NEWLY built four bedroom houses from £399,995, five bedroom houses from £539,995 - to buyers accustomed to the house market in South Bucks, these prices will sound like cloud cuckoo land.

Far from being a figment of imagination, family houses with four and five bedrooms at prices you could pay for an apartment a few miles away down the M40 are being built on the former RAF base at Upper Heyford in Oxfordshire not far from Junction 10.

They’re part of a masterplan drafted by developer Dorchester Living to create 700 new homes, commercial buildings, schools, shops, leisure facilities, everything to lay sound foundations for the new community springing up on the 1,231 acre development at Heyford Park.

Christine Prior is pictured in the kitchen of her smart new four bedroom detached house not far from the hangars and runway that are constant reminders of the origins of the site.

She shares her house with her rescue dog Norman. “The countryside really is at your disposal here, obviously Norman is a big fan. Bicester is only ten minutes away – it is honestly the best of both worlds,” Christine says.

Christine and her daughter Victoria now not only work together (mum is practice manager for the Oxford Orthopaedic Group, daughter is PA to two orthopaedic surgeons) their homes are just four minutes’ walk apart.

“Victoria is really into her interior design,” says her mother. “She helped me kit the house out. The house looks fantastic. I just love coming home.”