IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Hughes Drive, RUGBY, CV23 1AF

Looking across one of Houlton's 'wildlife corridors' to new houses on Hughes Drive.

These new houses on Hughes Drive overlook one of Houlton's 'wildlife corridors'.

Houlton Way is one of the main thoroughfares through Houlton. It is seen here from the junction with Gabriel's Way where a sign points visitors to some of the housing developments and St Gabriel's Academy.

Looking across one of Houlton's 'wildlife corridors' to new houses on Hughes Drive.

St Gabriel's Church of England Academy opened in September 2018, the first of Houlton's schools to do so. The architecture of the primary school is striking and in the words of its architects, van Heyningen and Haward, 'the building is designed to have a strong civic presence, with a small pedestrian square framed by the taller roofs of the halls to establish a distinctive place in the new community'.

This primary school opened in September 2018, the first of Houlton's four schools to do so.

The picture displayed here beside Houlton Wildlife Walk is called 'This is my lovely new home' by Monika Leszczyk featuring a child looking across a meadow at Houlton's newly built houses. It is part of an outdoor exhibition 'installed along the growing development’s extensive nature trails and features 20 rustic frames which will host a wide range of local artwork throughout the year'. According to an adjacent sign, the wildlife walk is one of several wildlife corridors around Houlton purposefully designed to accommodate great crested newts.

Davidsons is one of the house builders involved with the development of Houlton. The sign tells us that a new phase is coming soon and that the 'stamp duty holiday continues with Davidsons Homes'. (Stamp duty is a tax normally paid on properties costing £125,000 or more but in a move to help buyers, who might have taken a financial hit because of Covid, this was temporarily increased to £500,000 in summer 2020). Behind the sign is one of the showhomes, 'The Newstead'.

The Newstead is the name given by Davidsons Homes to this design, one of their showhomes, on Angwin Avenue. It is a substantial 5-bedroom detached house in a Georgian style.

The building on the left is the sales office for Davidsons Homes, one of the house builders involved with the development of Houlton. It is designed to resemble a Victorian shop - or, at least, a sanitised museum depiction of one - with examples of the available properties displayed in the windows. Presumably when this role ends more conventional house windows will be fitted.