A PEWSHAM family who camped out on a housing estate in Lower Compton to peg down the home of their dreams hope to move in next week.

Amanda Goodship, husband Paul, both 29, and their six-month-old baby Erykah stayed in a tent in the garden of an empty house, to keep their place in a queue of prospective buyers interested in the sale of a batch of homes in Atcherley Road.

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

A spokesman for Annington Homes said this had resulted in people camping on the estates where batches of homes were being sold.

The company has tried alternative methods of selling their houses and even banned campers from sites, but found the families just moved on to the streets instead.

Mrs Goodship, of Roman Road, Pewsham, an editorial designer, said: "It was great because we got to know our neighbours really well.

"We had to take time off work so we treated it like a holiday but at the end of the day we hoped we were going to get a house, although it could have all gone wrong at the last moment.

"We had to make it a laugh because we were in Lower Compton for a week's holiday, it wasn't like we were in Spain. But it was worth it because we have got a house out of it.

"Hopefully we'll move in next week, but until we've got the keys in our hands we don't want to make too much out of it just in case."

A spokesman for Annington Homes said: "We have accepted that people are going to camp out so we try and make them as comfortable as possible. It's not something we want, it's something that just happened."

In 1996 Annington Homes purchased all the MoD's married quarters and then leased them back to the Ministry.

But as the military shrinks, MoD properties become surplus, and Annington Homes sells them off through estate agents or in batches. Mrs Goodship had missed a launch in Compton Bassett in July, but was told in August a launch was planned on September 6, with nine properties to be put up for sale.

The couple took time off work and set up camp with other families in the grounds of a show home in the estate, provided by Annington Homes.

The campers were allowed to use the toilets and electricity and to cook their meals in the house, but Mrs Goodship said families also brought microwaves, camping stoves and even mini TV sets and DVD players.

She said: "On a new estate the houses are back to back and cost a lot of money. But these former MoD houses have been built for years, they're sturdy and they've got a lot more land as well."