Category: OPULENCE & SPLENDOUR

Luxury and the arts From houses to cars and from Hockney to van Dyck, a profile of the best and the worst

The land of Tarka and Salar

The North Devon countryside that inspired Henry Williamson, R. D. Blackmore and Charles Kingsley

Much of my childhood was spent reading the works of superb authors and amongst the best of them were Arthur Ransome (1884 – 1967), Denys Watkins-Pitchford (1905 – 1990), who wrote many of his works under the pseudonym “B.B.”, and Henry Williamson (1895 – 1977). As a youngster, I was lucky enough to be read to by Ransome’s nephew, a most captivating professional storyteller, and was given first editions of many of the works of all three of these early to mid twentieth century authors.

I had my first sailing lessons on Windermere, where Ransome set many of his works, and went shooting in the Forest of Bowland, a place dear to B.B. Though I also fished in many wonderful locations, until now I’d never been to the land of Henry Williamson and his most famous creation, Tarka the Otter. I currently find myself here enjoying a break from London and yesterday I randomly discovered, I am staying next to the setting of one of Williamson’s lesser known stories, Salar the Salmon, on the River Bray close to Exmoor.

“Salar the Salmon” by Henry Williamson (1935)

Henry Williamson (1895 – 1977) photographed by Mark Gerson, cibachrome print from original transparency, August 1970

“Tarka the Otter” by Henry Williamson (1927)

Originally published in 1935, Salar the Salmon combines Henry Williamson’s great talent as a writer with his insight as a naturalist. The story tells the tale of a five-year old salmon named Salar, whose name means the “leaper,” and his return to the stream of his birth. Salar’s migration through the riverways of Devon involve him surviving porpoises, seals, nets, fishermen, otters, poachers and weirs and Williamson’s account truly gives the reader an insight into one of nature’s great journeys.

Henry Williamson wrote both Salar the Salmon and The Children of Shallowford (1939) whilst living beside the River Bray in a hamlet named Shallowford, near Lynton in Devon. The river plainly inspired him and whilst he lived there on the Fortescue Estate he also sired four children, joined Oswald Moseley’s British Union of Fascists, was briefly imprisoned for his views and conducted several extra-marital affairs.

“War Horse” author Michael Morpurgo OBE

Salar the Salmon is a story I am not alone in recommending. Another Devon based author and poet, Michael Morpurgo OBE, best known for his acclaimed work, War Horse, speaks very fondly of Williamson and the novel in a dedication he prepared for a recent reprint of it:

“It is a rare gift indeed for a storyteller to be poet as much as a storyteller, to tell a tale so deeply engaging that the reader wants to know what will happen and never want it to end, and yet at the same time tells it in such a way as to leave a reader wide-eyed with amazement at the sheer intensity of feeling that can be induced by the word-magic of a poet. Henry Williamson is just such a story-maker poet.”

Where I am staying, I have a view of the very river on which Salar made his journey and here also a detached barn conversion is currently available to rent at a price of £1,150 per month. Malle’s Barn is a 2-bedroom stone-built property that includes a 25ft by 12ft open plan sitting room with a fully fitted kitchen and a dining area, as well as a study and shower room.

The exterior of Malle’s Barn, Brayford, Near Barnstaple, Devon, EX32 7QB

A large open plan reception room includes sitting, dining and kitchen areas

The setting of Malle’s Barn overlooking the valley of the River Bray

Tenants of the house will have access to the owner’s 60-acre estate which includes a mile of salmon and brown trout fishing on both the Rivers Bray and Holewater, ancient woodland and a lake in addition to a private garden and adequate parking for several vehicles.

Malle’s Barn would make a perfect retreat for any author or artist and is just 10 minutes from South Molton, Barnstaple is 9 miles away and Exeter 40 miles. The location is 30 minutes from J27 of the M5 and Tiverton Parkway Station, which provides mainline links to London Paddington within 2 hours.

Close to Malle’s Barn are the prettiest sections of a footpath named the Tarka Trail. Consisting of over 180 miles of footpaths and cycle tracks that take in the Dartmoor and Exmoor National Parks and the North Devon Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The trail takes in many of the locations described in Williamson’s most famous novel but this area of North Devon also galvanized the pens of a number of other authors.

Richard Doddridge Blackmore (1825 – 1900)

Professor Charles Kingsley (1819 – 1875)

Richard Doddridge Blackmore (1825 – 1900) set Lorna Doone: A Romance on Exmoor in the locality in 1869 and Professor Charles Kingsley (1819 – 1875) put pen to paper here when he wrote Westward Ho! in 1855. A village of the same name was subsequently established near Bideford in the 1860s by entrepreneurs, led by Lord Portsmouth, who saw an opportunity to capitalise on the novel’s success. Westward Ho! is the only place in the United Kingdom with an exclamation mark in its name. The only other place in the world that shares such is Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! in Quebec, Canada.

Aside from literary connections, the locality is famous for its excellent fieldsports. The Earl and Countess of Arran’s Castle Hill and the Molland shoot are considered amongst two of England’s finest high bird pheasant shoots and both the Devon and Somerset Staghounds and Devon and Somerset Foxhounds hunt on Exmoor.

Johnny Kingdom

Johnny Kingdom, who describes himself as having been “a farmer, quarryman, forestry worker, gravedigger and, if truth be told, a poacher” in his youth, also lives in the locality and is well known as a wildlife photographer, filmmaker and television presenter. He sets many of his series on Exmoor because of the vast array of wildlife he comes across here and is, like Williamson before him, often to be found exploring the valley of the River Bray.

In a 1965 BBC interview Henry Williamson was asked: “What influence has this [the Devon] countryside had on you?”:

“Everything, I should say. I came down here as a youth, aged just 18 in 1914, spent a fortnight’s holiday here in the beginning of May, beginning of June. I walked 20 to 25 miles every day. Everything I saw was radiant and beautiful.”

This idyllic part of Devon that Williamson loved so much remains unspoilt to this day. If you haven’t visited yet, it really should be added to your bucketlist.

For more information about Henry Williamson, go to The Henry Williamson Society’s webpage: http://www.henrywilliamson.co.uk

Watch the 1965 BBC interview with Williamson at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/devon/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8475000/8475989.stm

For details and a map of the Tarka Trail, go to: http://www.devon.gov.uk/tarkatrail and http://www.devon.gov.uk/tarka-trail-circular-routes.pdf

For information on the Molland shoot, go to: http://www.bettwshall.com/molland.htm

For more information about the Devon and Somerset Staghounds, go to: http://www.devonandsomersetstaghounds.net

For more information on the Devon and Somerset Foxhounds, go to: http://www.exmoorfoxhounds.co.uk

View the official website of the author and poet Michael Morpurgo at: http://www.michaelmorpurgo.com

View the official website of Johnny Kingdom at: http://www.johnnykingdom.co.uk/

For more information about Malle’s Barn, contact Charles Mitford Cust at: [email protected]

October 2, 2012
Going under the Kosh

The sale of a $25 million mansion modeled on Marie Antoinette’s favourite retreat that has connections to Levi Strauss & Co., Yehudi Menuhin, the Zodiac Killer and a controversial dot-com tycoon

Modeled on the Petit Trianon, a small château in the grounds of Versailles that was favoured by Louis XVI’s wife Marie Antoinette, the Koshland Mansion at 3800 Washington Street in Presidio Heights, San Francisco, California was built between 1902 and 1904 for a pioneer wool, hide and fur merchant named Marcus S. Koshland and his wife, Corrine.

The Washington Street elevation of the former Koshland Mansion at 3800 Washington Street, San Francisco, California, CA 94118

An aerial view of the 18,000 square foot property and the 2,600 square foot guest accommodation

The inspiration for the Koshland Mansion: The Petit Trianon, Château de Versailles, Place d’Armes – 78000 Versailles, France

The Koshlands, whose son Daniel (1920 – 2007) was to become a president of Levi Strauss & Co., commissioned an architect named Frank S. Van Tree to design a replica of the Petit Trianon after having admired it whilst on holiday in France. The front of the building, facing onto Washington Street, is considered such a faithful representation of the neoclassical building the Koshlands copied and as a result the house is now designated a San Francisco Designated Landmark.

Daniel E. Koshland, Jr.

Some 20,000 square foot in size and set on a 2/3^rd acre plot, the completion of this sandstone faced “single family residence” was celebrated by the Koshland family with a Marie Antoinette themed ball in 1904. The invitations to this legendary event were purchased and printed in Paris and hand delivered to the guests.

The Koshland Mansion survived San Francisco’s 1906 earthquake with only a little damage to the front elevation

The 1906 San Francisco earthquake, just two years after they’d completed the building, somewhat interrupted the Koshlands hectic party schedule at 3800 Washington Street. Though the disaster caused the front columns and roof balustrade to collapse, the couple generously opened the otherwise undamaged property to some 60 to 80 displaced family and friends. With no mains water, the guests had to fetch water from Fort Mason but they were no doubt happy to have had somewhere to take refuge.

During subsequent renovations, as well as restoring the façade, a 5-car garage was added in 1909 and a greenhouse and extension in 1912. In the ensuing years, until her death in 1953, Corrine Koshland, better known as Cora, opened up 3800 Washington Street as a venue for concerts. A founder of the San Francisco Symphony Association and one of the first directors of the San Francisco Opera Company, Koshland invited music critics to review the performances and gave both Yehudi Menuhin and Isaac Stern their musical debuts at the house as child prodigies. Amongst the other big names to play in the masnion were Igor Stravinsky, Jascha Heifitz and Leonard Bernstein.

Sir Yehudi Menuhin KBE (1916 – 1999) pictured in his youth

In 1953, the Koshland Mansion was sold for $100,000 by the estate of Cora Koshland. The purchaser was Walter E. Buck (1884 – 1966), president of the American Distilling Company. Buck and his wife Emily, who were well known for “Gatsby-esque parties” at their 1,300 acre estate, Woodside, redecorated 3800 Washington Street by “painting the mahogany library white, removing the dark green, gold-tooled leather from the dining room and developing small card rooms in the basement.” It seems likely that the era of parties at 3800 Washington Street continued during their occupancy.

On 11th October 1969, a murder occurred on the block where 3800 Washington Street stands when the Zodiac Killer, a to this day unidentified serial killer who operated in Northern California in the 1960s and 1970s, shot and killed a cab driver named Paul Stine. Stine had collected his passenger one block west of Union Square and had, as requested, driven him to the intersection of Washington and Maple Streets in Presidio Heights. Once there, the cab driver was shot once in the head with a 9mm before the killer, observed by three teenagers across the street, took his wallet and car keys. The Zodiac Killer tore off a section of Stine’s bloodstained shirt, wiped the cab clean and walked off into the night before the police could arrive.

A sketch of the Zodiac Killer

Subsequently, on the 14^th October 1969, the San Francisco Chronicle were mailed a swatch of Stine’s shirt to prove he was the killer and then on 9^th November 1969, a 7-page letter followed. Excerpts from it were published from it in the newspaper on 12^th November which revealed that a police officer, Don Fouke, who had responded to the teenager’s call, had actually encountered the killer for 5 to 10 seconds on a stairway of a house close to the murder scene. Fouke had been told to look for a black suspect and on seeing a white man going into the yard of a house, had discounted the individual and drove on. The Zodiac Killer, in his letter, detailed the encounter but claimed that two policemen had actually spoken with him 3-minutes after he’d shot Stine.

In 1975, a neighbour, Paul Renne purchased 3800 Washington Street for $675,000, supposedly to prevent it being acquired by property developers, but having been used as the 1982 San Francisco Decorator Showcase house, it was placed on the market and sold to a gallery owner named Heidi Betz and her business partner, an art collector named Charles Pankow. They paid $1.5 million for the house but failed in their bid to turn it into an art gallery due to objections from neighbouring residents.

Halsey Minor

In the two decades that followed 3800 Washington Street was sold several more times but finally it’s glory days looked set to return in 2007 when it was purchased by an “internet titan” named Halsey Minor and his second wife, Shannon. Having paid approximately $22 million for what essentially was going to be a very expensive renovation project, Minor supposedly assigned a further $15 million towards renovations and hired Michelle Obama’s favourite designer, Michael S. Smith, to oversee the project.

Minor founded CNET, a tech media website that published news, articles, blogs and podcasts on technology and consumer electronics, in 1992 after leaving Merrill Lynch and built it into one of the first internet companies to achieve profitability. CNET was sold for $1.8 billion in 2008 and is now CBS Interactive. Another of the companies he co-founded in 2000, salesforce.com, was “one of the most successful companies of the decade” and achieved a market capitalisation of in excess of $15 billion.

Having made a small fortune from his dot-com success, Minor diversified into investments that brought with them a lifestyle that would later be described as “a multi-millionaire who lived life as a billionaire.” In 2007, he began construction of a hotel in his hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia and announced this would be part of a series he’d open as part of the Minor Family Hotel group he planned. The hotel has never been completed.

Carter’s Grove, 8797 Pocahontas Trail, Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, VA 23187: considered to be one of America’s finest and most historic residences. It was bought by Halsey Minor in 2007 and has fallen into significant decline in the years since.

The 1983 Group of Seven (G7) meeting at Carter’s Grove. Pictured outside the house are: Pierre Trudeau, Prime Minister, Canada; François Mitterrand, President, France; Helmut Kohl, Chancellor, West Germany; Amintore Fanfani, Prime Minister, Italy; Yasuhiro Nakasone, Prime Minister, Japan; Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister, United Kingdom; Ronald Reagan, President, United States of America and Gaston Thorn, President, European Commission

In the same year, he also bought the Koshland Mansion and purchased 400 acres of land and a residence on the James River, the Carter’s Grove Plantation, for $15.3 million. Here, he planned a centre for thoroughbred horse breeding and at around the same time he attempted to buy both the Hialeah Park Race Track in Hialeah, Florida and the Pimlico Track in Baltimore. Both bids failed.

Minor’s investments were not just limited to property and the equine sector. In 2006, he placed a $3 million deposit on a $59 million Gulfstream G650 and at Sotheby’s in 2008, he was the winning bidder on a painting by Edward Hicks, The Peaceable Kingdom, at a hammer price of $9.6 million and also bought paintings by Andy Warhol and Childe Hassam.

Around this point, however, this dot-com tycoon’s fortune began to unravel when Merrill Lynch called in a $25 million loan and various legal suits connected to his art collection, investments and properties commenced. Several of his homes were repossessed and at a court hearing in August 2011, he claimed to have just $112,643 in cash and owned no publicly traded securities. Minor claimed to be majorly broke but the declaration did not cover illiquid assets such as art, real estate and shares in non-public companies. To this day, Minor remains listed in first place on the State of California’s Franchise Tax Board’s top 500 delinquent taxpayers owing some $10,455,580.69.

In response to his supposed progression from riches to rags, Minor wrote an article for The Huffington Post in July 2012 entitled “Why I Fight”:

“I often wonder what Thomas Jefferson would think of today’s America, a nation that is rapidly but silently abandoning the individual in favour of faceless corporations, rapacious banks and a collusive, unresponsive government… The simple answer is that someone must [fight] or we will emerge from this recession with wealth and power concentrated in a few tiny financial institutions representing a new ruling elite, not unlike the one that inspired Thomas Jefferson’s generation to revolution.”

Somehow, in spite of his changed circumstances, Minor has managed to hold on to 3800 Washington Street. Though, during his tenure, the house has fallen into decline and is now half covered in ivy, it is still one of San Francisco’s finest properties and it is still situated in one of the city’s best neighbourhoods. It is still an asset of considerable value and Minor’s decision to sell may well help him rake back some of what he has lost.

The hallway at 3800 Washington Street

A drawing room at 3800 Washington Street

One of the property’s dining rooms

The opulent ballroom at 3800 Washington Street

Steven Mavromihalis of Pacific Union International launched 3800 Washington Street onto the market in May 2012 for $25,000,000. This move came just after two Abandoned Building Notices had been issued on the property by the City and County of San Francisco Department of Building Inspection. On offer is the 18,000 square foot main house at 3800 Washington Street, a 2,600 square foot 3-bedroom house at 3810 Washington Street and a vacant lot at 125 Maple Street. Though the agents don’t give much more in the way of details, they do refer to the house having a double marble Palladian staircase, 22 rooms, a “spectacular ballroom,” 8 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, 9 fireplaces, 3 kitchens, an elevator and three original stained glass windows by the San Francisco poet, writer sculptor and artist Bruce Porter (1865 – 1964).

According to the agents, 3800 Washington Street is second only to Danielle Steele’s 55-room residence, The Spreckels Mansion, at 2080 Washington Street in the rankings of the largest homes in San Francisco. This is most certainly a mansion with a fair few tales to tell but whoever buys it will need both Steele’s wealth and imagination to get it back into good order. Dot-com tycoons and serial killers need not apply.

Read more about the Zodiac Killer at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodiac_Killer

A profile of Daniel E. Koshland, Jr. is available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_E._Koshland,_Jr.

Read more about the downfall of Halsey Minor at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2154564/Halsey-Minor-tech-guru-files-bankruptcy-ruined-Carters-Grove-estate.html

All enquiries about 3800 Washington Street, Presidio Heights, San Francisco, California, CA 94118 should be directed to Steven Mavromihalis of Pacific Union International on +1 (415) 345 3030 or email him at: [email protected].

More details are available at: http://www.pacunion.com/homes/CA/San_Francisco/94118/3800__Washington_St/AGT-107397278-685992/ whilst a video tour of the property can be viewed at: http://vimeo.com/42775765

October 1, 2012
Hawn's Housesitter

The sale of Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell’s Malibu beach house

Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell

Goldie Hawn’s performance in the 1992 romantic comedy Housesitter with Steve Martin was described by the noted film critic Roger Ebert as “one of her best performances.” In the film, Martin’s character builds a dream home for himself and his girlfriend but is unable to bring himself to live in it after she refuses to marry him. Hawn’s character moves in to housesit the empty love nest and in turn the pair fall for one another.

The glass wall of the rear of Hawn and Russell’s beachfront home at 30802 Broad Beach Road, Malibu, California, CA 90265

The vast living area of the property

The cinema room of the house

The perfect bar for entertaining after a day on the beach

One of the property’s four bedroom suites

In the late 1980s, Hawn and her partner of some 30 years, fellow actor Kurt Russell, bought themselves a dream beach house at 30802 Broad Beach Road in Malibu, California. With direct frontage onto Broad Beach, which the Los Angeles Times describes as a “confusing mosaic of public and private sands” that “has shrunk into a narrow sliver of its former self” due to coastal erosion, the pair created a residence that has been decorated in a style described by some as “exotic” and “Buddhist themed” and by others as “late-1970s contemporary.”

Here, alongside neighbours including Pierce Brosnan, Steven Spielberg, Danny DeVito and Dustin Hoffman, Hawn and Russell were able to enjoy summer vacations in a 4,195 square foot two-storey home that includes 4 bedrooms and “4.5 baths.” The property also includes vast open plan living areas, a wet bar, a number of balconies and a media room kitted out with a Crestron home entertainment system. In addition there is separate guest accommodation and a 3-car garage, as well as landscaped garden areas with direct beach access via a path through the adjoining sand dunes.

Hawn and Russell, whose main residence is in Los Angeles, first put 30802 Broad Beach Road on the market in 2007 but it failed to sell. They subsequently sought $95,000 a month for it on the rental market and then $80,000 a month in 2010. In July 2011, the house was again put up for sale at $14,749,000 and now, after having failed to sell yet again, some $5,000,000 has been sliced from the price and it is available for $9,950,000.

The garden of 30802 Broad Beach Road, Malibu

The property enjoys direct access onto Broad Beach

Hawn was once quoted as saying:

“I noted that people are happy here in India. When I went back home, people had everything in the materialistic sense and were surrounded with abundance, but they were not happy.”

I am sure she and her husband will be a hell of a lot happier when they finally manage to offload this white elephant. For a start, they’ll no longer need a housesitter to mind it.

30802 Broad Beach Road, Malibu, California, CA 90265 is available through Kimberley Pfeiffer of Coldwell Banker. She can be contacted on +1 (310) 867 0033 or +1 (310) 383 3664.

For more information, go to: http://www.trulia.com/property/3096152315-30802-Broad-Beach-Rd-Malibu-CA-90265

Follow Goldie Hawn on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/goldiehawn

September 30, 2012
Ferrari's 'F'lipping 'F'ool

The case of a Ferrari FF driver with more money than sense

Last November, on my way to a lunch at The Stafford Hotel with The Steeple Times restaurant critic, Anthony Brown, I took a photograph of one of my favourite vehicles, a Ferrari FF, in Curzon Street, W1.

Emblazoned with a Westminster City Council parking ticket, this particular FF, baring an Arabic registration “66 C,” was especially noticeable as it was “wrapped” in orange and black and I took a photograph of it.

My photograph of the orange-black “wrapped” Ferrari FF in Curzon Street, Mayfair, London, W1 in November 2011

After sharing the image on Facebook, I received, in Margaret Thatcher style fashion, the following reply from the renowned designer, Bruce Oldfield: “No, no, no!” Another friend, Anne Marie Legault added: “It doesn’t fit with the neighborhood.” Karen Ashworth, a Mercedes SL 500 driver and friend from my school days, summed up the thoughts of the majority though when she stated of the car: “I’m not a fan to be honest!”

I subsequently saw the car a few times in the months that followed but never imagined that I’d see it on the Mail Online website and would certainly never have predicted that it would have ended up as an advert against uninsured drivers outside New Scotland Yard.

The very same Ferrari FF outside New Scotland Yard today

Instead of a parking ticket, this Ferrari FF now has a police notice glued to it’s windscreen

28-year old His Highness Sheikh Rashid Bin Humaid Al Nuaimi. His nickname is “RRR,” which supposedly stands for “rich in real estate resources.”

The Steeple Times picture of the week, following on from this morning’s coverage of it, therefore, has to be of this particular FF. It turns out that it is owned by His Highness Sheikh Rashid Bin Humaid Al Nuaimi, the 28-year old son of His Highness Sheikh Humaid bin Rashid Al Nuaimi, the ruler of Ajman, and was recently impounded in South Kensington, London after he hadn’t bothered to insure it. Having paid £227,000 for such a magnificent vehicle, one would have thought he’d have the brains and finances to have done such. Plainly the age of excess and stupidity is still with us.

Read the Mail Online’s coverage of the story at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2209551/Going-fast–Ferrari-proudly-display-outside-police-headquarters-deter-uninsured-drivers.html

September 28, 2012
No man is an island

The joys and pitfalls of island life

Living on a private island would, to many, seem like a dream. The prospect of being able to do what you want, when you want and without having to pander to rules and regulations indeed does sound appealing. Swapping the rat race and daily commute for white sandy beaches, crystal-clear waters and peace and tranquility would undoubtedly tempt huge numbers of us. Taking up the mantle of Robinson Crusoe certainly has it’s merits, but what are the perils of owning an island and what is currently available?

The Greek island of Patroklos

On the leading website for the sale of islands, Private Islands Online, the most expensive undeveloped island on offer is the island of Patroklos in Greece. This relatively flat 643-acre undeveloped island boasts a “mild and pleasant” climate and 275-acres of cultivable land. It has about 150 goats and 5,050 olive trees and the agent suggests now is the perfect opportunity to exploit and develop tourism there. A price of £120 million is sought. So much for Greek austerity as whoever buys it will still have to shell out further to construct at least one residence.

The Frank Lloyd Wright inspired Massaro House on Petra Island

An especially spectacular option, also available through Private Islands Online, is Petra Island, just 15 minutes by helicopter from New York City on Lake Mahopac. The island itself, which is said to have been for sale for a number of years, is 11 acres in size and is currently owned by Joseph Massaro, a sheet metal tycoon. The highlight here is a 1,200 square foot cottage designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and a 5,000 square foot residence, Massaro House, built to the same architect’s designs in 2008. Though the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation state of the latter: ““It’s not a Frank Lloyd Wright house, because it hasn’t been certified by the foundation,” this is a home that would certainly suit any James Bond villain. The agent declines to share the asking price, but it certainly at the higher end of the scale.

At a more modest price is Nautilus Island, off Brooksville in Maine. This 37-acre island was in the ownership of the same family for 130 years until 2004 and is named after the British war sloop “Nautilus,” that engaged the American vessel “Hazard” in battle in it’s waters during the American Revolutionary War.

An aerial view of the island of Nautilus

The main residence on Nautilus Island

The island of Nautilus’s boathouse now serves as a stylish private bar

The island includes a renovated 6-bedroomed main house, a farmhouse and a guest cottage. It also boasts open fields, perennial and kitchen gardens and a seaside vineyard for wine production. There is a protected harbour with a pier and moorings and over one mile of rocky coastline with gravel and shell beaches. A price of approximately £4.9 million is sought prior to auction on the 18^th October through John Saint-Amour of LandVest.

Returning to Europe, Knight Frank offer a 65-acre island off Ireland’s west coast named Inishturk Beg at a price of £2.85 million. Sitting in Clew Bay, County Mayo alongside 364 other islands, receivers of an Egyptian-Irish businessman named Nadim Sadek are trying to find a buyer for a property that includes a main 7-bedroom house, 4 smaller properties, various outbuildings and an AstroTurf sports pitch.

An aerial view of Inishturk Beg Island

The main residence on Inishturk Beg, The Island House, comes complete with extensive leisure facilities

Singing the praises of Insishturk Beg, Harriet Grant of Knight Frank comments:

“It is an easily accessible island and although it’s in the Atlantic it is very sheltered. And the island itself has plenty of natural shelter. It is an extraordinary development in which no expense has been spared. The electricity and water come straight from the mainland and it also has broadband access.”

British TV presenter Ben Fogle, who starred in the BBC reality show Castaway 2000, set on the Scottish island of Taransay, warned of the dangers of island ownership in an article in The Times recently when he commented: “A lot of people get seduced by the island dream without thinking of the realities.” Taransay came up for sale in 2011 and though Fogle put together a consortium that raised £1.5 million, he was beaten off by a landowner from the neighbouring island of Harris.

Television presenter Ben Fogle pictured on Taransay during the filming of the BBC’s “Castaway 2000” reality show

The Barclay brothers, owners of amongst other things The Ritz and The Telegraph Group, have had their fair share of trouble since purchasing the sister island of Sark, Brecqhou, in 1993. They have rowed with Sark’s government over everything from inheritance law to property taxes and whether they should or should not be allowed to use motor vehicles. Their case illustrates the perils of upsetting the locals.

Issues such as electricity provision, sanitation, the delivery of food supplies and how one would cope with an emergency may seem more mundane but also must be considered by those purchasing an island. Sir Richard Branson found this to his cost when the 8-bedroomed Great House on his £60 million Necker Island in the Caribbean burnt to the ground in August 2011. If he’d been on the mainland, his residence would most probably have been saved.

The remains of The Great House on Sir Richard Branson’s Necker Island

On this morning’s Desert Island Discs, Hollywood actress Goldie Hawn requested that the luxury she would like to take would be lip-gloss. Presenter Kirsty Young said she could have two tonnes of the stuff. Frankly, in reality though, anyone buying into island life would have to have a lot more practical things higher up their lists.

For more information on Inishturk Beg Island, Westport, County Mayo, Ireland, go to: http://search.knightfrank.com/gwr120043

For more information on the islands of Patroklos, Greece and Petra, New York, go to: http://www.privateislandsonline.com

For more information on Nautilus Island, Brooksville, Maine, go to: http://nautilusisland.landvest.com

September 23, 2012
Rowling on

J.K. Rowling sells the home where she first moved after the initial success of her “Harry Potter” series

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling is a lady said to be worth some $1 billion. Her path from “rags to riches” is well documented but the announcement of the sale of the Edinburgh home she first bought after the initial success of the books gives an insight into how she is also financially shrewd when it comes to property investment.

Joanne “Jo” Rowling OBE, FRSL, pen name J.K. Rowling

Having paid £425,000 for a first floor flat in a 2-storey Victorian house at 1 Abbotsford Park in Edinburgh’s Merchiston neighbourhood, 2 miles from the city in 1999, Rowling bought the other half of the building in 2003 for £375,000. In turn, the property was converted back into an 8 bedroomed single family residence and became one of several residences the author lived in with her second husband, Dr. Neil Murray, and their children.

The front elevation of 1 Abbotsford Park

Security at the house was ramped up as Harry Potter sales soared due to the volume of fans appearing outside the property

As well as extensively refurbishing and extending the property, in a submission to Edinburgh Council in December 2003, in the names of Mr. and Mrs Murray, the couple sought permission to install five CCTV cameras inside mock lamps at 1 Abbotsford Park. Though a neighbor objected on the grounds of invasion of privacy, the application was approved.

The house’s 35ft sitting-dining room

J.K. Rowling’s kitchen features free standing units, a Lacanche
range cooker and a mural of tiles that, from a distance, could even be a scene from a Harry Potter novel

The garden of 1 Abbotsford Park

J.K. Rowling also built a detached 656 square foot office complex in the grounds of the 3,240 square foot house during her occupation. Additionally, as well as a library, she fitted out a study where she wrote many of the series of books that have now sold more than 400 million copies.

An external shot of the garden office said to have been used by Rowling’s staff

An internal shot of the office building

Though Rowling permanently moved into another Edinburgh home she purchased for £2 million in December 2009 last year, whoever purchases 1 Abbotsford Park will have other authors to call neighbours. Ian Rankin and Alexander McCall Smith both live locally.

Rettie and Co. seek £2,250,000 on behalf of Dr. Murray and J.K. Rowling. Even allowing for their extensive renovations, the author’s initial £800,000 investment appears to have certainly paid off if this price is achieved.

For more information on 1 Abbotsford Park, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH10 5DX, contact James Whitson of Rettie & Co. at 11 Wemyss Place, Edinburgh, EH3 6DH or telephone: +44 (0) 131 624 9068. View full details including a PDF brochure at: http://www.rettie.co.uk/sales/EDI121294

J.K. Rowling’s official website can be viewed at: http://www.jkrowling.com. Her first adult book, The Casual Vacancy, is published by Little Brown on 27^th September 2012.

September 22, 2012
Dad's van

The sale of the 1935 Ford used as Lance Corporal Jones’s butcher’s van in “Dad’s Army”

A highlight in Bonhams’s 3^rd December sale at Mercedes-Benz World Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey will be a van used as Lance Corporal Jones’s butcher’s van in the classic television series, Dad’s Army.

The 1935 “Dad’s Army” Ford Box Van

The cast of “Dad’s Army” and the Jones’s 1935 Ford Box Van

Clive Dunn OBE as Lance Corporal Jones in the 1935 Ford Box Van

Currently part of the Patrick Motor Museum collection, this 1935 Ford Box Van featured in some of the most iconic shots in the series and has a guide of £20,000 to £30,000.

Jones, played by Clive Dunn OBE (born 1920), was best known for his catchphrases: “Permission to speak, sir?”, “You saved my life!” and “They don’t like it up ‘em!” In Dad’s Army he plays the town butcher of Walmington-on-Sea and when his precious delivery van is commandeered by his Home Guard, he is far from amused when modifications are made to it for the platoon’s activities.

In one episode the van is damaged and Jones becomes so upset that he threatens to ban Captain Mainwaring, the Home Guard company commander, from his sausage list. This is met with the reply: “Steady Jones.”

It may not be a case of: “There’s a war on” when this lot comes to auction, but you can bet there’ll be some fierce bidding. As Jones frequently said: “Don’t panic! Don’t panic!”

For more information on the sale, go to: http://www.bonhams.com

Watch a clip of the van in action at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkoDcFNR1H4&feature=player_embedded

For more information on Dad’s Army, see the Dad’s Army Appreciation Society page at: http://www.dadsarmy.co.uk/

September 20, 2012
Have you got the iQ?

A motoring misdemeanor

One costs £10,000 and the other £35,000. They are, unbelievably, essentially the same vehicle and that the streets of Kensington, Chelsea and Belgravia are stuffed with the more expensive version is, in my humble opinion, an utter misdemeanor.

A Toyota iQ that is being used as a Response Vehicle pictured outside The Ecuadorian Embassy in London. An ideal escape vehicle for Julian Assange perhaps.

Aston Martin’s Cygnet in British Racing Green pictured with a Toyota iQ in the foreground. You could play a game of spot the difference.

Toyota’s iQ is a clever little vehicle. My friend happens to own one and I’ve been in it several times. It is practical and far better than a Smart fortwo in that it has a little more space inside and does a very reasonable 64.2 mpg. This perfectly zippy little beast does exactly what it says on the tin and is an ideal city car.

Aston Martin have taken the very same vehicle and essentially rebadged it the Cygnet. At more than three times the price, you do get get a proper Aston paint-job and a stylish hand-fitted interior with as many leather hides in it as are needed to trim a DB9. It’s also, however, with a top speed of just 106 mph, the slowest Aston Martin in history and most of the components in it are made by Toyota.

The good people of the Royal Borough may well think they’re making a statement in buying a Cygnet. In reality, they should develop their IQ’s and buy the Toyota.

For more information on the Toyota IQ, go to: http://www.toyota.co.uk/cgi-bin/toyota/bv/frame_start.jsp?id=CC2-iQ-landing

For more information on the Aston Martin Cygnet, go to: http://www.astonmartin.com/cars/cygnet

September 4, 2012
The yachting equivalent of Marmite

Edward Kay examines the latest offering from Arcadia Yachts

Hidden among a huge choice of white multi-tiered yachts that look like wedding cakes are the new award winning range of Arcadia ecological yachts. The “Marmite” design is certainly eye catching but it certainly won’t be to the taste of everybody.

An Arcadia Yacht at sea

A closer view of an Arcadia Yacht

The ‘half gliding’ hull is designed for economical cruising and the hybrid motors mean at 8 knots they run in absolute silence. The eco friendly theme continues with solar panels on the roof that recharge the batteries and there is also a water and sewage treatment plant so as not to pollute the sea.

An interior shot of an Arcadia Yacht

A helm station on an Arcadia Yacht

A typical master bedroom on an Arcadia Yacht

Arcadia Yachts have huge fully opening windows and terraces that fold out of the hull to the sea and make them all about outdoor living. The minimalist Francesco Guida interiors are stunningly designed with Italian flair mixing the mediums of wood, carpet, leather, marble and glass effortlessly.

The latest yacht to be delivered from the Naples yard is the 115 (35 metre) “M Ocean” which displaces 180 tonnes and her twin MAN V12, 1,224hp engines give her a cruising speed of 16.5 knots and a top speed of 18.5 knots. At 16.9 knots she burns 386 litres per hour however at 10 knots that drops to just 77 litres per hour and gives her a range of 2,160 nautical miles.

The range currently comprises of 85 foot at €4.5 million, a 100 foot at €7 million, and a 115 foot at €10 million (excluding VAT). There are also 135-155 foot boats planned.

For more information on Arcadia Yachts, go to: http://www.arcadiayachts.it

August 30, 2012
Picture of the Week: Another luxury car brand bites the dust

The early demise of Maybach

Last week, Damiler AG closed down the Maybach brand earlier than expected. Having lost $1 billion on a brand that failed to steal market share from Rolls-Royce and Bentley, the company plainly realised waiting until 2013 would not help recoup a single dollar of their investment.

Picture of the Week: A Maybach in a burnt out forest complete with a Lady Gaga lookalike.

Priced between £279,095 and £367,490, these luxury vehicles failed to capture the imaginations of the rich. Other than Madonna, Samuel L. Jackson and Jay-Z, most found themselves used by hotels and upscale corporations. They were vehicles that had to be chauffeur driven and ones that lacked the versatility of, for example, the Bentley Mulsanne which are as regularly owner driven.

Here, therefore, we feature a picture of a Maybach in a burnt out woodland setting complete with a Lady Gaga lookalike. We declare it The Steeple Times picture of the week.

May the Maybach rest in peace.

August 29, 2012