The Yorkshire town of Pickering has always been home for Angela Parkin and her partner Barry Suffredini but their desire to put down permanent housing roots used to be only a dream.

The couple and their daughters, Ellie, ten, and Nicole, five, were renting with a housing association when Angela heard about the Open Market HomeBuy scheme run locally by the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust.

“I applied at once, thinking we wouldn’t be accepted, but a couple of months later we were moving into our new home,” Angela says. “The whole process was so straightforward.”

Through estate agents, the couple had found their ideal home – a three-bedroom 1970s bungalow in a nice area, close to both their families.

“We’re in our 30s so it was ‘now or never’,” Angela says. “We bought the house for £166,000 and through HomeBuy we got a 75% mortgage. Even so, we couldn’t afford the mortgage on Barry’s wages as a welder alone, so I’m working part-time at a local children’s play centre.”