Housebuilder grants historian an unusual wish

Staffordshire housebuilder Walton Homes has granted a local historian the unusual honour of naming one of its house designs after him.

Steve Bowers, a long-standing new homes enthusiast who runs a business recommending new-build properties and reviewing them, contacted the Lichfield-based business last year as part of its 30 Wishes initiative.

Walton Homes launched the campaign to celebrate 30 years in business, calling on organisations, charities, community groups and individuals to submit wishes that they could fulfill as a way of thanking and supporting their work.

Amy Summerton, director, said: “When we received Steve’s wish, we thought it was a really innovative idea. He’s had some lovely things to say about our developments in the past and we decided to go ahead and name one of our new properties after him.”

Mr Bowers was invited to the firm’s Deverereux Grange development at Great Haywood, near Stafford, to see his namesake – a four-bedroom property dubbed The Bowers.

Mr Bowers’ love of Walton Homes spans almost three decades.

He said: “I first saw a Walton development in Wolverhampton in 1988, and I was intrigued by the great design. I am a real fan of mock Tudor that was Walton Homes’ signature house style in the late ‘80s.

“I always thought it would be amazing to have an actual house named after myself and when I saw the company had launched the 30 Wishes campaign I entered, even though I knew it was a different kind of request to those they were expecting.

“I was shocked and thrilled to be chosen, and (while) it was a long wait to see what the Bowers would look like, I wasn’t disappointed.

“The Bowers is amazing, a characterful home that did me proud. It was a dream to come and look around and to see it up on a laminate in the sales office with my name beside it was just surreal.”