Family Reconnects with Nature on Historic 900-year-old Estate
According to a recent survey, over the past year, more than half of children are expected to spend more time indoors than playing outside. This decline in outdoor play is leading to a growing desire for more green spaces, as a third of Brits admit they’d be attracted to a new home that is near natural space. With their four-bedroom family home nestled in nature, and on a Site of Special Scientific Interest, Ben, Rhianna and their two children, Harry and Lilly consider City & Country’s St Osyth Priory to be their very own oasis.
Ben, Commercial Associate Director for the eponymous City & Country had convinced his family to live on St Osyth Priory’s historic estate 4 years ago whilst working on the site. He comments, “I don’t think there’s anything I could fault about this development. I fell in love with the location. After years of working on a site that has such a beautiful backdrop, and an area that has such a wonderful community, I didn’t want to leave, so I convinced my family to live here!”
“It’s not often you get someone wanting to live where they work, and I think that says it all really.” Ben adds. “It was so important to us that we lived in a location where our children could really make the most of the outdoors. We consider ourselves so lucky here, we don’t just have a garden for play and entertainment, we also have acres of country estate to explore.”
“Our kids really can’t get enough of the green space here. Our new home is cluttered with trainers, hiking boots, bikes, tenting gear and various other pieces of equipment but we really don’t mind! Upsizing at St Osyth Priory has given us the opportunity to invest in all our outdoorsy conquests, not to mention the double garage which has been a very handy storage room since we moved in.”
Steeped in 1400 years of nature, myth, legend and history, St Osyth Priory Estate is one of the largest collections of remaining ecclesiastical buildings in England, with 16 separate Grade I, Grade II* and Grade II listed buildings set within a Grade II registered historic park and garden. City & Country has now sold out of the 73 premium specification homes at the historic site, but the site is working on expanding its Essex presence by acquiring a new parcel of land linked to its sold-out St Osyth Priory development. Priory Fields is expected to arrive in Summer 2025.
“Just because it’s a quieter way of life doesn’t mean there’s less to do. There’s a great appetite for activity with the residents here and there are endless opportunities for water sports on the River Colne Estuary – not to mention the local beaches. The kids love the animals that roam freely on the working estate and are always keeping an eye out for the iconic white deer, famous on the parkland.” says Rhianna.
Thanks to the sale of their previous property in Colchester, Ben and Rhianna bought their St Osyth home for £565,000. The family loves the open plan design of their new home, “We’d never bought a new build property before but felt like a change, and the premium specification offered by City & Country really caught our eye. We are new-build converts.” Rhianna confesses.
“It’s all the tiny details I love, such as the care that’s gone into the design of the open plan living and kitchen area and all the space for our kids to run around in”, said Rhianna.
“Not only is the development a very short drive to the beach but it stands out from other new builds because of its intentional design. The houses aren’t grouped together in rows – we have green space left to wild in-between, which is quite a rare find on a new-build development; every house looks different. There is so much character here that I wasn’t expecting, which is why I was so easily persuaded to move here.” Rhianna adds.
City & Country is continuing to expand its Essex presence by acquiring a new parcel of land linked to its sold-out St Osyth Priory development. A 30-acre Priory Fields, St Osyth scheme comes with detailed planning consent to build a total of 190 two, three, four and five-bedroom homes, sensitively designed to reflect the North Essex vernacular.
Marketing Suite is open Thursday to Monday from 10am – 5pm, located at The Gatehouse at St Osyth Priory in Essex.