Ashford is booming: fast trains and new homes are turning this Kent commuter town into a property hotspot

With 40-minute journeys to London, trains to Europe on its doorstep and a new garden village in the mix, it's no wonder commuters are opting to move to Ashford.
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David Spittles29 October 2019

Trains taking less than 40 minutes to St Pancras have turned Ashford, county town of Kent, into a property hotspot.

Pre-HS1, journeys to London took more than twice as long, and the town’s main draw was the McArthurGlen Designer Outlet.

Now though, the local and regional economy is booming, with an influx of investment and a major housebuilding programme.

The outlet centre, with its meringue-like canopy designed by Richard Rogers’s architectural practice, is getting a £90 million extension adding 50 more shops and continues to pull in people from far and wide, including the Continent.

Indeed, Ashford’s links to mainland Europe, courtesy of its Eurostar terminal, are attracting more euro-commuters.

“I can get to Paris or Brussels in about 90 minutes, and I believe any Brexit disruption to that service will be short-lived,” says Peter Holdman, global marketing manager for an electronics company. He and his wife, Susan, cherry-picked the Ashford area after relocating back to Britain from the US.

“There’s now also a direct train to Amsterdam, meaning I don’t have to set foot in an airport,” adds Peter.

The couple bought at Finberry, a new garden village with 1,180 homes and a primary school, being built alongside the River Stour on the outskirts of Ashford.

Properties range from traditional-style cottages to five-bedroom detached family houses plus three-storey live-work homes with an entire self-contained ground floor dedicated to “work”, and a separate entrance to receive visitors and clients.

Three-bedroom houses cost from £337,500. Call Crest Nicholson on 01233 223133.

Elsewhere in the town, on the site of a former railway depot, developer Quinn Estates is working up plans for a major housing scheme alongside TV and film studios, a shopping and leisure complex.

Finberry, a new riverside garden village on the outskirts of Ashford, is the choice of Peter and Susan Holdman
Richard Eaton