Residential Park Profile: Tingdene Parks Wixfield Park

You may not have heard of Great Bricett. It’s amid lovely Suffolk countryside; a quiet, rural village retreat with a lot of charm – and a long history. It’s close to the traditional Suffolk towns of Hadleigh and Needham Market, where you will find a range of independent retailers including butchers, greengrocers and boutique shops. The village is also close to the county town of Ipswich and within easy reach of the Suffolk Heritage Coast.

On the outskirts of Great Bricett lies a residential park home development for the over 55s, Wixfield Park. Plots are available for a home for your choice; a new cul-de-sac has been developed, for eight homes, on a variety of plot sizes, each with on-plot parking and private garden. A show home is also for sale on the park. It’s a Tingdene Hayden Classic, at £169,950.

Wixfield Park has a real sense of community, as Toni Norman, Tingdene Parks’ Marketing Manager, told us: “Wixfield is an established park and the residents are known to go dog walking together over the neighbouring fields. It’s a peaceful park, yet residents have the safety and security of knowing you have people around you. Perfect for anyone who wants to get away from it all but doesn’t want to feel that they are totally out in the sticks.” 

This residential park home development, now owned by Tingdene Parks, owes its foundations, literally, to a slice of Great Bricett’s history that put the village on the military map. RAF Wattisham was established just outside the village – and concrete bases on which military accommodation huts had stood, became the bases for Wixfield Park. Initially, it was a caravan park. A survey in 1986, mentioned on Great Bricett’s historical records website, listed 66 people living in 43 ‘mobile homes’ at Wixfield Park.

The park has come a long way since those early days. It’s a prestige development; a quiet, rural retreat, on the outskirts of the village and with countryside views. This is an ideal area for walking, birdwatching, golf, fishing and cycling.

Wixfield is 10 miles from Ipswich, just over five miles from Needham Market, and around seven miles from Stowmarket. And the superb Suffolk coast is only around 30 miles away; the jewel in the crown is genteel, sophisticated Aldeburgh, with its beautiful beaches and famous scallop shell sculpture on the shingle.

More beaches reach up to Southwold. This is known as the Suffolk Heritage Coast, a 50-mile stretch from Lowestoft to Felixstowe, on which you’ll find fishing villages, sandy and shingle beaches, RSPB nature reserves, endless walking opportunities, museums – and the thriving arts, music and foodie culture for which this area is well known. Suffolk has inspired artists (Gainsborough and Constable among them) and musicians including Benjamin Britten. It’s the worldwide home of horse racing (at Newmarket) and George Orwell adopted the name of the Orwell river as his surname!

Today, Great Bricett retains much of its ancient character, with many buildings dating to medieval times. There’s a village green, a pub, a village hall where events are held – and a host of convenient links, detailed on the village’s website. There's a bus service to Ipswich, trains from Needham Market and Stowmarket to London and Norwich, libraries at Hadleigh, Needham Market, and Stowmarket – and a mobile library visits the entrance to Wixfield Park.

Contact Tingdene Parks

Bradfield Road Wellingborough, Northamptonshire NN8 4HB
01933 428182
Tingdene Parks website

Further information

For more park reviews and advice on buying your own park home or holiday home, take a look at Park and Holiday Home Inspiration magazine or download a digital copy today.