Earl Shilton & Barwell Living - A great place to live in Leicestershire

Koreen Hubbard and Keith Howkins live and work in Earl Shilton. They own K2 Media Services Ltd which is located on Hinckley Road.

Keith and I moved up to Earl Shilton after leaving the hectic life of London. Setting up our own business, working from home, we found the facilities of a post office, banks and free parking extremely useful. Everything is at our finger tips including the opportunity to nip into town for lunch, or purchase local produce for dinner late into the evening, after a hectic day.

The work life balance is easy to achieve in Earl Shilton and we have found it very enjoyable. We are still strategically positioned to get to all major roads when it is necessary to travel back to London and our children have enjoyed the freedom of easy accessible public transport.

Steve Hardy, who owns Hardy & Draper on Wood Street, believes Earl Shilton is a great place to do business.

I brought my first home in Earl Shilton some 30 years ago when I first got married. Having spent my childhood exploring the surrounding areas it seemed like the most natural thing to do.

After some years in the carpet industry working for local companies I finally decided to set up a business of my own, purchasing a small retail outlet in Wood Street Earl Shilton. As time went on we grew the business to such a size that we now occupy the largest independent retail outlet in the town, offering quality carpets, wood flooring, curtains and wallpaper to the local residents.

There is a healthy community here offering all sorts of interests from Sports such as cricket, squash, football to hobbies with clubs for flower arranging, horse riding, and photography to name just a few. The town is very welcoming to all new comers.

Amanda and Robert Phelps, who own Specnet, have found family life is great fun in Earl Shilton.

My wife Amanda and I moved to the area from Cannock, living on Charnwood Road in Barwell for 5 years before buying a brand new house in Earl Shilton the initial draw was babysitters as Amanda’s parents reside in Leicester!

Earl Shilton has proved itself to be an ideally suitable location to reach many Cities including London when work required it.

Our three children have fitted into the local schools comfortably and we find no trouble with the school run. We now run our own business designing and optimising web sites and operate from spacious premises based at the top of the town.

We spend our leisure time with our horses and running a jujitsu class in the evenings, last year we ran a very successful lady’s self defence class at The Stute situated in the heart of the town on Station Road.

Richard Craddock has found the perfect work life balance in Earl Shilton. He is managing director of SkillBase Ltd on Bird Close.

As a professional business man I really enjoy living in Earl Shilton for a number of different reasons. I work long hours as the Managing Director of Skill Base in Desford, as well as studying for extra A Levels at the local college; it is great to arrive home, realise I need milk and food and nip down the road to any number of local late shops to purchase those daily essentials. The added bonus is that if I’m not in the mood to cook there are plenty of take away choices.

I purchased my first home at the tender age of 19.It was a small terrace house in Horace St, Earl Shilton but recently I invested in a brand new home built on the site of Earl Shilton’s famous sock factory, Pex . With my own parents also residing in Earl Shilton as well as my brother and his family I am very comfortable here.

Rob, Sarah, Leah and Hannah Evans have found the answer to the familiar dilemma of 'move or improve?' after part-exchanging their old home for a brand new one at David Wilson East Midlands' The Hedgerows development in Earl Shilton.

We've lived in Elmesthorpe for 15 years and were very happy there, however with the girls rapidly growing up we were in desperate need of a home with more space. Not wanting to move further a field if we could help it and worried we wouldn't be able to afford to move house, we considered building an extension on to our 1960s, three-bedroom semi.

That was, however, until we visited the new David Wilson development nearby. We went to take a look out of curiosity more than anything else, but after speaking with the sales negotiator we began to realise that moving rather than improving might be a better solution after all.

Leicestershire couple Roger Buckham and Sheila Goodhew were all set to emigrate to Cyprus; that was until they found their dream home at David Wilson East Midland's Montgomery Gardens development on Montgomery Road in Earl Shilton.

As soon as I saw our house I fell in love, it was just perfect and I knew there and then that I wanted to live there. I went home and told Roger and as soon as he saw it he fell in love too. It may not be Cyprus, but we wouldn't change our new home for the world!

First time buyers Jamie Barnes and Louise Bray found home ownership at David Wilson's The Hedgerows development on Masefield Drive was cheaper than renting thanks to the housebuilder's Head Start shared equity scheme.

After getting engaged in 2007 we were keen to buy a home of our own but like many first time buyers we were concerned that affordability would be an issue but thanks to David Wilson's Head Start buying a three- bedroom house with a garden and garage is on par with renting a one- bedroom apartment in Birmingham city centre. The Hedgerows development is just what we wanted and the new bypass means our daily commute to the West Midlands is really easy from Earl Shilton.