Rick and Cathy White make the move to Manor Gardens, Shiplake

“We were living in a five-bedroom house which we’d bought to cater for a large family: three of our five children were still living at home at the time. By the time we decided to move, we’d become empty nesters and were living in a house that required a lot of maintenance as well as being expensive to run. The sensible thing was to move to an area with better transport links and, by buying a smaller property, we’d be able to release equity for our retirement and help our children onto the property ladder. Looking ahead, in the next 10 or 15 years, we’ll need to belong to a community as well as being close to good transport links.”

Mr and Mrs White had previously visited Beechcroft’s Cotswold Gate in Burford at an early stage of construction and, whilst they thought the development was attractive, it wasn’t quite the right place for them at the time. When Beechcroft released details of Manor Gardens in Shiplake, however, the location, the size of the development, the design of the new homes and the fact that the homes were available on the open market appealed to them. As an added bonus, the development is close to their daughter’s home, so they are able to help with childcare.

“Obviously, we had a bit of history with Beechcroft, having registered our interest in Cotswold Gate just outside Burford. We loved the area and Burford is a delightful market town. We also really liked the set-up but it wasn’t suitable for us because we’d be moving further from family and friends. We noticed Manor Gardens on Rightmove and we know the Shiplake area because we used to live relatively close to Henley-on-Thames, so we decided to view.”

Set in landscaped gardens, just a short walk from Shiplake railway station, Manor Gardens is a beautifully designed development of just 24 new two, three, four and five-bedroom homes, each with parking or garaging and electric car charging points, available on the open market to homebuyers of all ages.

“Much of the construction work had been completed when we visited in October 2025,” continues Mr White. “As soon as we arrived at the site, we thought, ‘Wow! This is the sort of thing we were looking for.’ We were impressed when we walked around but when the sales consultant took us into the show home, we fell in love with it. Now we have a new home with generously proportioned rooms, including a fabulous sunroom at the back, which gives us more living space than you usually get in a two-bedroom property – and it has a good-sized garden which was important as my wife enjoys gardening.”

“I’ve always had a garden,” says Mrs White. “I like the size of our new garden, which isn’t too big to maintain. When we have family round, we have enough space to entertain them outside and there’s space for the grandchildren to play when they visit.”

“We’re really happy here,” adds Mrs White. “We can walk to Shiplake station and there’s a corner shop with a post office where you can call in for coffee and cake. There’s a small butcher’s shop and a very friendly pub which serves good food. The bus stop is close by and the bus services run to Reading and Henley-on-Thames and we can walk to the station without worrying about parking when we go to London.”