Testimonials

When Holly McCarthy fell pregnant with her fourth child, she and her partner Sam McGurgan realised they needed to move to a bigger house.

But despite saving towards a deposit, they also knew it would be difficult to get a mortgage on a property of the size they required.

Enter Holly’s dad Paul McCarthy with an inspired solution – he would sell his house and all three generations of the family would move into a new home together.

And that home was the three-storey, five-bedroom house at Linden Homes’ Kings Newton development in Grantham.

The couple, along with Holly’s dad Paul and her four children Lacey, 15, Lilly, 13, Lana, 10 and six-month-old Cole moved into their new property in December last year – and Holly says their new way of living has been a “revelation”.

She said: “This really is our dream home. It is exactly what we wanted.”

Teaching assistant Holly, 36, and teacher Sam, 28, met in 2021 and were living in a rented three-bedroom home in Grantham when they found out in December 2024 that Holly was expecting her fourth child.

“It just wasn’t big enough for all of us,” said Holly. “Lilly and Lana were sharing a bedroom while Lacey had a tiny box room. As soon as we found out we were pregnant, we knew it was time to find a bigger place to live in.”

And when she spoke to her dad about the mortgage situation, he came up with a surprising suggestion.

“He said: ‘How about if we all do it together? I will sell my house and we can all live under one roof.’ I was surprised but very happy.

“All three of us got together round the table and talked about it seriously and it sounded like a fantastic idea. We started looking seriously for a house.”

Paul, who lived in the village of Barrowby, just outside Grantham, spotted that Linden Homes were building a new development at Kings Newton.

Holly, Sam and Paul visited the development and looked inside a five-bedroom view home.

“We all absolutely loved it,” said Holly. “It was a revelation. It was exactly what we wanted.

“The huge kitchen/dining/family area sold it for me while dad was really excited about having the large en suite bedroom which took up the whole of the top floor.

“When we chatted to the lovely sales advisor Andrea she told us that we could use their Home Exchange scheme which would mean they would buy dad’s house and take the price of that off the new home. On top of that they gave us an extra 10 per cent on the market price for dad’s house.

“That just made the whole homebuying process seem so much easier and quicker. Dad saved by not having to pay any estate agents fees and Linden Homes buying his house speeded up the sale and removed any stress through being involved in a chain which could collapse at any time. It seemed like it was meant to be.”

The trio reserved the house on 17 October 2025 and over the next few weeks were kept up to date on the progress of the construction of their new home.

“It was very exciting,” said Holly. “The house was an empty shell when we looked at it and Andrea and the other sales advisor Clare kept us informed on the state of progress. They were absolutely brilliant throughout as they were incredibly friendly, helpful and knowledgeable and answered any questions we had.

“We were able to visit the house a couple of times and were given a log-on to a site where Andrea and Clare posted up-to-date photographs of the inside of our house. It was great fun to watch it all come together.

“Thanks to Linden Homes and its wonderful staff our homebuying journey was really smooth and incredibly quick as we moved into our new home just 11 weeks after reserving the house. All three of us would heartily recommend Linden Homes to our family and friends.”

On 19 December 19, Holly, Sam, Lacey, Lilly, Lana, Cole, Paul and a five-year-old Cockerstaff called Mist moved into their new £385,000 five-bedroom house.

“This really is our dream home,” said Holly. “The girls are so thrilled to get a bedroom each and a bathroom to share while we are delighted to have an en suite bedroom. Dad loves his ‘penthouse suite’ up on the top floor where he has a shower, a fridge and a kettle.

“The kitchen/dining/family area is the heart of the home. It’s where we all meet to talk about our day and to get together to eat and relax as a family unit.

“The space is so big that we can fit a dining table and 10 chairs and a sofa in there without it feeling cramped at all. Once we have all gathered we can stay together to watch a film or we can disappear into different rooms. The girls love spending time in their rooms and dad likes to retire upstairs to his sanctuary. The layout of the house works perfectly for us as a family.”

Paul and Sam, who play darts in a local pub once a week, are having the detached garage converted into a ‘games room’ complete with dart board, table football, sofa, TV and fridge.

Paul said: “It is great that all of us can live together in the same house. I am very self-contained up in my en suite bedroom but can engage with everyone else when I want to.

“What is lovely is that now I am effectively retired, I can be around to watch baby Cole grow up and can’t wait to share those special moments such as his first step.

“It will also be brilliant when the garage is finished so Sam and I can watch football without bothering anyone else and we can try to hone our darts skills.”

Holly said: “This is the place where we are putting down our roots. We have future-proofed our life at this house because in a couple of years’ time Lacey will hopefully be away to university, freeing up a bedroom in time for Cole.

“We absolutely love the house, love the development and love the area. I can see us being here for a very long time to come.”

A selection of four-bedroom homes are currently available at Kings Newton, with prices starting from £365,000. For more information, visit www.lindenhomes.co.uk