Mother and daughter team Becky Penfold and Helen Edwardson have launched a new property venture from their kitchen table in the idyllic West Sussex village of Wisborough Green.
Penfold and Edwardson each have distinguished careers in traditional estate agencies: Edwardson joined Hamptons International in 2005 (after graduating with a degree in in Property Development & Planning), rising through the ranks to run the Shad Thames branch before moving over to JLL – where she launched the new Nine Elms office in 2015. Penfold set up the Business Development department for Surrey-based estate agency Curchods in 2010, having worked as a negotiator for Curchods-owned Burns & Webber for the previous four years. Before that, she was a professional photographer for some 21 years.
Penfolds Estate Agents promises to combine “personal traditional service alongside the benefits of digital marketing”, tapping into the burgeoning trend for the professionalisation of the kitchen table. Once the preserve of hobby entrepreneurs, the Aga-front is now often a signifier of dynamic, forward-thinking new ventures. Remote working has become fully normalised even in Blue Chip organisations, while 4/5G and fibre broadband connections enable constant contact with clients and colleagues, and the rise of online estate agencies is pruning the import of a high street presence. “We do not have any opening hours as we are always available to our clients,” says Edwardson, “and already people are starting to knock on the front door to talk to us.”
The rosé-pink branded agency officially launched at the end of July, and is now listing five properties with asking prices ranging from £205k to £1.2m on its website and via Rightmove.
Helen Edwardson, co-founder of Penfolds: “As a mother-daughter team with over 25 years of extensive industry experience, our aim is to bring our own family values and authentic enthusiasm to everything we do. Property is quite simple really, and our goal is to keep it that way. We’re all about straightforward conversations and an honest approach, bringing our real-life industry and area knowledge to back up our passion for property.
“We are really focussing on offering a personal traditional service alongside the benefits of digital marketing. We are based in the centre of the beautiful village of Wisborough Green having lived within a few miles of here most of our lives. Working from our kitchen table we wanted our brand to be in line with the increased trend of people preferring artisan shops and tradespeople. We are starting to build a reputation in the village for helping people to move many of whom haven’t moved for a long time and are anxious about the whole process. We do not have any opening hours as we are always available to our clients and already people are starting to knock on the front door to talk to us.”
