Built from scratch - residents begin to move into Welborne

As the first residents begin to move into homes in Welborne Garden Village, we discover what it's like to be a part of Hampshire's newest curated landscape.

There is something quietly compelling about watching a place come into being. Not a single house or a small cluster of cottages, but an entire village steadily rising from the Hampshire landscape. At Welborne, just outside Fareham, that vision is beginning to feel real. The first residents have moved in, the streets are forming, and what was once an ambitious proposal is becoming a place people are starting to call home.

It is, in many ways, a rare moment. The idea for Welborne Garden Village was first discussed some two decades ago by Fareham Borough Council, the sort of long-term thinking that often feels abstract at the time. Yet here, brick by brick, that early vision is materialising. The first phase, Chesterfield Village, is now well underway, with around 700 homes nearing completion and a small but growing community already in residence.

For Fiona Gray, director of place at Welborne, the shift from plan to lived reality has been the most rewarding part.

'The best thing has been having the first residents here,' she reflects. 'That has been really exciting for all of us. The first residents moved in on Halloween last year, and it has grown since then. We are seeing a range of residents come here.'

The scale of the project is considerable. In time, Welborne will comprise around 6,000 homes, alongside schools, a village centre, a pub and hotel, and a network of green spaces designed to soften and shape the development. Completion is expected by 2046, a reminder that this is not simply a housing scheme, but a generational undertaking.

What is immediately apparent, however, is the care being taken with the detail. The architecture draws on the Hampshire vernacular with a considered mix of townhouses, apartments and detached homes designed to sit comfortably within their surroundings. A single lead architect oversees the vision, ensuring a consistency of style that avoids the piecemeal feel that can so often characterise large developments. There is also a quiet emphasis on sustainability. All homes are connected to a ground source heat network, and the layout of the village places green space firmly at its heart. In fact, half of the entire site will be given over to landscape, from parkland and play areas to a community orchard that will, in time, thread through the development.

For those already living here, it is this sense of space and community that has proved most persuasive.

Jane and Paul Cadman, who moved from Hill Head earlier this year, were quick to make the decision.

'The houses themselves are beautiful,' Jane says. 'But it was the community that sold it to us. It was a no-brainer.'

Now closer to their children and grandchildren, they have embraced a different pace of life, one that balances proximity to family with access to nature. The nearby Dashwood woodland, an ancient 38-hectare stretch bordering the development, has quickly become part of their daily routine, as has the evolving Welborne Mile.

It is a similar story for Parri Rad, who relocated from south London with her partner and young daughter. Like many, the move was prompted by a desire for more space and a better quality of life.

'The area we lived in was starting to degrade,' she explains. 'This area is so much nicer for young families. Living here is great, I really love it.'

That sense of possibility is, perhaps, what defines Welborne at this early stage. There is a tangible feeling of something being built not just physically, but socially, a community taking shape alongside the bricks and mortar.

Practicalities, of course, matter too. The development will eventually include three primary schools, a secondary school and a village centre, while significant infrastructure improvements, including upgrades to junction 10 of the M27, are designed to support the growing population.

Property itself spans a wide range, from apartments to larger family homes, with pricing reflecting that breadth. While some of the first properties on the market sit at the higher end, the intention, according to the development team, is to create a genuinely mixed community.

'We want there to be a house for everyone,' says sales director George Long. 'There is a real variety of prices on site.'

Yet beyond the numbers and the plans, what lingers is the atmosphere.

Walk through Welborne today and there is a sense of anticipation, of streets not yet fully lived in, of gardens still finding their rhythm, of trees that will, in time, grow into something beautiful.

The community orchard offers perhaps the clearest symbol of that future. Set to expand across the site, it will eventually include hundreds of trees, alongside wildflowers and open parkland, linking different parts of the village together. It is a long-term gesture, designed to mature alongside the people who will live here.

And that, ultimately, is what Welborne represents: not just new homes, but the slow and careful creation of place.

For those arriving now, it offers the chance to be part of something from the very beginning, to watch a village grow, season by season, into the Hampshire landscape.

'The houses themselves are beautiful - but it was the community that sold it to us'