My Dubai Rent takes you inside a reader's home to have a look at what they pay each month, see who they live with and ask what they like and don't like
Katie Plant loves life in the three-bedroom villa she shares with her family in The Springs, Dubai.
The reason she is so happy there is that it reminds her of growing up at home in Preston, UK, with children playing in the streets and families mingling with each other.
Ms Plant, who works in PR, invited The National into her home to find out what makes it so very special to her and her family.
How much do you pay in rent?
We pay Dh130,000 across four cheques. We’ve lived here for a year and absolutely love it.
We have lived in Dubai for seven years and before here, we rented in Silicon Oasis, Remraam and JVT.
What is so special about living there?
There is a really tight sense of community here. All the kids know each other and so do the parents.
We often convene together at the park. It’s lovely because the kids all visit each other’s homes and then when it’s a bit cooler, they all play together in the park as well.
It’s important, as a mother, to know that your children are able to make friends and have that experience as they grow up.
That’s why we chose The Springs instead of other areas that we looked at around the same time.
There are a lot of swimming pools and parks, too, and of course, we have the lakes, which the entire community is based around.
The big lake is perfect for walking the dog around and we are close to The Meadows, which has plenty of shops like Spinneys and Starbucks.
Then we’ve got a gym here as well that we can use — so it’s pretty handy all round, really.
Was it difficult to find the perfect home?
We decided that as soon as we found a place to live that we really liked, we would go for it straight away and that’s what happened here.
We knew the properties in The Springs don’t stay on the market for long, so we acted quickly.
What touches have you made to the place to make it feel like home?
Just cosmetic ones, really. We repainted all the walls and put in our own furniture to make sure it had that homey feel.
There was AstroTurf already laid out in the garden, which made life much easier.
We have a decent size garden and it is great in the winter to hang out there and have barbecues with friends.
Is there anything you would change about your home if you could?
There’s not that much I would change about it, to be totally honest.
I guess if there was one thing that we could change it, would be having a corner shop we could walk to near us.
There’s not really a shop within 20 minutes' walking distance, which is a real no-go during the hot summer months.
That’s only a little thing, though. We are really happy here and don’t have any plans to move again. It’s more than enough for us right now.
