Tree Changers to the beautiful New England always excite the team at The Foundation for Regional Development.

Each year we receive stories about families that visited the Country NSW Expo and have made the move to improve their lifestyle. The Catterall’s are one such family that have settled in to a more relaxed  environment and made many new friends since their move to alluring Armidale.

Tim and Justina Catterall were living in Lindfield with their three kids, Sienna 11, Hugo 10 and Teya 6, when they were making the decision to move out of the city. They had talked about the move but were unsure of where to go or what to do about it. They visited the Country and Regional Living Expo in 2010 and after seeing what the different places and communities could offer they decided to take a trip around Australia. After further research into where their future family home should be, they chose Armidale.

Nothing is more refreshing than living out of the town yet still in close proximity and watching the kids have freedom running around the farm. The environment is better and they say they are blown away with the friendliness of the people.

Justina had never had any country experience before moving but has since fallen in love with it so much she is taking a farm course so if they decide to buy into some serious acreage she will be qualified to manage it.

Tim is the Business Development Director for Serco and one of the requirements for any place they moved too was there had to be easy access to Sydney through the airport. Armidale offers quick flights and flexibility with five flights a day; however there is an even greater improvement with the arrival of airline Rex, and he flies out Tuesday and returns on Friday. Tim also has extensive Tourism management experience and served on the Federal Governments Tourism Task Force

Armidale is a great place to raise kids with fantastic education opportunities with Sienna and Teya attending PLC Armidale and Hugo attending TAS. They also saw it as a perfect investment opportunity with the University of New England drawing thousands of students to Armidale every year. There is also a arts and music culture in Armidale that has appealed to the family.

Tim, Justina, Sienna, Hugo and Teya are very satisfied with their move. They were more than happy to speak openly about their tree change experience and would recommend and encourageother Sydney residents to research a change for themselves.