This is a crucial time for Poundbury, the model village outside Dorchester in Dorset, conceived by the Prince of Wales. Phase one of its master plan is completed, which means 280 houses are occupied, factories are up and running and the shops, cafe and pub are open in the pastiche “village” centre.

Now phase two, which will put another 2,000 homes on Poundbury’s 400-acre site, is under way. Prices for these houses vary between £230,000 and £425,000 — well above the norm for this part of Dorset.

Is the Poundbury experience worth the extra cost? When you walk the streets it’s like being on a film set for a drama of indeterminate period. At one end of town there’s an elegant stretch of bow-windowed Regency-style houses, in the central square there’s the pseudo-medieval Brownsword Hall and just off the main drag is the electricity substation, hidden in a kind of Roman temple. It’s this cavalcade of architectural styles, all stopping around 1850, that the critics deride for being twee. However, the Poundbury “look” is popular with the residents and it attracts 30,000 tourists a year. Resale prices show there’s a demand to be a part of the prince’s project. A three-bed house that cost £180,000 when new, two years ago, recently sold for £300,000. A five-bed that cost £295,000 two years ago is now for sale at £399,000.

Efforts have been made to make this a socially-mixed community. In the first phase of development, 20% of homes were classed as affordable and made available for rent through the Guinness Trust Housing Association to people on the West Dorset housing waiting list. Phase two will see this figure rise to 35% rented social housing and shared ownership. C G Fry, one of the Poundbury builders, boasts that affordable housing is indistinguishable from the privately owned properties.

One residents’ group, Poundbury Residents Opposed to Density, protested when Woodpecker Properties proposed to build 31 flats of affordable housing, to be called Jubilee Court, arguing that the flats would create overcrowding. Their objection was upheld at a planning meeting in August.

Poundbury Residents Association ensures everything is spick and span and nobody fouls up the street scenes with bodged maintenance work. There’s also a management company to see to the upkeep of the area, using the fees of £100-a-year paid by each household and from the levy imposed on anybody making money from selling a Poundbury home within three years of buying — 1% of the profit over £5,000.

About 10% of those who live in Poundbury work in the factories and offices there, which matches the original plan of creating a sustainable community. “The rest of the newcomers work from home or travel into Poole or Bournemouth,” says housebuilder Philip Fry. “About 30% are early retirees.”

The new phase of housing, which will be completed over the next 10 years, will be to the north of the “village centre” that serves the community at present. As the second phase takes shape, a new “town centre” with a bank, offices and more shops will be built. Among the 154 on the market, all of which are planned to be finished by January, Westbury Homes has 15 properties for sale. There ’s a one-bed apartment from £159,950 and a two-bed apartment at £169,950 built above garages. The houses range from £229,950 for a three-bed to £389,950 for a five-bed.

Cornhill Estates is selling three three-bed apartments, some as big as 1,300sq ft, for between £210,000 and £250,000. It also has a two-storey penthouse built into a tower for sale at £350,000. In January 2005, Morrish Builders will release the prices for the first of its 120 planned homes. They will vary from two-bed apartments to four-bed town houses and include a bungalow designed to accommodate a disabled person. C G Fry & Son has 19 three- and four-bedroom homes for sale ranging from £265,000 to £420,000.

Martin Pike is moving into one of the village’s most dramatic properties, an octagonal shaped house just completed by C G Fry that cost £385,000. Why has he chosen Poundbury? “Because the layout of the whole place is so unpredictable and the design of our house is so individual,” he says.

“It’s very exciting to be at the cusp of a developing community here. The influx of new people who will arrive with phase two will breathe life into Poundbury.”

C G Fry & Son, 01305 259 600, www.cgfry.co.uk; Westbury Homes, 01305 251 217, www.westbury-homes.co.uk ; Cornhill Estates, 01305 250 427; Morrish Builders, inquiries to Connells estate agents, 01305 266 755

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