Not long now till this year’s school leavers will be off to uni - either that or on a gap year adventure.

The exodus can open up opportunities for mum and dad too, if they’re about to become empty nesters.

Stuart and Marlene Baker’s three children are adults with their own places but until early this year their parents were still living in the five bedroom house in Little Kingshill which had been their home for 39 years.

Downsizing had been on the cards for sometime but it hadn’t happened.

They’d stayed put mainly because of their attachment to the family home although since Stuart had retired from his job as a project manager and Marlene from hers in human resources, the amount of maintenance necessary to keep a large house and a quarter of an acre garden up to scratch was beginning to become a bit of a grind.

This was their life pre-pandemic. As it did for hundreds of families with busy lives, lockdown gave the Bakers time to take stock.

When restrictions on overseas travel were lifted they took off for a two-week break at their holiday home in Lanzarote.

While they were away the younger generation prepared their parents’ house to go on the market.

When they got back, the search began in earnest for a house better suited to Marlene and Stuart’s present lifestyle. Rather to their surprise they fell in love with a new build.

Their new home in the village of Longwick is just as large as the old one. It has five bedrooms, same as before and two en suite bathrooms instead of one plus the family bathroom in the previous house.

The main advantage for the owners is their new home is just that – it’s new.

Maintenance won’t be necessary to several years. In the meantime the Bakers have the freedom to explore the countryside on their doorstep and enjoy being part of a new community.

Stuart, 74, explains: “After living in our previous home for so long where all our children were born and brought up in, we were beginning to struggle with the regular upkeep of the property.

“This [new] place has the wow factor. It ticked so many boxes.

“The [design] has a spacious open plan kitchen/dining/family room plus a utility room, also a study and a living room on the ground floor.

“We have a lovely living and kitchen area which overlooks the garden. We spend about 90 per cent in this room. The garden isn’t south facing like the last one but there’s always a part of it that catches the sun.”

The Bellway development called Wickfields in Longwick doesn’t have the feel of a large estate.

Houses range in size from two to five bedrooms in a variety of designs. Altogether, including one-bedroom apartments, there are 160 homes grouped around an open space.

Marlene, 72, says their neighbours in Little Kingshill had their house on the market at the same time as she and Stuart put theirs up for sale.

She laughs: “They came to see what we were buying and liked our new house so much, they bought one in the same design. They moved in a month after us.”

Stuart admitted: “We were a bit worried that when we got back from our latest trip to Lanzarote we might have had second thoughts. We might think what have we done, this was a mistake. Not at all.

“We’ve been past the old place and much as it holds so many happy memories for us, we both thought how nice this new development is.”

Marlene added: “We use one of the spare bedrooms as a walk-in dressing room and another we’ve decorated as a guest room for children.

“We haven’t downsized but the new house has given us a different configuration of rooms and everything’s up to date with the latest technology. We love it here.”

Currently available at Wickfields are three and four-bedroom designs. Prices start at £410,000. Phone number for the sales team is 01844 808576.