, 38, moved to the estate from Witham St Hughes, and explained that he and his family were one of the first to move on to the estate and have been there for almost four years.
He said: "It was like a building site when we moved in. We've got used to it and it's got better over time as it has spread away."
Ben explained that there was a lot of amenities in the village, and it's useful being close to the school, football club and train station. He added: "There's not a lot of villages this size that have a train network, and it's also just down the road from Newark.
"It's quite a nice side of the village to be on, and we are quite nestled in the community. Witham was ok but it didn't have that village feel."
Taxi driver, Brian Hyland, 55, moved to the estate three years ago. He said: "I know that they were going to carry on building so it didn't bother me.
"I knew a few people that lived in the village anyway, so I met a few people going to the pub a few times. It's a friendly place, nice village location."
Brian added: "The travel links are good as I have the train right here so I use that quite a bit. It's got everything we need here." Support worker, Bethany Harrison, 27, moved to the estate three years ago.
When asked about the community, she said: "It's really nice, we do tend to keep ourselves to ourselves, but friendly with next door." Bethany says the village has good facilities and "the train station is just down there which is good."
Swim teacher, Joanne Bilbie, 41, moved to the estate from Swinderby two years ago. She said: "It has everything, the kids are at the school, and there's the train line and then we have our shops, it's just a nice little village.
Andrew Barratt, 73, retired, moved to the estate 18 months ago but has lived in the village for 26 years. He said: "The train line is particularly good from here as its a 5 minute walk. The bus service is a bit limited to say the least."
CEO of Gusto Homes, Steff Wright, said: "We have always been enthusiastic to connect our new developments into the existing community, this is one of the reasons we set up the Gusto Community Fund. The Gusto Community Fund enables our new homeowners to donate £500 to the local community, this could be a local project or community group of their choice.
"The beauty of Collingham is the fantastic village community with numerous groups and projects to get involved in. It is great to see the village continue to grow whilst keeping a brilliant community feel."
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