New Place - was Shakespeare right?

We are looking to downsize and buy a new home, as I've mentioned before.

News today is that Shakespeare's kitchen at New Place in Stratford upon Avon has been excavated. The house was built in 1597, demolished by the church in 1759, and as a new build had 20 rooms, 10 fireplaces, and recently discovered traces of a uPVC conservatory where Shakespeare shivered in winter and sweltered in summer, penning his sonnets and plays.

New Place was at the time the biggest house in Stratford (since overtaken by Westfield), and the kitchen had cooking areas, brew house, pantry and a cold storage pit - sounding a bit like a Wetherspoons.

We've looked at houses on a new estate and wonder if we should obey the often given advice that you should buy the cheapest new build property on the site plan, not the most expensive.

I'm sure if William and Anne had been with us at the Persimmon sales site, they'd be sticking ￡500 down on the biggest and best, the Hadleigh 5 bedroomed showhome, ignoring Help to Buy and adorning it with every conceivable extra: wall mounted living flame fires, external cooking areas, a brew house in the separate double garage and a cold storage pit dug deep into the ground.

We know though that when the Shakespeares go to sell in 4 years' time (the average selling time on a new estate, 9 on non-estates), their ￡300,000 house with ￡20,000 in extras, will struggle to provide a decent return for their move to a bungalow; whilst our modest 3 bedroomed detached will mean we can have a second home in Stratford, so we can shop til we drop.