Everyday's a newt day in Barby!

Kate, her son, daughter and lots of newts, moved across the road into their new home in Barby in April.

The move, from a 2-bedroom to a 3-bedroom house on the same street, has made a huge difference to the family. We caught up with Kate recently to see how they’re getting on

“We love our new home. We’re so glad that we’ve been able to move to a bigger house in the same community. The extra bedroom means we all have our own space now. And this has made us all more relaxed. I’d say it’s improved our relationships. Although, now the kids aren’t sharing, they’re both spending more time in their rooms, so I don’t see them as much!!

“But we do still all love being out in the garden together. Our new garden is a great size, we’ve got a swing ball set up and there’s so much we want to do!

“We do everything we can to encourage wildlife to enjoy into our garden…wood piles, bee hotels, hedgehog holes, No Mow May, plants which attract bees and butterflies and a pond.

“We had a pond in our old garden that was home to newts, frogs and dragonflies. When we learnt that it was going to be filled in, we decided to quickly create a pond in our new garden and rescue as much as we could.

“We transferred the water, and even the sludge, from the old pond to keep the ph levels the same. We gently moved the newts and carefully took over 20 dragonfly larvae, which are starting to hatch now. And our beautiful water lilies survived the move too.

“We do lots to be sustainable. We’ve got compost bins, and will be growing organic veg. And we use recycled materials, such as making raised beds out of pallet collars.

“The space we have now is a world away from my earlier home…before moving into our first NRHA home I was living on a bus that was falling apart!” a £50 voucher.