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Tourist Sites

Travel Information
Carolin Lowry
The Manor House
Eardisland
Herefordshire, UK HR6 9BN
Tel. 01544 388138

Black and White Visitor Centre
East St.
Pembridge, HR6 9HA
Tel. 01544 388761

Kington Tourist Information Centre
2 Mill St,
Kington, HR5 3BQ
Tel. 01544 230778.
Open: April-end Oct, 10am-1pm and 2-5pm.

Leominster Tourist Information Centre
1 Corn Square
Leominster, HR6 8LR
Tel. 01568 616460
Open: Easter-end Sep, Mon-Fri, 9.30am-5pm; Sat from 9am-5pm; Oct-Easter, Mon-Sat, 9.30am-4pm

Leominster Folk Museum
Etnam Street, HR6 8AL
Tel. 01568 615186
Open: April-Oct, Mon-Fri, 10.30am-4pm; St, 10.30am-2pm; in winter, Mon-Fri, 11am-4pm

Hergest Croft Gardens
Kington, HR5 3EG
Tel. 01544 230160
Website: Hergest Croft Gardens
Open: weekends in March, 12.30-5pm; daily from April-end Oct, until 6pm in May and June.
Tearoom, gift shop, plant sales

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Top Five Reasons to Build Your Own Home in 2009!

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Guest article by Kate Faulkner of designsonproperty

Self builders are likely to build over 20% of new homes this year as big developers batten down the hatches and smaller developers go out of business. This means anyone thinking of building their own home has never had a better opportunity to build a property from scratch, or use timber frame kits to help create a bespoke home.

Before the credit crunch, building your own home in the UK would have cost around £300,000, with the land costing around £150,000 and the rest spent on labour and materials. The property would then typically be worth around 30% more than the cost to build, so once built it would be worth around £390,000. Whereas now, costs of the land, labour and materials have all fallen, making self build a really good value alternative to buying an already built home.

Here are the top five reasons to self build in 2009:-

1. Land prices have fallen by 15-50%
As developers have cut down the number of properties they are building due to the credit crunch, it means there is less competition for buying land and smaller, local developers in particular are not buying land as they have in the past, so there are more plots available and there are less buyers competing to purchase. So grab a land bargain!

2. Builders, electricians and plumbers are readily available!
Remember, trying to find a good builder or sub contractor in 2006 or 2007, it was almost impossible? However with the recession, many tradesmen have been laid off by big developers and are now free to work on residential projects.

3. Bargain basement building materials
Due to the fall in property prices, demand for bricks, timber frame kits, tiles, cement, boilers and radiators has fallen so much that you can purchase materials for 25% or less than you would have had to pay during the 'good times'.

4. Timber frame kits
If you want a quick build, you can now buy or have a bespoke timber frame kit, which can allow your self build to be eco friendly and help to fix over 40% of your build costs.

5. Secure instant equity in your new home!
In 2009 most people are worried about buying a new home in case prices fall more and they end up in negative equity. However, as self builds are typically worth 30% more than the cost of building, depending on what you build and how much you pay to build it, you are less likely to end up in negative equity than if you bought a new or second hand home.

To find out more about self build visit our Develop and Build section and take a look at our eBook and factsheets.  Do you have a property question you want an unbiased and independent answer to?  Contact the Designs on Property team or call us on 0845 838 1763.

If you need help finding land, visit Plotsearch.  Timber frame kits are available from Potton and Oakworth Homes.

 

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