The late summer sun streams through the floor-to-ceiling windows of Sylvia Anderson’s immaculate, bright and modern, two-bedroom balcony flat. ‘This light and those windows were what struck me when I first opened the front door,’ says Sylvia. ‘I get sun from morning to night – I love this light. It’s one of the main reasons I bought the apartment.’
Slim, pretty and an astonishingly youthful 87 years old, Sylvia has lived at Tayfields, a landscaped Weston Homes development of apartments and family houses in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, for two years. She was attracted with other new buyers – young singles, couples and newlyweds – to the sustainability, super-hi-tech features, (great for her online banking) and low utility bills. And like so many Weston Homes’ buyers, she loved the wide choice of bathroom and kitchen finishes, and appliances, all included in the price. She chose a champagne gloss shade for her kitchen.
And although Sylvia has a car she only uses it for a long journey. ‘The location is superb.’ Just a six-minute walk from the historic heart of this magnificent cathedral town with a wealth of highly rated shops and restaurants. ’And a really busy community always putting something on.’
On trend in an ankle-length, green and white cotton dress, trainers and with perfectly manicured nails, this is not a woman who ever thinks about her age…except to be very grateful for good health. She’s a widow but she has friends and family nearby, and a delightful bedroom for guests.
SYLVIA’S STORY
An East Ender, she was born in a council house in now-fashionable Walthamstow. She moved to Dagenham to marry Denis, a local chap who ran a small haulage company. They had two children, Martin and Lisa, their daughter named after Mona Lisa, the title of the Nat King Cole song that Denis loved. But Denis died from cancer at 47, while Martin died at just 46, also from cancer.
As a young widow, Sylvia had to turn her life around and earn some money. She applied for a job at the local Army & Navy store in Dagenham. ‘I told the boss the hours I could work when I had dropped the children at school, the hours I had to finish to pick them up, and that I wanted school holidays.’ He hired Sylvia, she worked hard, learned to run the place, became a skilled retailer and buyer and stayed until the store was sold 27 years later. Then she retrained as a chiropodist. ‘I met so many people, I had regular clients and many are now my friends.’
By this time, however, daughter Lisa, also a chiropodist, and her banker husband had moved with their two children to Suffolk, to fulfil their dream of buying a plot of land and building their own home. The family wanted Granny to be near them. Granny had lived in a council house in Dagenham which she had bought new originally off the council, and was able to sell at a handsome profit.
Sylvia recalls, ‘My granddaughter rang me and said, “Nanny, I have found your new home.” She had seen the building site for the apartments and sent me the details. I wanted a two-bedroom flat, something new, modern and light. I did like the sound of the scheme but then Covid took over our lives and I was not able to go and see it while it was being built but it sounded right for me.
The first viewing for Sylvia was April 1, 2022, when the building was finished and I was due to move in. I had my hand on my heart but the moment I turned the key I knew I had got what I wanted. It was those fabulous windows and the light streaming through.’ Surrounded by packing cases, Sylvia was invited to stay with her daughter while she got her new place straight. Typically, that took Sylvia three days. She had definite ideas about design and had chosen a flat with the kitchen tucked away and her furniture facing into the body of the room.
HI-TECH? NO PROBLEM
Two years on, her first-floor corner apartment has a living area styled attractively in white and her favourite cool pastel green, with a cream tweed-weave sofa and chairs, plus a big green rug. The main bedroom is white with a fresh floral duvet, its pattern echoed in three custom-made prints on the wall above the bed. ‘I found a woman in the East End who would take any pictures and transfer them to canvas, so I asked her to use my floral design. They were £25 a picture.’
The pretty guest bedroom is a favourite with Sylvia’s granddaughter. ‘It’s like a hotel with its beige-tiled en suite and all these luxury fittings – fitted cupboards, big steam free mirrors, and a fabulous shower with temperature-controlled taps. The Weston Homes philosophy of modern tech suits Sylvia perfectly. She soon got to grips with the hi-tech taps, touch controls in the kitchen and sustainable heating system. ‘They are only buttons. You work it out. And it all makes life so much easier.’
The day we meet, Sylvia is getting ready for a lecture in the local library, followed by a cream tea. ‘I have lovely neighbours,’ and of course, she sees a lot of her much-loved daughter and her family. Tomorrow, Sylvia will take the flowers she has bought, now sitting wrapped and ready, to the shared grave of her husband and son; a modern woman who loves her new home and seizes the day with family and friends, while still cherishing a very happy past.
