The former 12-bedroom care home on Twiss Green Lane, Culcheth, has gone from abandoned eyesore to glossy new development, with nine executive detached homes now appearing for sale on Rightmove.
The single-storey nursing home closed in July 2020 and sat boarded up until it was demolished earlier this year. Frankly, seeing the site put to better use is welcome news. A long-abandoned building is hardly the village's finest ornament, although nine sizeable new homes will inevitably raise questions about traffic, infrastructure and whether local services are ready for another little population bump.
Marketing material from Ashtons describes the homes as an “outstanding” collection, promising generous living spaces, plenty of natural light and views framed from every elevation. The language is impressively lavish, although estate-agent descriptions do tend to treat a well-placed window as architectural genius.
There is more substance behind the polish, with modern construction methods, underfloor heating on both floors and air source heat pumps intended to make the properties efficient to run. The homes are also being promoted with strong green credentials, which is considerably more useful than simply giving them grand names and hoping nobody notices the heating bills.
Images uploaded by Ashtons show contemporary detached properties with a distinctly high-end finish. They are a marked improvement on the former boarded-up care home, though whether they add much-needed housing choice or simply provide another premium slice of Culcheth will depend largely on who can actually afford them.
The homes are listed on Rightmove under property reference 152015288: view the listing.
The original article was written by Lois Dean, Senior Reporter, as part of an exclusive subscriber partnership with USA Today. It notes that the piece was produced by American colleagues and does not necessarily reflect the view of The Herald.