DETERMINED dad Matthew Hibberd, who spent three weeks under canvas to peg down his family's dream home, hopes to move in within the next 28 days.

The 31-year-old braved floods and postponed celebrations for his birthday and third wedding anniversary to make sure he did not lose his place in the queue of prospective buyers, interested in the sale of former Ministry of Defence homes in Lower Compton.

But at last he has got the three bedroom £150,000 house his family has dreamt of moving into for seven years. However, the champagne is temporarily on ice while the family waits to exchange contracts with the buyers of their old house.

"It was all worth it because at the end of the day we got we wanted," he said.

"But we're never going to move again after this ever. It's ideal for us and if we have any more children there's plenty of room for them.

"If it wasn't worth it I wouldn't have camped out there for the three weeks."

Annington Homes, which owns the former MoD properties, has a first come, first served policy when it sells houses. It does not take a list of names in advance because it says people do not always turn up on the day slowing down the selling process.

The site office, which allows people to register their interest, opened on May 19, but Mr Hibberd was determined to get the house his family wanted, so he set up camp four days beforehand to make sure he got a place in the front of the queue.

Competition for the batch of 42 houses was so fierce a village of tents and caravans sprung up overnight in Lower Compton.

The camp continued to swell as the launch day of June 6 neared. Annington Homes says 49 families braved the great outdoors to join the queue the night before the sale.

Mr Hibberd, who has a 16-month-old son Harry, already lives in Lower Compton, but wanted to buy a larger home for his young family.

The campers were not allowed to leave the site for more than an hour each day or they risked losing their place in the queue. Mr Hibberd was yards from all the comforts of home, but if he wanted to go home for dinner or a shower he had to call his wife Michelle, 27, on his mobile telephone and arrange for her and his young son to step into the breach. As a precautionary measure he took a gas cooker with him in case he was really stuck.

He said he missed his wife, child and bed, but was never tempted to go home because too much was at stake.

Honda, in Swindon, where Mr Hibberd works as an engineer, allowed him a week off either side of half term. During the holiday, his wife took over during the day, but when he returned home from work he swapped with her and slept in the tent.

On his first night under canvas Mr Hibberd said the whether was dreadful and his tent was flooded at 3am.

But far from being dispirited he said the adverse conditions created a real sense of community in the tent village.

"We have made some really good friends with the people who we've been camping out with," Mr Hibberd said.

"It's really nice to move in and already know your neighbours well. It's been like a bonding session and everyone involved has come together."