I live on UK's best council estate – I wake up to the sound of cockerels & views of rolling hills, there's no ASBOs here
The only sound comes from the neighbour's chicken coop as I hear a rooster calling out cock-a-doodle-do.
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It's like stepping into a scene from The Waltons as I make my way past fields and rolling hills.
However, it is not a family homestead I live on but rather a council estate and Britain's nicest in my opinion.
I live on Parksite, in North Staffordshire's Silverdale, a village near Stoke-on-Trent and in the suburbs of Newcastle-under-Lyme, my local market town.
While naysaying locals will be quick to tarnish its name, they're just being snobs, if they didn't know it was a council estate they would be fighting for a set of keys themselves.
Why do people look down on council estate tenants like me, I'll never know - who doesn't want a peaceful home surrounded by countryside? With cheap rent? And friendly neighbours?
I live at the top of a steep hill on a long private drive in my shared ownership bungalow and pay my way with a little journalism, and state benefits like Universal Credit and PIP.
It only costs me £380 a month and I boast two gardens to the front and back, with blossom trees and flowers, lovingly cared for & nurtured by myself and my boyfriend, an aspiring Capability Brown.
It's not just our gardens that are green, floral and verdant with the neighbours pruning their rose bushes most mornings.
There isn't a tower block in sight as Parksite has Keele - a small countryside University village - next door. And Scot Hay - another country village with a farm - to the other side.
I feel incredibly lucky to live on Parksite and pinch myself most days to check I'm not just living in a dream.
You'd never know I live in a council house thanks to how good it looks - I shopped in IKEA & an Amazon tip saved me cash
Aside from Parksite's abundant nature, it is the residents that make the place.
Far from teaming with chavs and ABSO-slapped teens you find friendly families and people have time to stop and say hello when they're taking a stroll.
I've even put a tangerine and fuchsia egg chair outside my front door so I can greet passersby as I smoke one of my 40-a-day ciggies.
There's a 2.5K-strong community of local Silverdale residents on Facebook, who help each other out with missing pets, free household items, and lost bank cards and smartphones.
Far from getting mugged, on our council estate residents make it their mission to keep your valuables with you.
Not long ago, local campaigners, academics and MPs also clubbed together to get a nearby stinking landfill closed down. They finally won, and it was closed last year.
Today the air is more fragrant and the streets much cleaner here than when I lived in cities like Birmingham and London, too. The bins are always emptied on time (Hackney Council take note!)
I've lived on several estates in my time, here in Staffordshire and all over London and none of them are a patch on Parksite.
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In London, I lived in a shared, one-bedroom council flat on the Roman Road in Bethnal Green which I rented for £75 a week. I enjoyed the fish market and cheap winkles.
But not the community. Once a car was blown-up on the estate at 2am. It was terrifying to wake up to a bang and flames lighting up the entire estate.
Another time, while a student, I lived on one of the high rises on Shepherd's Bush Green.
While it was lovely to be in central London, the flat always stank of weed and I'd often hear next door arguing.
When I returned to Staffordshire to help care for my mother in 2010, I lived on the Highfields estate in Stafford for a year. It was cheap, but the one-bedroom flat had no flooring down and I found the grey pebbledash facade of my Cul de Sac really depressing.
It's different here on the Parksite estate.
Visitors always notice how quiet it is: "It's so peaceful here" They'll coo.
What It's Really Like Growing Up On A Council Estate
Fabulous reporter, Leanne Hall, recalls what it's like growing up in social housing.
As someone who grew up in a block of flats on a council estate, there are many wild stories I could tell.
From seeing a neighbour throw dog poo at the caretaker for asking them to mow their lawn (best believe they ended up on the Jeremy Kyle show later in life) to blazing rows over packages going missing, I've seen it all.
While there were many times things kicked off, I really do believe most of the time it's because families living on council estates get to know each other so well, they forget they're neighbours and not family.
Yes, things can go from zero to 100 quickly, but you know no matter what you can rely on your neighbour to borrow some milk or watch all of the kids playing outside.
And if you ask me, it's much nicer being in a tight community where boundaries can get crossed than never even knowing your neighbour's name while living on a fancy street.
Thanks to support from the local council, Aspire, I'm able to afford the rent and upkeep of the property.
But the real difference from the pokey flats I once afforded is that it's the first time I've had my own garden, and my own drive.
As I write this, the sun is rising over the council housing rooftops - all red-orange glow, and also rising over the green parkland and bushy trees of Silverdale. It's so peaceful.
My favourite memories here include sitting outside when the sun's out on my secondhand sunlounger. I'll be in the back garden, surrounded by green and just soak it all up.
I so enjoy all the forest, all the nature, all the woodland sounds like a sparrow or the breeze among the grasses and buttercups.
The only other sound's the tiny waterfall in the pond we've built to the left, overlooked by a red, Japanese Acer tree and a big silver Buddha head I bought from TK Maxx some years ago.
My boyfriend also bought a TV when he moved in but we tend to just watch the wildlife in the forest over the bank, from the bifold windows that frame our sitting room - squirrels, nuthatches, woodpeckers.
We have a birdfeeder here and can sometimes hear an owl in the dead of night.
I believe I'll be here until I retire now and - after decades of struggling with shambolic, overpriced rentals in inferior council flats and dilapidated terraces - I finally feel complete and at peace.
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Telegraph
2 days ago
- Telegraph
‘We ditched the 9-5 to buy the village shop – it's thriving'
Has your village been revitalised by its shop or a community activity? Let us know at money@ Dale Stores in Birstwith, near Harrogate in Yorkshire, is heaving at 11 on a Thursday morning. Tradesmen pile in to buy their lunch and locals grab the paper and a loaf of bread. 'Every village should have a shop,' says Andrea Walwyn as she makes room for more customers to squeeze in. The sense of community is immediately obvious as Walwyn, 60, greets nearly everyone by name and asks them about their lives. Birstwith is a tiny village, 20 minutes from the spa town of Harrogate with one school, a GP surgery and a pub. Before the Walwyns took over in 2006, the shop had been an ordinary convenience store that looked unlikely to survive. Now it has become the beating heart of the village, a hub of activity and support for locals. Walwyn runs the small shop with her husband Matthew. It's not a high-end farm shop: a loaf of sourdough will only cost you £2.99. Fresh and local produce are on offer, but so too are the price-matched items you might find in a corner shop, along with a Post Office counter. When they saw the store was for sale, the husband and wife took a leap of faith and quit their nine-to-fives to take it on. They were tired of never seeing each other while she was a managing director of a division of pest control firm Rentokil and he worked for a Belgian bakery company. 'We were living as ships in the night,' says Walwyn. 'We were never home.' They bought the shop for £487,000 and moved from Harrogate into the house next door. Walwyn says it was the 'scariest thing I've ever done... You're leaving the comfort of a salary, pension, work car, everything'. The couple exude the energy of people half their age, still wearing their Glastonbury Festival wristbands – 'I could live there,' Walwyn admits. This energy is a necessity as they work from 6.30am to 7pm, six days a week. On their first Saturday, they made just £200. 'We sat on the bench outside and we thought, 'what are we going to do?'' Walwyn recalls. 'We would have spent £200 on our weekly shop.' Now, on a Saturday nearly 20 years later, they made £2,000 – a 900pc increase. The shop wouldn't have survived without their intervention, Walwyn admits. Banks, post offices and pubs are increasingly under threat in Britain's rural villages thanks to soaring costs and tax raids. Plunkett, a charity supporting rural community-owned businesses, estimates that in 2024 about 300 village shops and 200 pubs closed their doors. James Lowman, of the Association of Convenience Stores, said in a report: 'Rural shops are increasingly acting as miniature high streets in their own right, taking on services that would have previously been available locally like access to cash, bill payments, Post Office services and prescription collections.' More than 400 bank closures are expected this year, according to the Rural Services Network, along with 150 banking hubs. Earlier this year, the Countryside Alliance said that 'recent high levels of inflation have had a disproportionate impact on village shops and broader rural enterprises'. Meanwhile the Farm Retail Association said as many as half of all farm shops could be forced to close their doors in the coming years as owners are 'hit from both ends' by Rachel Reeves's Budget, due to changes to agricultural property relief as well as employers' National Insurance contributions and minimum wage. High streets in market towns are also struggling; 37 shops closed a day in 2024 according to the Centre for Retail Research. Yet Dale Stores seems to be bucking this trend. Walwyn believes the reason they've thrived is because of their ability to adapt. In the age of online shopping, maintaining a home delivery service has proved fruitful. Its status as a destination – drawing visitors in from as far as Harrogate for a pork pie – has also enabled its survival. It sells traybakes and cakes from local bakeries, pies and pasties from local butchers and fresh bread made in-store daily. The shop has become 'essential' to the village, says David Sutcliffe, who lives a 10-minute walk away. He visits once if not twice a day. 'They're helpful and friendly and it's just an essential part of the village.' Some 40pc of rural shops are the only convenience stores in the area, with no other shops or businesses nearby, the Association of Convenience Stores found. When Covid hit, Dale Stores proved vital for families who couldn't leave the house. The fresh food counter, which had sold more than 200 sandwiches a day for years, closed. In its stead a home delivery service was born. Sixty local volunteers would drive around the Dales delivering groceries and essentials. This trend has continued and certain customers even order the full weekly shop. For some elderly regulars, it provides their only interaction of the day. Customers linger to chat with each other and the staff and the shop feels consistently busy for hours. 'We want to leave customers with a smile on their face,' says Walwyn. She says the key to making a village shop work is trust. The team has built close relationships with customers, including delivering one woman's groceries every week since the pandemic. The 90-year-old can't leave the house so the team unpacks the shopping and also takes her purse to pay her bills. It's this kind of 'special relationship' that makes families choose to shop locally rather than at a chain, the mother of two believes. Students and retirees volunteering together Across Britain there are 407 community-owned shops, creating 7,500 volunteer positions. One such store was created in Trawden, Lancashire after the village's only shop closed in 2016. The locals took matters into their own hands and offered to buy the community centre off the local council for £1. Now, seven years later, a huge operation of 160 volunteers keeps the village shop, library and community centre going. When they bought it, families poured in with paintbrushes to revamp the run-down building and make it fit for parties and groups such as Scouts and Brownies. 'We have all this activity in one tiny village. We've really been able to capitalise on the volunteer spirit and keep the momentum going,' says Ann Boocock. She has lived on the outskirts of Trawden for 33 years – and says she has met 'more people in the past seven years volunteering than I did in the first 26 years living here'. The shop requires 146 hours of volunteering a week to run. That involves everything from serving customers to stacking shelves and doing the accounts. It has a filling station – where you can fill your own jars with herbs and spices – as well as tins and jars and locally sourced meat and vegetables. The volunteers range from pupils completing their Duke of Edinburgh to retirees. Trawden's shop has become a lifeline for the community, Boocock explains, due to the rural nature of the village: 'We're at the end of the road in terms of connections. We easily get cut off when it snows. Last winter no one could leave for three days, we sold out of everything.' The shop and community centre has been able to weather various challenges – from Covid to the cost of living crisis – because of the strong desire to invest locally. Boocock says they 'didn't expect the shop to take off as it did' but it has been a 'huge success story'. Profits are invested back into the charity to spend on maintenance and community clubs. The majority of the customers, as well as those who hire the centre for parties, are local. 'Everybody cares so passionately about our village and that sense of positivity it creates. People really want to spread the love.'
Scottish Sun
2 days ago
- Scottish Sun
I'm a single mum of two on Universal Credit & I spend more money on pampering than I do on my kids' food, I deserve it
Bella Kehl argues that maintaining her appearance makes her a better parent to her two children BENEFITS BRONZED I'm a single mum of two on Universal Credit & I spend more money on pampering than I do on my kids' food, I deserve it Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) CHECKING her bank balance, Bella Kehl lets out a sigh of relief as she sees £1700 has landed in her bank account. With two kids money will be tight when it comes to food, bills and keeping the kids entertained but there is one thing she is not prepared to sacrifice. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 7 Bella Kehl spends more each month on her beauty regime than her kids' food Credit: Supplied 7 As soon as her universal credit drops she books in for a £25 gel manicure Credit: Supplied 7 Every three months she will spend £180 on her hair Credit: Supplied Once she has picked up her weekly food shop, Bella, 26, will head straight to the salon where she will blow £75 in one pamper session. The mum will hand over £10 for a sunbed session, £40 for a gel manicure and £25 for an eyebrow tint and wax. It may seem extravagant but single Bella says it's an essential part of her being a great mum, and as the month goes on she will spend another £150 on further beauty treatments. 'I'm a mum of two toddlers on benefits but my three sunbed sessions a week are essential,' she argues. 'I spend £225 of my benefits a month on my mummy glow-up, it's more than I spend on our food shop but it's non-negotiable. 'Some months my pampering is the biggest expense apart from rent. Trolls can call it selfish but they are just wrong. 'It makes me feel good and that makes me a better mum, besides I'm a brilliant budgetter and my kids never go without.' Former cleaner and student Bella lives near Maidstone, Kent, with her children, ages two and three, in a two bedroom council home costing £490 a month. She receives just over £1700 in Universal Credit, including housing benefit, standard allowance, child support and £187 in Child Benefit. The mum pays £27 a month council tax and qualifies for free NHS prescriptions, dentist, eye tests and school meals and says she stretches every pound to allow for her beauty habits. Can a £3 Gradual Tan Really Deliver a Sun-Kissed Glow without Streaks or Stained Sheets? Bella pays £40 for a gel manicure and another £25 for her brow wax and tint monthly while her sunbed sessions are £100 a month. Every three months, she spends £180 on a full cut, colour and blow dry. She does this by putting £60 away a month to help cover the costs totalling £225 meaning months she has a hair cut her total beauty bill is £345. 'It's worth every penny, I'm not walking around pale and miserable just because I'm on Universal Credit,' says Bella. 'I've earned my glow, let them judge, I don't care.' Bella first became a mum at 22 while working as a cleaner and studying business. Her son, now three, was born in March 2022 and she split with his dad shortly after. 'I wanted to start my own eco-cleaning business but my little lad has special needs and needs me full time,' she explains. 7 Bella says that she didn't used to spend so much on pampering (seen before) but says that she was inspired by other glam mums Credit: Supplied 7 She argues that keeping her looks in check is a good example to her children Credit: Supplied 7 Bella insists that her kids never miss out as a result of her beauty regime Credit: Supplied HOW BELLA SPENDS HER CASH Monthly income: £1,760 (£1,710 Universal Credit + £50 Vinted side hustle) Monthly spend: £1,722 Rent – £490 – £490 Council tax – £27 – £27 Beauty & tanning – £225 (£345 when she has a hair cut) – £225 (£345 when she has a hair cut) Groceries – £200 – £200 Gas – £100 – £100 Electric – £80 – £80 Water – £30 – £30 Internet – £40 – £40 Phone – £40 – £40 Car (fuel & insurance) – £180 – £180 Kids' essentials (incl. clothes) – £180 – £180 Entertainment/outings – £100 – £100 Misc (school, birthdays etc.) – £30 Leftover each month: £38 Bella briefly reunited with her ex, fell pregnant again, and had her daughter, now two in April 2023 before they sadly split again. 'Things didn't work out and with two under two, I stayed on benefits,' she says. 'It wasn't a plan, it was a necessity.' Bella says she was bullied in school over her appearance, particularly her pale skin. 'I swore I'd never scrimp on my looks when I got older and I meant it,' she says. She got the idea for her glow-up after meeting fellow mums last March. 'I thought they'd been to Ibiza, turns out they were on benefits too, they just prioritised their self-care,' she says. I felt sexy, alive, confident and I knew it was something I wanted to maintain Bella Kehl Inspired, Bella started her benefits bronzing and pampering program. She began with five minute sunbed sessions three to five times a week. 'I got a cheap starter deal and I was addicted after one month,' she admits. 'I felt sexy, alive, confident and I knew it was something I wanted to maintain. 'It's cheaper than therapy and makes me feel human again.' While her dedication to self-care might leave them on the breadline, Bella says it's important she demonstrates to her children the importance of caring about your appearance. Risks of sunbeds THE promise of a constant glowing tan is too tempting for some people to deny. But while popping to the sunbed shop may seem harmless, people who use tanning beds should be aware of the risks. Approximately 10 per cent of the population of Northern Europe use sunbeds on a regular basis, the World Health Organization says. Some people use them for years on end, accumulating risk of serious disease. We are here to give you the lowdown on sunbeds and if they are safe to use. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), sunbeds are as dangerous as smoking. Like the sun, they give out harmful UV rays that damage the DNA in your skin cells. Over time, this may lead to malignant melanoma - the deadliest form of skin cancer - studies have shown. According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), there is significant evidence to show that using tanning beds causes melanoma. They report that sunbeds increase the risk of skin cancer by up to 20 per cent, and also state that they have no positive benefits to our health. Cancer Research back this statistic, adding that " there is no such thing as a safe tan from UV radiation". One study found that sunbeds can almost double the risk of cancer compared to never using them - with women 83 per cent more likely to develop the disease. While some people think tanning beds are safer than sitting out in the midday sun, according to Cancer Research, the risk is still twice as high when compared to spending the same amount of time in the Mediterranean sun at lunch time. The Sunbed Association claim there is not enough evidence to link sunbed use with melanoma, adding: "It is over-exposure and burning that will increase a risk of skin cancer, not responsible UV exposure." But the WHO says: "The majority of tanning parlours provide inadequate advice to their customers. "The use of eye protection such as goggles or sunglasses should be mandatory. "However, as sunbed users aim to have an even tan, they often decide against protecting any part of their body." Referring to the link with skin cancer, the world health experts add: "Sunbeds for self-tanning purposes have been available for the last two decades and due to the long latency period for skin cancer and eye damage it has been difficult so far to demonstrate any long-term health effects. "Even though the causes of malignant melanoma are not fully understood, tumour development appears to be linked to occasional exposure to intense sunlight. "Sunbeds subject their users to intermittent high exposures of UVA and UVB radiation – this may provide the ideal setting for the development of malignant skin cancer. "However, the few epidemiological studies that have been carried out to date have not provided any consistent results." Despite the WHO's cautious stance on the skin cancer link, it discourages the use of sunbeds, quoting an expert who said the use of tanning parlours is like "an industrial-scale radiation exposure experiment". Regardless of skin cancer, sunbeds don't just have long-term health risks. Users have reported a range of short-term symptoms including itching, dryness and redness of skin, freckling and photosensitivity. Common outcomes in the longer term, especially in fair-skinned people, may involve blistering of the skin. "Sagging and wrinkling of the skin are an almost certain price to be paid by frequent sunbed users", the WHO says - not quite the outcome you hope for when going to the sunbed shop for a beautiful, youthful look. She says: 'I value my appearance and show my children if you look good no one will disrespect you.' 'My kids don't miss out because of it, we still go on wonderful woodland adventures for free like having a picnic. 'Spending £300 on a specialist theme park to treat them isn't better, it's different and at their age they likely won't remember it. 'My kids love playing in a few large cardboard boxes and using old sheets to make dens. 'Why would i spend £150 on a toy they dump in ten minutes.' Cancer Research UK says almost 3 million Brits use sunbeds and the fastest growing users are women aged 18 to 29. Sessions cost £3 to £8 depending on how many minutes you people use monthly or 'happy hour' deals ranging from £25 to £75 plus past as you go top up minutes for around a pound. Despite NHS and Cancer Research campaigns warning of melanoma risks, a survey by Public Health England showed one quarter or 25% of women aged 18–29 say tanning helps them feel "more confident and in control." Bella explains: 'I know people bang on about cancer risks, but when the influencers I follow are all loving sunbeds, it makes me think they can't be that bad. 'It doesn't make me a bad example to my kids. I have done the research and you have to be over 16 to use them. ' Research from Teesside Uni found one third of women on all incomes see beauty treatments as emotionally essential. Even broke mums will still get their nails done or spend on lippy or a hair cut, we need that boost Bella Kehl The British Association of Beauty Therapy and Cosmetology says 67% of women earning under £20k class them as must-haves in what is known as the 'lipstick effect.' 'Even broke mums will still get their nails done or spend on lippy or a hair cut, we need that boost,' says Bella. 'People blow money on booze and no one says a word. I get my eyebrows, hair, nails and enjoy pampering and I'm labelled irresponsible.' Bella says that she expects backlash from trolls but she won't let it get to her. 'It's my cash, I'll spend it how I want,' she says. 'I don't ask strangers to hand over their payslips.' Bella's now planning to train in aesthetics or open her own tanning salon. 'This isn't just beauty, it's a future investment for me so my monthly spend is about business and education,' she says. 'I'm setting glow-up goals and I won't be ashamed of self-care and more mums should take the same stance.'
The Guardian
3 days ago
- The Guardian
Think you don't like asters in the garden? It might be time to change your mind
One of the things that makes gardening so perpetually, addictively interesting to me is how it challenges beliefs I'd previously held about myself – often on an annual basis. Some beliefs are big, others are smaller, such as my dislike of asters. The Guardian's journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more. Ask me in the middle of spring, when everything is new and fresh, and the tulip petals look as if they've been streaked with a fan-shaped brush, and I will confidently say I'm not an aster fan. Too fussy, too much lilac, too bushy. But scoot forward six months, and I regret I hadn't planted a few in the gaps that appear at this time of year. For the uninitiated, asters – also known as Michaelmas daisies because they are often in flower in late September – are a large group of several species of shrubby daisies. They are unfussy to grow, will put up with part shade or full sun, and aren't particularly needy, as long as they're not subjected to drought or boggy conditions. In short, there's probably somewhere in your growing space that could accommodate one where there isn't anything else growing for the next few months. I've been prompted to think about asters because we've just moved into a house with a blank slate of a back garden, and the promise of a good, dry garden out the front. The number of ornamental plants growing across both could be counted on one hand, and the bog-standard pale purple (a colour that always reminds me of Tammy Girl circa 1998, iykyk) aster is among them. If you're starting a garden from scratch, with not much money, addressing whether you can accept what's currently happy there is a fair basis for a contented relationship. I'm beginning to think I will welcome them not only into the front garden, but also into the back, where my dreams of Piet Oudolf-style clouds of dew-dropped asters will shiver into future autumns. Oudolf – the Dutch garden designer whose clumps of naturalistic planting have inspired more contemporary gardens than most – deployed A. umbellatus in the Oudolf Field at Hauser & Wirth art centre in Bruton, Somerset. It's white, which makes it a great palette-cleanser for the bolder, warmer tones of late-summer and autumn planting, and pleasingly tall. I'm also eyeing up A. pyrenaeus 'Lutetia', a favourite of Beth Chatto's, which has large, spidery flowers in the palest lilac. If you wanted something more keenly purple, check out Symphyotrichum novi-belgii 'Violetta', which is real wizard's-robe territory. Some will flower long into the autumn, and then offer up graceful skeletons for catching frost. In spring, cut them back, remind yourself you once said you didn't like asters, and be grateful you've changed your ways.
