YOUNG couple Ryan Ellison and Charlotte Hughes are excited about moving into their first home together as the finishing touches are put to The Cider Press, a ten-home development in the beautiful village of Ashton Keynes.
White Horse Housing Association has two three-bedroom homes for shared ownership and two two-beds for rent – all aimed at people with local connections – on the scheme, which has been built by experienced developers David and Carol Hall in partnership with the landowners Graham and John Carter.
Ryan and Charlotte, who have been together for two years, have been living in a shared house close to the development in Happy Land and have been watching their three-bedroom shared ownership home take shape. “It’s been really exciting to watch it over the last few months and we can’t wait to be in there,” said Ryan 26.
The land has been in the Carter family for generations and was latterly a haulage yard. Going back further, it was a cider orchard and press, hence the development’s name.
Ryan too is from a family with deep connections to Ashton Keynes. His family owns the well-established Ellison’s Coaches. “My family have been here for hundreds of years,” he said. “There's an old photo in the pub of my great grandpa on a horse and carriage and it says ‘being fixed by Mr P. Ellison’ his name was Percy, just like my little boy.
“So it was really important for me to stay close to my family and friends but with property being so expensive it wasn’t possible until my mum heard about this place.”
Charlotte, 19, met Ryan, who works with his dad at the coach firm, while working at a soft play centre in Swindon, where she grew up. She is now working at a nursery in nearby Cirencester.
“It will be lovely being in our own home in the heart of the village and to bring up a family here,” said Ryan. “We’ve got a lot to do once we move in but it will soon feel like home.”