A young teacher got a lesson in surprises when she went to view progress on her new home under construction – as her partner got down on one knee to propose on the building site!
Darren Waldron popped the question to Amy Armstead, laying the foundations for their new life together as they visited their plot at the Persimmon Homes’ Scholar’s View development in Bury.
Persimmon Homes North West sales advisor Jan Francis said: “Darren and Amy reserved their new home off-plan, so he contacted me to find out how the build was progressing. When I said the foundations were in for their house, he explained what he would like to do, the romantic devil!”
With the site manager’s agreement, Darren told Amy they could get a ‘before’ photograph at the plot, keeping the real reason for the visit under wraps.
Darren said: “Just before Christmas the realisation hit me that this was our first home, we were starting our future together, and it seemed the right time to ask her to marry me. I’m not really known for keeping secrets but I certainly managed to surprise Amy with this one.
“Jan took our smiley photos at the plot and then just as Amy was about to walk away I stopped her and said this wasn’t really why we were here. Then I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me.
“At first she thought I was joking, but when I pulled out the diamond ring she said yes.”
Twenty-two year old Darren is a graduate manager with Marks and Spencer and Amy, 21, teaches in nearby Radcliffe. The couple chose Scholar’s View to be close to both families and have used the Help To Buy scheme which requires just a five per cent deposit.
Darren said: “It is really exciting to watch our house being built. We both finished university this year and expected it to take quite a long time to save up the deposit for our first home, but Help To Buy made it much more affordable. It would have taken us another year to raise a ten per cent deposit.
“We’ve selected a three bedroom ‘Hanbury’ style property after looking at the show home at Vulcan Park in Newton-le-Willows. It is just the right size for us to start out together and we’re looking forward to the next step which is choosing our kitchen and tiles, so the house will be exactly what we want.”
Jan added: “Help To Buy is proving very popular with customers as it helps people like Darren and Amy to get onto the property ladder sooner than they expected.
“Scholar’s View is one of Persimmon’s newest developments. We have a range of properties from as little as £97,500 to suit everyone from first time buyers to growing families, all close to Bury’s schools, shopping and leisure facilities.”