News
The Village that keeps Deborah and her family together
February 10, 2025 | IN Together Magazine | BY AVID | 3 min read
There’s a famous saying, “it takes a village to raise a child”, but for AVID’s beautiful Waterford community in the Lower Hunter there’s a new saying in town: “It’s the village that keeps families together.”
With at least twenty purchasers in Waterford already having close family ties in the community, the notion of neighbours becoming family has been taken to a whole new level.
Deborah Fisher and her husband Les were looking for their next chapter when they sold their large five-acre property in the Port Stephens area in search of a lower maintenance lifestyle.
They found exactly that in Waterford’s Harvest neighbourhood.
“A residential community was an easy choice because we were able to downsize on land but maintain a large family home. We could have a ‘retired lifestyle’ without being in a retirement village or losing our independence,” Deborah explained.
The other big draw card for Les and Deborah was the convenience of living close to their adult son and daughter, who had already found their respective family homes in the open spaced Chisholm address.
“Our son was the first to move into the community, followed a few years later by our daughter, and then we finished our home build in 2018,” Deborah said.
While they are a tight knit family, Deborah knew her children mightn’t be entirely excited to have their parents living just metres away.
“When we told our kids we’d bought into Harvest and were only going to be two minutes away, there was certainly a concern we’d be around every five minutes checking up on them.
“The reality has been wonderful though. If we need them or they need us, we can be there to support each other with everything from school drop off to looking after the little ones over the school holidays.”
For Deborah, the connected feel goes far beyond getting to be close to her family, she loves being able to connect with neighbours of all ages and backgrounds.
“One of the nice things about the neighbourhood is that AVID is really doing everything they can to create a community. Even before we moved in, we were invited to an evening where we could meet our neighbours who are just terrific people who we still love to gather with and be around. It’s just nice to know that there is a community around you that have your back.”
For now, Deborah is focused on the future, which is sure to include time spent with her precious three grandchildren.
“It’s really amazing, we’ve come from our previous home which we lived in for 25 years but honestly, now that we’re here, we’ve never looked back.”
To find out more about Waterford, visit www.waterford.avid.com.au/
