Tardis-like hidden house in Knightsbridge once home to ‘airhead’ Donna Air – who once amusingly asked The Corrs: “Where did you all meet?” – for sale for £14.5 million (or 383% more than it was ‘worth’ in 2003)
Update, Thursday 4th April 2024 – Internal images removed at insistence of Annabel Edney, associate PR, Savills.
The ‘cheap wing’ of one of Knightsbridge’s landmark churches, St Saviour’s, has gone on sale for a not-insubstantial sum of £14.5 million after the more ‘expensive wing’ was marketed for the very punchy sum of £55 million in 2019 and the still somewhat punchy sum of £44 million in 2020.
The deceptively Tardis-like Hastings House in Walton Street is a ‘blink-and-you’ll-miss-it’ home from the pavement. It is entered through a small door to the side of a church that was reduced in size to accommodate the vast 12,102 square foot St Saviour’s House and the new-build in 1999 property of 5,261 square foot now offered by agents Savills.
Actress and presenter Donna Air – who once hilariously asked the siblings that formed The Corrs: “Where did you all meet?” during an interview – numbers amongst the well-known ‘names’ to have lived in the house. This likeable lady shared the property with her wealthy conservationist then partner Damian Aspinall and even operated her even more hilariously named company (since dissolved) Airhead And Money Limited from the address.
Occupied also variously by a fast-living, Bugatti driving oil trader named Pierre Andurand and the controversial Italian sports manager Pierandrea Semeraro, the three-storey residence is centred around a “serene” private courtyard and includes 2 reception rooms, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and a rather impressive roof terrace.
Savills describe the freehold house as “opulent” and laud “one of the crowning jewels of the residence,” its underground pool, as a “hidden gem” in the basement; perhaps Sharon Corr and her siblings could hold a reunion there.
Actress and presenter Donna Air and conservationist Damian Aspinall with James Middleton – Air’s partner between 2013 and 2018 – and Victoria Fisher – whom Aspinall married in 2016. Aspinall and Air were an item between 2000 and 2007. Donna Air’s most famous moment on the telly box was summed up in an interview with Sharon Corr of the Celtic pop band The Corrs. Of the encounter, Corr stated: “We did a live television interview with Donna Air. Her opening question was: ‘So, where did you all meet?’ I looked at my brother and sisters and our hearts sank. If that was the opening question, it could only go downhill from there. It was clear that she knew absolutely nothing about us.”Oil trading tycoon Pierre Andurand and sports tycoon Pierandrea Semeraro have also both been listed at the address in Companies House records. How long each of the men lived at the property is unknown.
The Names & Numbers – Hastings House, Walton Place, Knightsbridge, London, SW3 1SA, United Kingdom
March 2024 – Offered for sale as an “ultra-cool freehold house” by William Duckworth-Chad and Alex Christian of Savills for £14.5 million ($18.3 million, €17 million or درهم67.2 million) – an asking price 123% higher than the asking price 20 years ago in March 2004 and 383% higher than the quoted worth in May 2003 – and described by Robb Report’s Abigail Montanez as a “stately London home hiding in plain sight… in the affluent Knightsbridge neighbourhood.”
April 2012 – Richard Compton Miller for The Standard bizarrely contradicts previous evidence and suggests Damian Aspinall and Donna Air “recently moved into [the] converted church.” It can only be assumed he was regurgitating somewhat outdated parish news.
April 2010 – Listed as the address of French “entrepreneur” Pierre Andurand on his appointment as a director of Andurand Events Limited company. The company ultimately was dissolved on 28th June 2011 after a compulsory strike-off.
Aixe-en-Provence born Mr Andurand is listed on Wikipedia as a “businessman and hedge fund manager” who was educated at the University of Oxford. This twice married “leader” of Andurand Capital has variously been listed as a “star trader,” an “oil trading wildcard” and someone who operates with “no set risk limits.” World Top Investors list this kickboxing enthusiast as “the comeback kid, the hotshot trader living the jock-bro dream, driving a Bugatti supercar, a Knightsbridge townhouse, and a trophy wife Russian model.”
23rd January 2007 – A planning application submitted by the Italian sports manager Pierandrea Semeraro concerning the property is approved.
Mr Semeraro is listed on Wikipedia as having been the president of the Sports Union Lecce from 2006 to 2010. He was subsequently banned and disqualified after an investigation into a football betting scandal.
November 2006 – Planning application submitted to make various alterations to Hastings House by a firm named Stanhope Gate including the addition of skylights.
April 2004 – Described by the Daily Mail’s Adam Helliker as being the “weekday… converted church” home where “daughter of a bus mechanic from Newcastle” who “has, by all accounts, rather taken to the life of luxury” Donna Air “busies herself with acting lessons, acupuncture, shiatsu and stints with her personal trainer.”
March 2004 – Featured once again by The Observer’s Ben Flanagan after going on sale for the far higher than he’d previously mentioned sum of £6.5 million ($8.2 million, €7.6 million or درهم30.1 million) through the rather ritzy realtors Aylesford.
Of it, Flanagan enthused:
“Behind a discreet doorway on an exclusive Knightsbridge street lies this 5,250 sq ft home, which the estate agent describes as ‘one of London’s hidden gems.’”
“You’d never guess the house was built in the 1990s as you wander through its elegant Italianate central courtyard to the neo-classical cloisters and drawing room. One clue, however, is the basement swimming pool and bar, which has a more modern – if a little Footballers’ Wives – look… ‘There’s an amazing ‘party pad’ feel to it,’ says a spokesman.”
May 2003 – Described by The Observer’s Ben Flanagan as worth £3 million ($3.8 million, €3.5 million or درهم13.9 million) in a feature that mentions it being the home of actress Donna Air and zoo owning tycoon Damian Aspinall.
28th July 2000 – Listed as the correspondence address of “presenter” Donna Air’s amusingly named “radio and television activities” company, Airhead And Money Limited. The company ultimately was dissolved on 1st March 2011 after a compulsory strike-off.
4th September 1998 – Full planning permission granted for the construction of Hastings House by the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea. Of the planning history of the unlisted property then to be constructed, the council noted separately: “The subject site was formerly included within the ground of the St Saviour’s Church, which is a listed building, however following planning permission which was granted in August 1997 for the erection of the subject building, the subject site has been formally renumbered in 2001 as Hastings House and is considered as a separate planning unit to St Saviours Church.”
Compact yet cosy, the main attraction here is a 22-foot length sitting room with an inglenook fireplace and bread oven at one end and a natural stone fireplace at the other. It also includes a kitchen with a Rangemaster oven, a study and would make an ideal Airbnb given its proximity to Glastonbury and its annual festival.
Another ‘chocolate box’ cottage comes in the form of Court Cottage – an 18th century detached property in a “highly regarded south Suffolk village” near Bury St Edmunds where one of Margaret Thatcher’s most trusted political advisers, David Hart, “lived-in-style” prior to his death in 2011.
Offered by Jackson-Stops, this 1,615 square foot thatched building includes 2 reception rooms, 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. It also has a “fabulous” dining kitchen, a garage with a room above, an electric car charging point and a lawned garden.
Curiously, the property has a “flying freehold” since the neighbour’s bathroom overhangs the property’s ground floor utility room and a “creeping freehold” since its cellar lies beneath the adjoining property’s living area.
Llangain, Dorstone, Herefordshire –£695,000 ($873,300, €800,500 or درهم3.2 million)
For the same sum, just 3.5 miles from the market town of Hay-on-Wye – famed as “the town of books” – this 18th century restored cottage on ½ acre is available freehold. It is situated close to the Golden Valley village of Dorstone – a settlement best known for its annual sloe gin competition where each year the winner is crowned the ‘Grand Master of the Sloes.’
Llangain, a farmhouse that was derelict from the First World War until 1995, itself has 4 bedrooms and in addition there is a 1-bedroom barn conversion. Agents Knight Frank laud the property as being in a “picturesque setting” and having “amazing views.”
Willow Cottage, Bethersden, Kent – £1.75 million ($2.20 million, €2.01 million or درهم8.07 million)
Situated in a village best known for producing rather ritzy rocking horses for everyone from the late Queen Elizabeth II to Sir Paul McCartney, Willow Cottage is being marketed by Strutt & Parker as having “evolved from the picturesque period cottage at its heart, and from which it derives its somewhat understated name” into an “elegant 4,800 square foot family house.”
Situated on a plot of 16.5 acres and last sold for £400,000 in July 1998, this 5-bedroomed residence comes with a separate 2-bedroomed ‘guest barn’ and also has a tennis court, a swimming pool, stabling, garaging, gardens and paddocks. A “picturesque pond” currently provides opportunity for Wind in the Willows-esque Messing About in a Boat, as our main photograph suggests.
‘No. 1, The Thames’ (also known as ‘Grain Tower’) – which most definitely has the second-best address in the UK after the rather ritzy ‘No. 1, London’ on Hyde Park Corner – is situated 0.6 miles off the Isle of Grain and is being sold on the order of LPA receivers Kroll. It had previously been sold for £400,000 in October 2014 and was offered again for the far more punchy price of £1.9 million in August 2020.
“One of the last examples of a British gun tower” and accessible only on foot at low tide – or by boat or helicopter at other times – Grain Tower was constructed as a reaction to a potential French invasion of Britain in the 19th century. It was used in both the First and Second World Wars and was eventually decommissioned in 1956.
Sold by the Crown Estate in 2005 to a private buyer, the freehold building is situated near the Isle of Grain in Kent where the River Medway meets the River Thames. It could potentially be turned into a home, hotel or an event venue even and is being marketed as a “blank canvas.”
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A former gun emplacement that could be turned, perhaps, into a swimming pool.A proposal for how the conversion of the tower might look. A cross-section of the design proposal.
The Names & Numbers – Grain Tower, No. 1, The Thames, Isle of Grain, Kent, ME3, United Kingdom (grid reference TQ8986976037)
20th September 2023 – To be offered for sale at auction with a guide price of £150,000 ($187,000, €174,000 or درهم687,000) by Savills.
In a press release, Jeremy Lamb, auction director at Savills, remarked:
“There is always excitement when unusual lots come along as they have a special power to capture the imagination. We’ve had water towers and military sea forts in our sales in the past, but this gun tower is a first; a blank canvas with heaps of history and phenomenal sea views, not to mention its coveted No. 1, The Thames address.”
“Historically, rare lots like this have seen significant interest in our auctions. Last summer, the hammer came down on Bull Sand Fort in the Humber Estuary at nearly 10 times guide price after attracting bids from around the world and the year before that we auctioned a water tower in Essex which has since received permission for residential use and a chance to design a once in a life time property.”
August 2020 – Placed for sale £1.9 million ($2.4 million, €2.2 million or درهم8.7 million) by the Chrome Residential group.
July 2015 – Listed as “at risk” by English Heritage due to its “poor condition and ongoing decay.”
October 2014 – Sold by agents Riverhomes for £400,000 ($498,000, €464,000 or درهم1.8 million) to a new owner who wished to “remain under the radar.”
August 2014 – Placed for sale again for £500,000 ($623,000, €581,000 or درهم2.3 million) through Riverhomes.
At the time, estate agent Nigel Day “said fervently” to The Guardian’s Maev Kennedy:
“I’m not going to lie to you, it’s an absolute monster… It’s fabulous, but it is pretty scary. I thought I was OK on heights, but there are bits of it where I was clinging on to the walls: you realise if you fall you aren’t coming back in a hurry… It’s huge. You do get the sense that it really is bomb proof – but there are places where your legs turn to jelly a bit.”
“The interest has been absolutely phenomenal; we’ve had people talking about turning it into a hotel, a home, a recording studio or a club.”
Speaking to the MailOnline’s Steph Cockcoft, Mr Day added:
“I am in awe of what an amazing building it is and its potential, which would be subject to planning permission and negotiations with English heritage.”
“It could be transformed into something really special – a stunning home, a hotel, a sanctuary or something to do with outdoor pursuits. There are so many possibilities.”
“The seller has owned it for around ten years and he doesn’t have the time to do anything with it. I think you would probably look at spending a minimum of £1 million ($1.2 million, €1.2 million or درهم4.6 million) turning it into a home.”
Going further of the fort, owner Simon Cowper cautioned and added: “It didn’t work well as a home [given] the cost of doing it up.”
2010 – Placed for sale for £500,000£500,000 ($623,000, €581,000 or درهم2.3 million).
2005 – Sold by the Crown Estate to a “private owner,” a “London builder named Simon Cowper.
1986 – Given a Grade II listed designation by English Heritage.
1956 – Decommissioned.
1944 – Reduced to “care and maintenance status.”
Second World War (1939 – 1945) – Addition of twin 6-pounder QF gun and Defence Electric Light Emplacement and further developments to enable the tower to become an anti-aircraft tower.
1929 – Grain Tower is disarmed.
1920s – Grain Tower is sold to the War Office “for the purpose of building a firing point for testing large weapons.”
Of the developments, in January 2014, Matthew Edgeworth for English Heritage observed:
“One of the names of the establishment, cited on early plans, was ‘Grain Island Firing Point.’ It was also referred to as the Yantlet Battery. The firing point was an ‘out’ battery of the experimental establishment at Shoeburyness on the other side of the estuary. It was used for firing long-range shells in a north-easterly direction across the estuary into shallow water on the mudflats along the Essex coast, known as Maplin Sands.”
“Facilities included two pairs of large velocity screen masts, an internal railway linked to the national network, a gun emplacement, a railway gun emblacement, domestic quarters and administrative offices, a gantry path for travelling crane and a wharf on Yantlet Creek for the unloading and loading of large guns and their mountings.”
“The firing point is an unusual monument type, further distinguished by the length of the range of which it was a part, the size of the guns that were tested there, and the state of preservation of its surviving structures.”
First World War (1914 – 1918) – Substantial alterations made to enable defence using two 4.7 quick firing guns against raids by fast moving torpedo boats. In addition, Grain Tower found an additional purpose as one end of a boom defence stretching across the Medway to Sheerness.”
1910 – Repurposed as a communications tower.
Mid-19th century – Becomes “effectively obsolete” as soon as completed due to “rapid improvements in artillery technology.”
17th November 1855 – Construction by Lincolnshire builders Kirk and Parry completed and the tower is handed over to the Ordnance authorities. The work had gone 50% over budget and had cost £16,798 ($20,940, €19,507 or درهم76,906) or the equivalent of £1.5 million ($1.8 million, €1.7 million or درهم6.8 million) today.
1848 – Construction of the tower commenced “in response to fears of a French invasion during the mid-19th century,” but “difficulties were soon encountered and construction was paused until 1853.”
Former Gloucestershire home of Prince and Princess ‘Pushy’ Michael of Kent goes on the market for £11 million; it last sold to Labour peer Lord Drayson for £5.75 million in 2006
In October 2013, “as they stifled giggles,” Princess Michael of Kent FLS told ‘Queen of Gorbals Gobbledygook’ Lorraine Kelly and Aled Jones on ITV1’s Daybreak that of one her residences, the rather ritzy Kensington Palace, was “a bit like Harrods.” The daughter of a Nazi then cheerfully chirped: “There are lots of courtyards; one of the family called it the ‘aunt heap’ because all the aunts live there, it’s like living in a terrace.”
Illustrating how she wasn’t exactly au-fait with Coronation Street style living, the daughter of a one-time Nazi continued: “[William and Kate] have been living there of a while in a little in a little cottage. William and Harry grew up next door to us, so we have always seen them.”
Now, with news that former Gloucestershire home of the princess and her husband, Prince Michael of Kent, GCVO, CD, KStJ, is back on the market comes a reminder of the once lavish lifestyle of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s first cousin.
Grade I listed Nether Lypiatt Manor, near Stroud – purchased for just £300,000 by the controversial German born ‘Princess Pushy’ in 1981 after her 1978 second marriage to Prince Michael – had to be sold in 2005 after the couple’s finances came under fire. Accused of “squandering” taxpayers’ money and exploiting their royal status for profit, the pair reluctantly “downsized” and now ‘simply’ occupy a rather palatial wing of Kensington Palace.
Complete with a “grandiose William and Mary staircase” and “charming… sash windows, towering chimneys, hipped roofs and gate piers and railings,” an offer for the then 36-acre ‘mini estate’ was rejected from the artist Damien Hirst in 2005. The wacky-verging-on-very-weird Noel Edmonds, however, decided the crib wasn’t for him; of it, he remarked: “It is the last sort of house that I would find suitable – not least because it has a road running right along the front of it. And I like my privacy.”
Sold by Savills for £5.75 million in April 2006 after a price reduction from £6 million to £5.5 million to the wealthy Labour peer The Right Honourable The Lord Drayson FREng PC, Nether Lypiatt Manor – which is reportedly haunted by the ghost of a notorious ‘hanging judge’ – has now been completely renovated. Subsequently, in September and October of 2006, Lord Drayson sold off various contents that had belonged to the ‘Rent-a-Kents’ at an auction for charity in Cirencester.
Nether Lupiatt Manor now stands on an increased plot of some 96 acres and the possibility of developing a vineyard there has been investigated by selling agents Knight Frank. A somewhat punchy guide price of £11 million has been set.
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The front elevation of Nether Lypiatt Manor, Lypiatt, Brimscombe & Thrupp, Near Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL6 7LS, United Kingdom. The “perfect square of only 46-foot” house is Grade I listed and was built primarily between circa 1690 and 1717 by an unknown architect; later additions were made in the 20th century in the 1920s by the Lutyens and Elizabethan vernacular inspired architect Percy Morley-Horder for the then owner C. W. Woodall.Prince Michael of Kent featured in ‘The Steeple Times’ in December 2016 when his 1965 Jaguar E-Type Series 1 4.2-litre FHC came up for sale. Of it, the late Queen’s cousin remarked: “This was a beautiful motor car, immensely quick, and probably the most enjoyable car I have ever owned. I believe that every man has a special place in his heart for one woman above all others, and also for one car. In my case I think probably my E-Type Jaguar was the most satisfying and exciting car in my life – so far.” He is pictured here in it with the Earl of March and Kinrara, Charles Gordon-Lennox, and his 56th in line to the throne daughter, Oxford and Brown educated Lady Gabriella Kingston, is also shown standing next to it.Princess Michael of Kent sitting with her children Lord Frederick Windsor and Lady Gabriella Kingston in the grounds of the house; a Jaguar outside the residence in the 1980s. Nether Lypiatt Manor, at a time when the IRA were most active, was considered a major security risk for bombing due to its close proximity to the road.An image of Nether Lypiatt Manor prior to it having roof lights and additional wings added.A notice of an auction of items from the manor – then described as the “haunted house” – on Friday 16th November 1923 at the instruction of Corbett W. Woodall, Esq.On 19th May 1934, the house, then the residence of Mr & Mrs Gordon Woodhouse, featured in a six-page write-up in ‘Country Life’ magazine. An aerial shot of the house prior to the grounds being altered by Princess Michael of Kent. The royal added a garden of box-edged beds of yellow ‘Princess Michael of Kent’ roses to the front, western façade and a symmetrical knot patterned garden to the eastern façade that leads onto a circa 80-year-old avenue of “slender lime trees” that is known as ‘Cathedral Walk.’On occasions in times past during the tenure of ownership of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, the public were even allowed access to tour the grounds. One can only imagine what the rather particularly waspy princess made of the arrival of the “great unwashed” at her country manor.The architectural style of Nether Lypiatt Manor – though on a lesser scale – was said to have been inspired by the now National Trust owned Ashdown House in Ashbury, Lambourn, Berkshire. Intended originally for the ‘Winter Queen’ Elizabeth of Bohemia, though she died before construction began in 1622, this hunting lodge has been leased by the singer-songwriter Pete Townsend since 2010. Public access is restricted to the stairs and roof of the 8,000 square foot property is available on limited days only.
The Names & Numbers – Nether Lypiatt Manor, Lypiatt, Brimscombe & Thrupp, Near Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL6 7LS, United Kingdom
May 2023 – Placed for sale for £11 million ($13.8 million, €12.9 million or درهم50.8 million) through agents Knight Frank, a sum 91% higher than its 2006 sale price though a total of 96 acres of land – 60 acres more of land than in 2006 – are included in this asking price.
September – October 2006 – Lord Drayson auctioned off items of bric-a-brac, sporting items, antiques and pictures owned by Prince and Princess Michael of Kent at Moor, Allen & Innocent, Cirencester and donated all proceeds to charity.
April 2006 – Sold to The Right Honourable The Lord Drayson of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea FREng PC and his wife, the former Elspeth Bellhouse, for £5.75 million ($7.23 million, €6.72 million or درهم26.54 million), a sum 516% higher than the inflation adjusted 1981 sale price.
“Controversially large donor” to the Labour Party Paul Drayson (born 5th March 1960) is listed on Wikipedia as “a British businessman, amateur racing driver and Labour politician.” He is a father of five, blind in one eye since birth, chairman of the Oxford based Drayson Technologies Ltd. and describes himself as “a car nut and government minister.” His car collection includes an Aston Martin Vanquish, an Aston Martin DB9 and a Lotus Elan.
“The artist Damien Hirst and Noel Edmonds, host of Channel 4’s Deal or No Deal, were among a string of potential buyers who came to view the house, but mystery surrounds the eventual buyer, who is understood to have exchanged contracts last week.”
“A property expert who has viewed the eight-bedroomed mansion, said it needed sprucing up. He said: ‘It’s full of drapes, scent and all that. The pictures and portraits are a distraction. It’s a seriously pretty house on the outside, but it needs all the clutter taking out – it’s got dog-eared.’”
February 2006 – Asking price reduced to £5.5 million ($6.9 million, €6.4 million or درهم25.4 million).
April 2005 – Offered for sale on behalf of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent for £6 million ($7.5 million, €7 million or درهم27.7 million) by agents Savills with 36 acres of land.
February 1981 – Sold to Prince and Princess Michael of Kent for £259,745 ($326,465, €303,441 or درهم1.2 million) or the equivalent of £934,180 ($1.2 million, €1.1 million or درهم4.3 million) today.
Of the ghosts said to haunt the house, Princess Michael remarked:
I have no doubt that many old houses have some kind of spirit presence or ghost and, if Nether Lypiatt Manor has such, he, she or it, must be benign and well disposed. We as a family, our guests and our pets have always felt a welcome from the house from the day we arrived, and have been extremely happy living here.
1923 to 1931 – The house is restored and expanded by the architect Percy Richard Morley-Horder.
1923 – Sold to Marsala fortune heir Gordon Woodhouse and his wife, a harpsichordist named Violet Gordon Woodhouse. They were said to have lived there in a “menage a cinq” and “left their own imprint by extending the house with the addition of the north-west pavilion, as well as improving the interior.”
Of Violet Gordon-Woodhouse, the Mystical Times blog declared:
She lived a very bohemian and hedonistic lifestyle at Nether Lypiatt. She was the first harpsichordist to have her playing recorded and broadcast, she had prodigious abilities in her playing the harpsichord and clavichord. She was married but in name only and took on several lovers, both male and females, some of whom resided with her and her husband at Nether Lypiatt.
The ghosts were widely spoken about during Violet’s life in the house and when her nephew took up residence there, after Violet’s death, the blacksmith’s curse was blamed for any bad luck such as divorcees. Accidents. deaths of pets etc.
Her own family background was also notable in the sense of how she inherited her father’s immense wealth. It is said that her two unmarried sisters, to whom her father left all his wealth and possessions to, were murdered by their butler so the money went to Violet.
1914 – Sold to Corbett Woodall, who “modernised and improved the house.”
1717 – Finished for Judge John Coxes’s son, Judge Charles Coxe, after the former’s death. The building was said to be “modeled on Ashdown House, the National Trust property in Berkshire.”
1690 – 1703 – Built by a very pro “hanging judge” named Judge John Coxe (alternatively spelt ‘Coe’). One of his sons is said to have hanged himself in the house.
Of him, the Mystical Times blog declared:
The house has a beautiful set of wrought iron gates and the folklore here is that Judge Coxe had a case before him and the accused was a talented blacksmith. It is said that Judge Coxe offered the blacksmith a deal; make me the most perfect iron gates or you will be hanged for your crime. It is never stated what crime this blacksmith was accused of, only that the blacksmith agreed to undertake this task. The judge added that if the blacksmith were to fail, he would be hanged.
So, the blacksmith, under the threat of being executed, started making these perfect wrought iron gates. He spent weeks making the gates until he felt they were, in fact, perfect. When the gates went up, Judge Coxe went to look at them and found a small imperfection. It was then that the blacksmith was hanged but before he was, the blacksmith cursed the judge. His house and lands. Any bad luck that the occupants of Nether Lypiatt was blamed on this curse.
It’s also said that the son of the judge hanged himself in the house but there are no records which show this to be true. There was one living thing that Judge Coxe seemed to very much love and that was a horse called Wag. It is said that this horse lived to a ripe old age and that he was a very clever animal indeed.
The occupants at Nether Lypiatt, would attach panniers to the horses saddle with shopping lists inside and Wag would make his way over to Stroud and the shopkeepers would greet the horse and look into the panniers for the lists then put those items into the panniers. Wag would then return back to Nether Lypiatt and the shopping would be done!
There is a bronze obelisk amongst the trees by the house and there is an inscription to the horse and it read:
My name was Wag that rolled the green,
The oldest horse that ever was seen,
My years they numbered 42,
I served my master just and true.
The judge was considered hateful to blacksmiths but fond of animals by the townsfolk of Stroud and you can see why.”
“The house and its lands are haunted by the hanged blacksmith and Wag the horse and it is said that on every January 25th, that the ghost of the blacksmith sits on top of a ghostly horse (said to be Wag) and crashed open those iron gates, with the blacksmith wailing out loud. This is said to have been the date the blacksmith lost his life.
Nether Lypiatt Manor – More Imagery…
The eastern elevation of this residence was described as “perfect in every way” by the architectural historian James Lee-Milne; the National Trust employee had wanted to purchase Nether Lypiatt Manor in the 1950s, but supposedly couldn’t afford it. Going further, in his work ‘English Manor Houses,’ the chief editor of ‘Burke’s Perrage’ and ‘Burke’s Landed Gentry’ Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd added of the Grade I listed manor house: “It’s comfortable, relaxing; nothing too flashy or clever.”The southern elevation of the home of Prince Michael of Kent and his wife Princess Michael of Kent between 1981 and 2006.A view of the building from a woodland walkway.This paneled drawing room is situated on the first floor of Nether Lypiatt Manor.There are several studies and a library in the house also.The main dining room currently features a formal table arrangement to sit ten.Another view of the room.The primary staircase of Nether Lypiatt Manor today and in an undated older photograph.The current owner, Lord Dyson, has spent significant sums completely renovating the house. Amongst improvements have been new kitchens and bathrooms.The primary bedroom suite now has two adjoining en-suite bathrooms.Another of the eight bedrooms in the main house.Accommodation is spread over four floors.The bedrooms as previously presented.There are now six modernised bath and shower rooms across the four levels.The front garden and the adjoining land across the lane. Of it, Knight Frank remarks: “Extending in all to about 96 acres including the gardens, the land surrounding Nether Lypiatt Manor not only provides protection and privacy, but also great character with a mix of flat grassland and undulating country with mature woodland. For the equestrian enthusiast, there is a manège and a number of post and rail fenced pasture paddocks to the north of the house and outbuildings. Forming part of the view to the west of the house are about 60 acres of relatively flat pasture land divided by a number of stone walls. Within this ringfenced block of land is the stable yard and stone barn, currently in use as garaging. The current owner has invested time and research to establish the potential for a vineyard on part of the land to the west. With very positive recommendations from viticulturalist and the relevant approvals, this area of the land presents an interesting opportunity for the production of vines. Together, the paddocks, woodland and farmland combine with the magnificent gardens and grounds around the house to present an exciting and impressive compact country estate.” In a courtyard area to one side of Nether Lypiatt Manor is an informal outdoor dining and sitting space.Commenting of the gardens, Knight Frank add: “The gardens at Nether Lypiatt Manor are truly exceptional. The classic symmetry of the house is complimented by its perfect position within the well thought out formal gardens which extend beyond to the beautifully presented woodland and pasture surrounding the gardens. Designed and created by eminent garden designers over the years, including inspiration from the socialite gardener Norah Lindsay, John Sales (the National Trust’s Head of Gardens) and Rosemary Verey, not to mention the extensive input from the current owners and their passionate gardeners, the almost magical feel of the structure, texture and colour created by the planting is present throughout the gardens. The focus was to create outside spaces incorporating further living areas to what is an architecturally special property. A number of garden rooms have been created with each one having its own special merits and distinct character and atmosphere.Nether Lypiatt Manor also has an outdoor swimming pool and a tennis court.The estate agents wax lyrical of a woodland walkway: “A wonderful vista leads from the house to a fabulous lime avenue – a majestic ‘cathedral’ of limes culminating at an ancient sycamore tree, impressive in stature and an intriguing focal point.”Nether Lypiatt Manor’s coach house provides a housekeeper’s cottage, a gym, garaging and a 3-bedroom flat.Additional outbuildings are used for stabling and no doubt to house Lord Drayson’s no doubt extensive car collection.
The Somewhat Strange Words Of The Former Baroness Marie-Christine Riebnitz… ‘Princess Pushy’ Tells It As She Sees It…
Of herself and her approach to life:
“Don’t forget I’m not English. English people maybe don’t behave like we Europeans do.”
“I am not a qualified historian, but rather a teller of stories from history.”
“I have great lineage… The Duke of Burgundy started the Order of the Fleece in 1430. And, of the first 20 members, 17 are my ancestors. Even Catherine de Medici and Diane de Poitiers [the first a French queen and mother of three kings, the second the mistress of Henry II of France] – I descend from them both. I realised afterwards that Mountbatten thought I’d be good for my husband. He was our Cyrano de Bergerac.”
“Kissing babies and cutting ribbons, I tell you, it bores me rigid.”
“When I came back from my honeymoon, I was informed that it was not appropriate for a princess to be involved in trade. This came from the court. ‘What about my income?’ That was my problem, I was told.”
“I have different ways of sayings and doing things.”
“I’ve got a better background than anyone else who married into the royal family since the war, excepting Prince Philip.”
“I even pretended years ago to be an African, a half-caste African, but because of my light eyes, I did not get away with it, but I dyed my hair black.”
“I’m a workaholic. I’m a Capricorn. It’s my nature and I’m convent educated. I sew better than any nanny we’ve ever had.”
“Look, I was taught, and I taught my children, if they ever came back from school saying: ‘Oh, so and so’s father got a helicopter, it’s not fair,’ I’d say: ‘Fair? Whoever said life had to be fair? Is it fair that you live in Kensington Palace? That you’ve each got a pony? There an awful lot of kids without a pony, you know.’”
Of the old and the young and the rules of life:
“The people love to see happy, young people and I think the older generation are a bit boring for most people.”
“Back in the days of the colonies, there were rules that were very good.”
“There is a law against discrimination in England, but there is a different law for the royal family.”
Of being told by her press secretary that she would be forced to give up Nether Lypiatt Manor and cut back:
“Of course, I miss the big gardens we had at our country house, but it became very expensive to run… We couldn’t afford it. For the first time that terrible word came into my life, when our press secretary said: ‘Ma’am, you have to downsize.’ It was the worst word I’d heard in ages.”
“We’ve cut back dramatically. I mean, we never go out to dinner unless we go to somebody’s house. We never go to restaurants. That’s too extravagant.”
“Well, I love EasyJet. It’s the only direct route to Biarritz. We always fly tourist-class anyway in Europe. For long-haul, we go club.”
‘Princess Pushy’ of her shopping habits:
“I think I have only walked down the high street once in my married life… [I’m] either catalogue or couture, but most the time I’m too mean to buy new clothes.”
“I like to look nice, but I don’t care about fashion.”
“I don’t have the figure for fashion and I’ve never heard anyone say I was a fashion icon.”
On cooking:
“I always knew I would have a cook when I married.”
“I cook. Well, if I’m giving a dinner party, I get in help.”
To a group of black people in a restaurant in New York in 2004:
“Enough already! You need to quiet [sic] down! You should remember the colonies. Back in the days of the colonies, there were rules that were very good.”
‘Princess Pushy’ on correspondence:
“Incidents happen that mean more mail. The birth of children, obviously, a sudden religious marriage, the tragic loss of a cat. I had over 2,000 letters when my cat disappeared.”
Of her beauty regime and her personal appearance:
“I am not very high-maintenance when it comes to beauty.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever let myself go in public. I don’t even know what it would mean. I mean, I let myself go on horseback by really galloping until, I think, I’m going to die.”
Of her relationship with her husband and children and her preference for sleeping alone:
“[We sleep in separate quarters so we are] fresher for each other…. You won’t see each other being cross or saying: ‘I can’t do this up. It’s too tight.’”
“My mother, when I married, said you must have separate bathrooms and separate bedrooms. That was the only sure way of keeping a marriage alive because it was an invitation as opposed to just being there and that makes it more romantic.”
“Oh, I had two nannies. God, yes.”
“I have been together with my husband for 33 years. Romance can still be there if you don’t see each other brushing your teeth. There’s something very nasty about brushing your teeth and then all that flossing.”
Of her husband and son’s thoughts about her behaviour:
“There’s a lovely character in Under Milk Wood called Mrs Ogmore-Pritchard and she’s incredibly clean and tidy. She really is unbearably tidy and clean and I terrorise my husband when he comes in sometimes from shooting and there’s awful dead birds all over the hall that he calls me Mrs Ogmore-Pritchard.”
“I have never considered myself English. Both my husband and my son say I don’t understand English humour and they don’t always understand what I think is funny or when I’m being ironic.”
Of her holding hands with all sorts of people:
“I hold hands with all my friends. I don’t think that’s being intimate at all.”
‘Princess Pushy’ on her relationship with a subsequently murdered Russian billionaire named Mikhail Kravchenko – whom she was spotted “stroking” the cheeks of in Venice in 2006:
“Of course, Mikhail finds me attractive and beguiling. Men are charmed by me, and in return I am a very tactile woman. Why can’t people show some respect? Years of breeding must be worth something.”
‘Princess Pushy’ of her son, Lord Frederick Windsor and his wife, naming her grandchild ‘Maud’:
“Freddie loves the name and so do lots of other people, but I don’t. I will get used to it, you get used to everything.
Of Spanx underwear:
“Makes [my] legs bulge out.”
Of foxes and other four-legged animals:
“[I] unashamedly hate [foxes].”
“Yes, I love cats, I love dogs, I love all animals. Anything on four legs with fur on more or less qualifies.”
“I have a pooper scooper, a long-handled thing with a little shovel.”
“What do you actually mean when you say human rights? Animals don’t have rights in that sense.”
On being Catholic:
“I’m a Catholic, you know, not very good news!”
“Our children are very much remaining Anglican and I very much wish to remain and shall remain a Catholic.”
On the late Diana, Princess of Wales:
“
“A bitter, nasty and strange woman… That silly girl next door… Jealous… [Prince Charles just] married a womb.”
On Prince Harry having turned up at a fancy dress party wearing a Nazi costume:
“Nobody would have got excited [had he worn the hammer and sickle].”
After being told that “rank among female baboons is hereditary”:
“I always knew that when people who aren’t like us claim that hereditary rank is not part of human nature, they must be wrong. Now you’ve given me evolutionary proof!”
‘Princess Pushy’ on breeding:
“The English take the breeding of their horses and dogs more seriously than they do their children. God forbid that the wrong drop of blood should get into their Labrador. But their children marry everywhere.”
“And sometimes people say: ‘Oh well, we all descend from Adam and Eve.’ Nut do you descend from Charlemagne directly? Do you descend from Saint King Louis IX? I do.”
As he faces a £400 million fraud trial, coffin dodging skinflint Bernie Ecclestone has slashed the price of one his gin palaces, Petara; the 190-foot yacht is now on sale for the bargain basement price of ‘just’ £16 million
Previously valued at a rather punchy sum of £30 million ($37.32 million, €34.50 million or درهم137.6 million), ex-F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone’s 190.9-foot motor yacht ‘Petara II’ – named using a combination of the names of his two daughters by ex-wife Slavica Radić, Petra and Tamara – is now been hawked for ‘just’ £16.95 million ($21.09 million, €19.50 million or درهم77.46 million) with EU VAT paid.
Offered by Burgess Yachts, the diminutive, dwarf-like businessman’s ‘gin palace’ was built in 2005 by Protesksan Turquoise in Turkey and is described as having “one owner from new” and subject to “very light private use only.” It has six cabins for upto twelve guests and includes a large full-beam garage complete with a hydraulic car lift, city car, toys and tenders.
‘Petara’ is capable of a maximum speed of 18 knots and has a range of 5,000 nautical miles; it has a crew of fourteen and currently lies in the West Mediterranean under a United Kingdom flag.
92-year-old Ecclestone – whose family supposedly nicknamed him ‘The Grinch’ – currently awaits trial for allegedly orchestrating a £400 million ($497 million, €460 million or درهم1.8 billion) fraud against His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC). It is due to begin in London on 15th November 2023.
Editor’s Note – Unlike as is the case in many publications, this article was NOT sponsored or supported by a third-party. Follow Matthew Steeples on Twitter at @M_Steeples.
In reducing the price of his £30m yacht 'Petara' to 'just' £16m, is skinflint Bernie Ecclestone playing an 'ace' card or is he showing desperation as he prepares for his £400m HMRC fraud case on 15th Nov 2023? #BernieEcclestone#yacht#ginpalace#fraud#HMRC#crime#truecrime#F1
This morning on Twitter, Matthew Steeples asked: “In reducing the price of his £30m yacht ‘Petara’ to ‘just’ £16m, is skinflint Bernie Ecclestone playing an ‘ace’ card or is he showing desperation as he prepares for his £400m HMRC fraud case on 15th Nov 2023?” By 11:30am on Thursday 18th May 2023, the majority of respondents favoured the answer: “Yes; time is up jail next.”92-year-old Bernie Ecclestone arriving at court on 19th April 2023; the bungling buffoon and apologist for the evil tyrant President Vladimir Putin looked in worse condition than even at his last appearance back in January 2023.92-year-old Bernie Ecclestone’s third wife and latest ‘baby mama’ Fabiana Flosi-Ecclestone accompanied him that day; the current Mrs Ecclestone curiously chose the name ‘Ace’ for her child – one is left wondering if the billionaire former F1 chief will be hoping for an ace in the pack when he faces his trial for allegedly orchestrating a £400 million fraud against His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) on the 15th November 2023.In February 2020, ‘The Steeple Times’ reported on croaked paedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s chum (and his wife Sarah, Duchess of York’s financial sponsor) Prince Andrew having Bernie Ecclestone over to Royal Lodge, Windsor to celebrate his birthday. Whether this man “with qualities that would make Leona Helmsley look generous” brought Sloppy Giuseppes from Pizza Express (Woking branch) for the bash remains still unknown and whether he has entertained the Duke of York on ‘Petara’ is unknown.At the 31st birthday party hosted for Naomi Campbell by her then lover Flavio Briatore on 19th May 2001 in St Tropez, France, Bernie Ecclestone (pictured top right) got to hang out on a gin palace with not only the since convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell but also the woman Prince Andrew paid £12 million to in spite of having never met – Virginia Roberts (now known as Virginia Giuffre). The now former F1 boss and alleged fraudster featured in the infamous address book credited to Epstein but most likely was actually a contact of the mucky madam Maxwell primarily.The 91-year-old father of four and son of a Suffolk fisherman has previously been quite rightly deservedly slammed for his support for the world’s worst living leader, President Vladimir Putin. Calling such a tyrant “a good guy” and someone he’d “take a bullet for” about sums this nasty little piece of toerag up for what he is – an utter braindead berk.
BOG OFF BERNIE! BERNIE ECCLESTONE’S WORST MOMENTS
A poisonous penny-pinching dwarf and well-known as a “coffin dodger,” Bernie Ecclestone – a bestie of the man who paid £12 million to a woman he claims never to have met Prince Andrew – couldn’t give a damn about anything other than money. He’ll mouth off in support of anyone who might help him get just a little bit more, but really should just be told to bog off!
On President Vladimir Putin:
“[He] should be running Europe… He should be in Brussels running Europe… We should get rid of Brussels and he should just be in charge.”
“Honestly, I think the guy who be running Europe, impressed me more than anything, is Mr Putin because he’s a guy that says he’s going to do something and does it… [He’s] a first-class person.”
“He does what he says he’s gonna do, he gets the job done. I mean people don’t understand exactly what he wants to do… He wants to put Russia back to what it was.”
“I was with [Putin] after the [2014 Sochi Winter] Olympics on the top of the bloody mountain… We had a meeting, just the two of us, and we came out and we were walking along and people were coming up to him asking for an autograph… That’s what people think of him.”
“If someone had a machine gun and was prepared to shoot Putin, I would stand in front of him because he’s a good guy. He’s never done anything that isn’t doing good things for people.”
On President Putin’s intolerance to gay people in Russia:
“When I was at school, if you did something wrong, the teacher used to say: ‘Go and get the punishment book and the cane. Go to your headmistress and get a few whacks or something.’ That’s what he does.”
On President Donald Trump:
“I think he’d be fantastic [as President of the United States of America]. I’m sure he’s much more flexible than most of them. If he’s made a mistake, he’s more likely to say: ‘It was a good idea at the time.’”
“He has done a lot of good things for the world.”
On Adolf Hitler:
“Apart from the fact that Hitler got taken away and persuaded to do things that I have no idea whether he wanted to do or not, he was in the way that he could command a lot of people, able to get things done… He wasn’t a dictator.”
On Jewish people:
“They have a lot of influence everywhere.”
On black people:
“In a lot of cases, black people are more racist than what white people are.”
Of democracy in the United Kingdom:
“If you have a look at a democracy it hasn’t done a lot of good for many countries – including this one.”
Of his crackpot suggestion that the now late Max Mosley, son of the late Fascist Oswald Mosley, might have been Prime Minister of Great Britain:
“[He would have done] a super job… I don’t think his background would [have been] a problem.”
On Brexit:
“I’m 100% an outer.”
On his wealth:
“I’ve got enough I can do with my money.”
On following the rules:
“I never stopped breaking the rules.”
Asked if immigrants had made a contribution to the UK:
“They have not.”
On who is worth speaking to:
“Anyone who doesn’t speak English isn’t worth speaking to… I’d rather get to the 70-year-old guy who has a lot of cash.”
On journalists:
“I can’t remember a single occasion when I have been kind to a journalist.”
On social media:
“I think the change that is currently taking place is very short-lived, as these social media people are starting to think it is not as good as they thought.”
On waiters and prostitutes:
“Waiters are like hookers, never around when you want them.”
On women:
“You know, I’ve got one of those wonderful ideas… Women should be all dressed in white like all the other domestic appliances.”
“What I would really like to see happen is to find the right girl, perhaps a black girl with super looks, preferably Jewish or Muslim, who speaks Spanish.”
On women participating in Formula 1:
“I don’t know whether a woman would physically be able to drive an F1 car quickly, and they wouldn’t be taken seriously.”
On Lewis Hamilton:
“I don’t find him particularly engaging… He’s not particularly you would say black.”
On the corrupt criminal and disgraced banker Gerhard Gribkowsky:
“Dear old Gribkowsky… I don’t blame him because I would have probably done the same if I could have done it. He found the weak spot, found some leverage and used it. You can’t blame somebody for doing that.”
On the individuals who kidnapped his mother-in-law:
“If I get upset, how could it help?”
On his business career and his family’s Bambino Holdings offshore trust:
“I’ve got the highest position there is. So high that when I look down, I can’t see anything.”
“Maybe the most serious thing I regret was giving my shares to my ex [Slavica Radić], because when she them all in a trust for her and the kids, I lost control.”
EXCLUSIVE –As £668,000 is sliced off the price of Ghislaine Maxwell and Scott Borgerson’s former home (and an ‘open house’ is arranged at ‘Maxwell House’), here is a perfect outing for those that want to take a gander at such features as their sick ‘party shower’ this May
Ghislaine Maxwell, if truth be known, ain’t going anywhere. Confined to the clink for 20 years and likely facing action over her non-payment of around £3 million in legal bills owed to date, the mucky madam (and/or her ex-husband Scott Borgerson) has decided to cut the price of her former home in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts.
True crime fans will no doubt flock to the couple’s creepy crib that day and for them, most definitely, the highlight will be the chance to take a gander at a ‘party shower’ installed there. Of this bizarre ‘extra,’ in July 2019, a “pal” and neighbour told The Sun on Sunday: “The house did have one unusual feature – a huge shower. It had Wi-Fi so they could control it from their phones, a steam unit, the whole nine yards. It was like a party shower. You can imagine what they got up to in there.”
Editor’s Note – Unlike as is the case in many publications, this article was NOT sponsored or supported by a third-party. Follow Matthew Steeples on Twitter at @M_Steeples.
One of the 5.3 bathrooms at 301 Summer Street features a shower the size of a studio flat. It is quite the contrast to the bathroom at Miss Maxwell’s former Kinnerton Street home where Virginia Roberts Giuffre claims she was forced into sexual relations with the Duke of York in 2001 – a room which we were able to prove she talked nonsense about when she claimed the bathtub “too small for any activity whatsoever” when we exclusively published photographs of it in January 2022. Of this bathroom, in July 2019, a “pal” and neighbour told ‘The Sun on Sunday’: “The house did have one unusual feature – a huge shower. It had Wi-Fi so they could control it from their phones, a steam unit, the whole nine yards. It was like a party shower. You can imagine what they got up to in there.” It has not been confirmed as to whether Prince Andrew ever got to try this particularly opulent shower area out.That the sitting room of Ghislaine Maxwell and Scott Borgerson’s one-time ‘together home’ has a gun above the fireplace is somewhat creepy given the former wife Rebecca Borgerson’s allegations that her former husband was “verbally and physically abusive” to her. The furnishings in the room, equally, are somewhat curious – the ‘prison orange’ sofa is especially apt given where Ghislaine Maxwell now finds herself.The Cape Ann seaside home that was bought by Scott Borgerson and Ghislaine Maxwell in June 2015 through Tidewood LLC, a limited liability company, stands above a rocky outcrop looking out to sea. It has a plaque on it that reads: “The Phippen Smith House, 1660. House originally at 9 Elm Street in Salem, deconstructed here in 1917 and reconstructed on its current site in 1930.”Incarcerated sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell with her since dead ex-lover and associate Jeffrey Epstein (left). The latter died by apparent ‘suicide’ on 10th August 2019 in prison awaiting trial whilst the latter took up with submarine pilot Scott Borgerson, supposedly married him in 2016, but curiously did not tell her very own siblings of this union until after her 2020 arrest. They are now divorced, but they most likely still have matters still to resolve.
Then & Now – How Maxwell and Borgerson changed ‘The Phippen-Smith House’ – Images from the June 2016 listing and images from the February 2022 listing
Then and now – The entrance elevation of 301 Summer Street from its driveway in 2016 (left) and in the 2022 listing imagery. The building does not look especially well kept or maintained in either image.Then and now – Supposedly vegan Ghislaine Maxwell and her beefy now ex-husband Scott Borgerson relocated the house’s kitchen into a space that the previous owners had used as a sitting and dining area and moved a window to accommodate a very large Sub Zero Wolf type oven. Their menacing choice of black and white tiling most certainly wouldn’t appear to more ‘homely’ cooks such as condescending cakebaker Dame Mary Berry DBE, cocaine crackpot The Honourable Nigella Lawson and “let’s be havin’ ya” yeller Delia Smith CH CBE.Then and now – The original kitchen may have been somewhat like that seen in the home of Hyacinth Bucket’s in the 1990s BBC series ‘Keeping Up Appearances,’ but the Borgerson-Maxwell version can only be surmised as having a “clinically cold look.”Then and now – A dining room with somewhat strange wallpaper in 2016 has been redecorated in a style that looks more like an office where Ricky Gervais might feel at home. The painting on the right-hand wall perhaps might have some kind of connection with Ghislaine Maxwell’s charity Oceana and her supposed number one passion (other than sex trafficking minors), the oceans.Then and now – Surprisingly, Maxwell and Borgerson did actually brighten up the hallway and staircase area of the home with a fresh white look. Again, however, one is left asking what strange extra-curricular activities the oars on the walls might have been used for.Then and now – Mr and Mrs Borgerson plainly liked the ‘vomit green’ colour in this room and made few changes here.Then and now – The previously traditionally styled master bedroom, however, got a full-on makeover and extension and sliding doors that’d look more suited to a residence in the oligarch hideout that is One Hyde Park.Then and now – What Americans call a ‘deck’ and what Brits might term a ‘terrace’ was subjected to a complete B&Q style makeover by Mr and Mrs Borgerson. The garden beyond now looks like a totally neglected wilderness. Mate of royals and TV gardener Alan Titchmarsh MBE most certainly would be less than impressed.Then and now – Maxwell and Borgerson tore off the traditionally appropriate colonial-style detailing at the rear of 301 Summer Street and plonked on what looks like a portacabin. Good taste and respect for architectural heritage and this couple most definitely are not in unity.
The Names, Dates & Numbers – Ghislaine Maxwell and Scott Borgerson and ‘The Phippen-Smith House’, 301 Summer Street, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Cape Ann, Essex County, Massachusetts, MA 01944, United States of America
9th May 2023 – Price of 301 Summer Street, Manchester-by-the-Sea reduced to £4.70 million ($5.85 million, €5.35 million or درهم21.48 million), Mansion Global reported.
Of this, the property publication remarked: “Mr Borgerson, a tech entrepreneur, couldn’t be reached for comment.” They also claimed: “Though the pair lived together at the home for a ‘brief time’ before Ms Maxwell’s arrest in 2020, she has no ownership stake in the home.”
The listing remains with Ryan Clunan and Tracy Campion of Campion & Company Fine Homes Real Estate and an ‘open house’ on 21st May has been arranged between 1pm and 3pm; a perfect outing for those wishing to take an eyeball at Mr Borgerson and Miss Maxwell’s ‘party shower.’
Late 2022 to early 2023 – Scott Borgerson and Ghislaine Maxwell complete their divorce. How their assets were split is unknown, but it is believed that Mr Borgerson walked away with a substantial stash of anything that remains from money made during their ‘secret’ (until Maxwell’s 2020 arrest) union.
Given that Maxwell remains a wicked woman incapable of accepting that taking at least £16.4 million ($20 million, €18.6 million or درهم73.5 million) from the since croaked paedophile Jeffrey Epstein was a totally unacceptable thing to do, goodness knows what became of the clearly vast funds likely hidden away by her possibly in the Channel Islands, Lichtenstein, Panama and elsewhere.
26th March 2022 – A beady-eyed reader supplies The Steeple Times with the current listing brochure for 301 Summer Street complete with up-to-date imagery of the house. It shows how Borgerson and Maxwell well and truly have made an utter mess of what was a previously charming residence.
March 2022 – The real estate website Realtor.com suggests the house to currently be worth a significantly lower sum and estimates its value at just £2.45 million ($3.235 million, €2.945 million or درهم11.88 million).
February 2022 – 301 Summer Street, Manchester-by-the-Sea is listed for sale for £5.368 million ($7.295 million, €6.443 million or درهم26.791 million) by Campion And Company. The firm, however, do not include a public listing of the property on its site and they do not include any current photographs of the house.
29th December 2021 – Ghislaine Maxwell – who has variously shown her decided deviancy by faking photos and using pseudonyms including ‘Jennifer Ellmax,’ ‘Jen Marshall,’ ‘Janet Marshall,’ ‘Mrs Scott Borgerson’ and just plain old ‘G’ – is found guilty on five out of six of the charges she had faced. Her husband was not present for the verdict and left his wife to face being sent down alone and with just her brothers and sisters to support the by now convicted child sex trafficker.
29th November 2021 – Ghislaine Maxwell goes on trial at the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Her husband did not attend on a single day of that trial.
2nd July 2020 – Ghislaine Maxwell is arrested at Tuckedaway.
In the weeks after her arrest, as she unsurprisingly unsuccessfully sought bail, Maxwell claimed via her lawyers that the “majority of her assets” had been transferred into a “trust controlled by her husband and another unnamed party.”
In documents submitted to the courts, they put her their worth at £17.1 million ($22.5 million, €20.5 million or درهم82.6 million) and suggested: “For Ms Maxwell to flee, she would have to abandon her spouse. She will not isk destroying the lives and financial well-being of those she holds most dear to live as a fugitive during a worldwide pandemic.”
Going further, they added: “In fact, every action Ms Maxwell has taken from the time of Epstein’s arrest up to the time of the first bail hearing was designed to protect her spouse… from harassment, economic harm, and physical danger. If Ms. Maxwell were to violate her bail conditions, which she has no intention of doing… she would be leaving her spouse…with virtually nothing.”
In a letter to Judge Alison J. Nathan, Mr Borgerson added: “The person described in the criminal charges is not the person we know. I have never witnessed anything close to inappropriate with Ghislaine. Quite to the contrary, the Ghislaine I know is a wonderful and loving person… I believe that Ghislaine had nothing to do with Epstein’s crimes.”
13th December 2019 – Ghislaine Maxwell purchases Tuckedaway, 338 East Washington Road, Bradford, New Hampshire, NH 03221 for £787,953 ($1,070,750, €945,752 or درهم3.93 million) via Jennifer Johnson and Margaret Weathers of Four Seasons Sotheby’s International Realty. The house had been listed at a price of £879,000 ($1.195 million, €1.055 million or درهم4.389 million) in March that year and sold previously for £773,000 ($1.050 million, €927,000 million or درهم3.856 million) on 15th December 2017.
Mid-late 2019 – Maxwell is said to have “fallen foul” of locals and left Manchester-by-the-Sea. An alleged sighting of her in Los Angeles followed in August 2019 when she was snapped at an In-N-Out Burger restaurant in Los Angeles, California. The photographs were proven to be fake as advertising on hoardings in the background had never been at that location. Her associate Leah Saffian, whose dog appeared in one of the images, has never explained her role in this skulduggery.
10th August 2019 – Jeffrey Epstein dies by supposed suicide in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in New York. He had previously supposedly attempted suicide on 23rd July 2019 whilst sharing a cell with alleged quadruple killer cop Nicholas Tartaglione.
6th July 2019 – Jeffrey Epstein is arrested after his private jet lands at Teterboro Airport, New Jersey.
15th June 2019 – The Cash & Rocket Rally ends in Monte Carlo. Miss Maxwell was clearly especially keen to avoid being photographed. She was subsequently not seen again in public until her trial commenced on 29th November 2021.
13th June 2019 – The mucky madam sets off from London on the car rally in an Alfa Romeo with Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason’s wife Annette (known as ‘Nettie’ to her chums). They travel first to Paris and then go via Geneva to Monte Carlo.
12th June 2019 – Maxwell and Borgerson are named in court documents concerning a case between Tidewood LLC and John Appel, Katherine Rive and Curtis Hollingsworth regarding a property dispute concerning their shorefront access. In due course, on 11th March 2020, judgment was found in favour of the plaintiff.
During this particular London visit, Miss Maxwell met with her six living siblings Anne, Kevin, Isabel, Christine, Philip and Ian to remember her late pension pot plundering father on 10th June 2019 on what would have been his 96th birthday. She also supposedly went to Buckingham Palace for tea with the man who subsequently paid £12 million ($15.8 million, €14.4 million or درهم58.2 million) to a woman he supposedly never met (but emailed Jeffrey Epstein’s ex-lover about), Prince Andrew.
30th June 2016 – The Phippen-Smith House is sold to Tidewood LLC, a limited liability company controlled by Ghislaine Maxwell’s “secret husband,” for £1.802 million ($2.450 million, €2.164 million or درهم8.998 million). The couple are said to have spent £1.8 million ($2.5 million, €2.2 million or درهم9.2 million) on renovations in the years since that included the installation of many security cameras. During the purchase process, Maxwell is said to have used the pseudonym ‘Jennifer Ellmax.’
April 2016 – Ghislaine Maxwell sells her Upper East Side, New York townhouse for £11 million ($15 million, €13.2 million or درهم55.1 million) and “disappeared.” She had originally bought that property in 2015 for £12.4 million ($16.9 million, €14.9 million or درهم62.1 million).
Date unknown in 2016 – Scott Borgerson marries Ghislaine Maxwell. She eventually revealed she was married to her until then “secret husband” in court in December 2020 to the surprise of the world and her own brothers and sisters even.
20th June 2015 – Rebecca Borgerson files for divorce from her then husband. She cited “irreconcilable differences.” The couple had married in 2001 and had two children together.
15th June 2014 – Scott Borgerson is charged with the assault and domestic battery of his then wife Rebecca Borgerson.
2014 – Ghislaine Maxwell meets her future husband at the Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavik, Iceland whilst married to his then first wife.
Burgh Island in South Devon, where Agatha Christie wrote several novels and The Beatles stayed also, goes on sale for the staggering sum of £15 million
Described as “the best hotel west of The Ritz” by its current owner Giles Fuchs, a favourite South Devon bolthole of Agatha Christie has just come up for sale for £15 million. It was here that the ‘Queen of Crime’ had her own writer’s retreat and where also that she was inspired to pen both And Then There Were None and Evil Under The Sun.
Burgh Island is situated just 820-feet from the mainland and is approachable by foot at low tide and accessible by a sea tractor at high tide; it also has a helipad for those wishing to make a grand entrance. Though 3 hours from London Paddington by train, those that have visited in the past – amongst them the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Sir Winston Churchill and J. M. W. Turner even – supposedly returned again and again captivated, like Christie, by its seclusion and beauty.
The 21-acre island – which has gone through several name changes itself and was once known as St Michael’s Island – was the inspiration for Christie’s fictional ‘Soldier Island’ in a novel titled Ten Little Niggers when it was first published in 1939. The 272-page book was subsequently retitled Ten Little Indians and then And Then There Were None because of concerns about offending – even prior to the arrival of ‘wokery’ and ‘cancel culture’ – the American market.
The strategy worked as to this day, the novel became both the best-selling crime and the best-selling mystery novel of all-time. Critics enthuse of what is a brilliantly warped yet rationally believable psychological thriller that follows the story of eight people invited to an isolated private island to meet their ultimate demise alongside their two caretaker hosts at a house party from hell. Unsurprisingly, since Christie produced a version for the stage in 1943, there have been more adaptations for that medium as well as for film, radio and television adaptations than of any of her other works.
A clear work of genius in both plot and the financial returns it generated for its author, And Then There Were None was actually structured around an 1869 minstrel song titled Ten Little Niggers by the British songwriter Frank Green. The rhyme – as published for these politically correct times where even future editions of Roald Dahl’s book will no longer feature the adjective ‘fat’ – reads:
Ten little Soldier Boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there were nine.
Nine little Soldier Boys sat up very late; One overslept himself and then there were eight.
Eight little Soldier Boys travelling in Devon; One said he’d stay there and then there were seven.
Seven little Soldier Boys chopping up sticks; One chopped himself in halves and then there were six.
Six little Soldier Boys playing with a hive; A bumblebee stung one and then there were five.
Five little Soldier Boys going in for law; One got in Chancery and then there were four.
Four little Soldier Boys going out to sea; A red herring swallowed one and then there were three.
Three little Soldier Boys walking in the zoo; A big bear hugged one and then there were two.
Two little Soldier Boys sitting in the sun; One got frizzled up and then there was one.
One little Soldier Boy left all alone; He went out and hanged himself and then there were none.
Whilst today’s visitors to the “comprehensively refurbished,” Grade II listed, 25-bedroom Burgh Island Hotel certainly are unlikely to face the unhappy endings of Christie’s ten unfortunates, they are able to enjoy “fine dining” at its two restaurants, and cocktails in its Palm Court bar. One can quite easily imagine Hercule Poirot sleuthing in or at the island’s 14th century pub, The Pilchard Inn. In addition, there is what is called the ‘Mermaid Pool’ – a naturally enclosed body of seawater where guests can swim or if, in the unlikely event they’d take a break from Dubai, perhaps ‘Wagatha Christie’ Coleen Rooney could witness Rebekah Vardy ‘Davy Jones-ing’ her mobile telephone for a second time even.
Of this “iconic landmark” – which a company ultimately controlled by Mr Fuchs paid around £5 million for in 2018 – selling agents Knight Frank enthused in their marketing material:
“The private island setting is virtually unique in the UK and the hotel, which has been fully restored, is one of the finest examples of working Art Deco architecture in Europe.”
“Burgh Island is a natural micro-environment, with wildlife to observe and cliff walks around the circumference. The sandy tidal beach on the eastern (mainland-facing) side is washed by the tide twice daily and so is always clean.”
Whilst the realty firm lauds total sales of in excess of £6 million for the year ending 2022, Agatha Christie actually best surmises why Mr Fuchs is seek to sell: “The best of an island is once you get there – you can’t go any farther… You’ve come to the end of things.” This week PlymouthLive revealed his company, Office Space in Town Limited (OSiT), “has debts of £130 million and is paying nearly £7 million in interests on its loans each year… [It] has borrowed huge sums and is relying on London property prices to remain stable in order to avoid breaching covenant terms which would mean loans having to be immediately repaid and potentially leading to the business going bust.”
Editor’s Note – Unlike as is the case in many publications, this article was NOT sponsored or supported by a third-party. Follow Matthew Steeples on Twitter at @M_Steeples.
Pictured Top – The island, hotel and The Pilchard Inn (top left); David Suchet as Poirot filmed ‘Evil Under The Sun’ there in 2001 (bottom left) and the island’s most famous visitor, Dame Agatha Christie DBE (right).
The island is being marketed by Knight Frank at a staggering price of £15 million after being sold last in 2018 for £5 million and prior for £2 million in 2001. The hotel includes 25 en-suite guest bedrooms and suites as well as the Ballroom Restaurant (64 covers), the Nettlefold Restaurant (72 covers), the Palm Court bar and lounge (42 covers) and The Pilchard Inn (35 internal and 114 external covers). There is also a billiards room, sauna and treatment room, a staff house with 9 bedrooms, a car park on the mainland with 18 spaces and a helipad. The property is offered on a freehold basis.Dame Agatha Christie DBE (1890 – 1976) remains to this day the world’s best-selling crime author. She penned 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, as well as the world’s longest-running play, ‘The Mousetrap.’ Over a billion copies of her works in the English language and a billion in translation have been sold; most notable are ‘Murder on the Orient Express,’ ‘Death on the Nile,’ ‘The Murder at the Vicarage’ and ‘The A. B. C. Murders.’‘And Then There Were None’ began life as ‘Ten Little Niggers’ and via being ‘Ten Little Indians’ gained its present title to suit the American market. Christie claimed it was the most difficult of her books to write, but it is also one of her most popular – over 100 million copies have been sold and the work stands as the sixth best-selling title (any language, including reference works) of all-time.‘Evil Under The Sun’ (1931) – which features an investigation into the murder of a flirtatious but not liked woman who is murdered whilst on holiday in Devon –remains one of Christie’s most popular works. It has been adapted multiple times and became a feature film in 1982 with Peter Ustinov as Poirot. In 2001, David Suchet played the detective in a version with alterations including the addition of the characters of Hastings, Japp and Miss Lemon – none of whom appear in the original novel. A PC game version of the story has even been made and in 1999, John Moffat played Poirot for a BBC Radio 4 adaptation. Here, the cast are seen getting into Burgh Island’s famous sea-tractor during filming.Roguish antiques dealer Lovejoy (Ian McShane) and his eccentric sidekick Tinker (Dudley Sutton) brought a new era of drama to Burgh Island when they filmed an episode there titled ‘Somewhere – Over the Rainbow?’ It was first shown in October 1994 and featured them going there to save Tinker’s financially strapped sister and her wheelchair-bound husband (presented as owners of the hotel) from losing it to a greedy property developer. The key to the story is finding a treasure trove hidden there by a notorious smuggler centuries earlier.Self-made multi-millionaire Giles Fuchs is the current owner of Burgh Island. He began his career as an estate agent, claims to have invested more than £1 million renovating the hotel to turn into something that looks “pretty spectacular.” He doubled the number of staff on site, brought in Mark Mosimann, son of King Charles III’s favourite chef, Anton Mosimann, and also bought accommodation on the mainland for some of the hotel’s workers to live in. In July 2020, he described the hotel as “like a house party” and the island as “beautiful” in comments to ‘Great British Life’ magazine.
The ‘Famous Face’ Guest List – Burgh Island, Bigbury-on-Sea, South Devon, TQ7 4BG, United Kingdom (Formerly Known As St Michael’s Island, Borough Island And Bur Island)
Dancer and singer Josephine Baker.
Musicians The Beatles – The band stayed there before playing a concert in nearby Plymouth.
World speed record holder Malcolm Campbell.
Agatha Christie – The prolific author is described as having made the island “her second home” and wrote And Then There Were None (1939) and Evil Under The Sun (1941) there. A beach hut was built for her to use as a “writer’s retreat.”
Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill – The politician supposedly met with President Dwight Eisenhower there prior to D-Day.
Flamboyant actor, playwright and singer Noël Coward – He supposedly booked in for three days, but stayed for three weeks and clearly very much enjoyed A Room With A View.
Shipping heiress, socialite and muse Nancy Cunard.
Odeon cinema chain founder Oscar Deutsche – The businessman travelled to the island with his wife and companion, World War One fighter ace Sol Joseph, in the latter’s Ford V8 Pilot just before the outbreak of the Second World War.
Actor and singer-songwriter George Formby – He is said to have been viewed as “the cheeky northern chappie who proudly picknicked on Bigbury Beach” during his visit who “guests didn’t know what to make of.”
Aviator Amy Johnson.
Actress Gertrude Lawrence.
Designer of the Spitfire R. J. Mitchell.
Last Viceroy of India Lord Mountbatten of Burma.
Artist J. M. W. Turner – The painter was “cast ashore during rough weather and ‘with a pencil, clambered nearly to the summit of the island’ to sketch its wilderness.”
Renegade royals The Duke and Duchess of Windsor – Said to have travelled to the islands on “frequent occasions” with their aide-de-camp Major Edward ‘Fruity’ Metcalfe.
In 1926, Christie disappeared from her home in Berkshire for 11 days. Mayhem and a manhunt worthy of her murder mystery books followed. Surprisingly, she didn’t choose to head to Burgh Island, but maybe that would have made her too easy to find given her love of the place. The reason for her decision to ‘vanish’ remains hotly contested today and this indeed will likely forever remain in the realms of the debate over who Jack the Ripper was – a case forever unsolved.
The Dates, Developments & Numbers – Burgh Island’s History
May 2023 – Placed for sale for £15 million ($18.8 million, €17.2 million or درهم69 million) through agents Matthew Smith and Henry Jackson of Knight Frank.
Commenting of the sale, Giles Fuchs told Plymouth Live: “Ownership of the Burgh Island Hotel has provided me with a wonderful journey and given me the true privilege of restoring and enhancing one of the most treasured tourist assets in the UK over the past few years. What we have achieved is an immense source of pride for all of us who have been involved and, in our work, we have always tried to ensure that the hotel’s 1920s spirit remains just as vibrant in the 2020s.”
Speaking to The Caterer, Matthew Smith of Knight Frank added: “It is rare for a hotel of such character and heritage to come to the open market.
“In recent years the buildings have received considerable investment and operates as a thriving business which generated in excess of £6 million ($7.5 million, €6.9 million or درهم27.6 million) turnover in its most recent financial year.”
“This is a unique opportunity to acquire a truly iconic hotel that benefits from a number of value-add opportunities to further develop the trading performance, and will no doubt appeal to a global investor audience.”
February 2023 – Plymouth Live reported on rumours about the hotel being for sale for £9 million ($11.3 million, €10.3 million or درهم41.4 million) after an advertisement appeared on Knight Frank’s website for a “mystery property” matching the description of it. Responding at the time, Henry Jackson of Knight Frank stated: “Burgh Island is not on the market. I don’t know where these rumours come from. At the time, the PR firm representing the hotel, Sapience Communications, added: “We have nothing additional to add.”
December 2022 – Planning permission granted for 12 additional guest bedrooms and suites and 13 staff bedrooms by South Hams District Council. Approval was also granted for extension of two of the restaurants and a spa facility.
This redevelopment, BBC News recently reported, will cost £7 million to £10 million ($8.8 million to $12.5 million, €8 million to €11.5 million or درهم32.2 million to درهم45.9 million) and of it, Mr Fuchs observed:
“I’m not the man for that job because once you start that, you need to do the whole thing. It’s also a substantial amount of cash and I don’t want to find [it], thanks very much.”
“We’ve got a big business in London and I could divert funds but the hotel was always about a love story; it was saving something that had been around for years that our family fell in love with.
“To divert more funds doesn’t make any sense to us. We want to buy more buildings in London.”
“She’s a demanding mistress and I ended up getting more and more involved at the expense of my life and other businesses, [but] I’m really pleased we’ve turned it around.”
Autumn 2021 – Burgh Island Limited accounts valued the business at £9.5 million ($11.9 million, €10.9 million or درهم43.7 million). At the time, profits of £296,000 ($370,000, €339,000 or درهم1.4 million) were listed down from £336,000 ($420,000, €385,000 or درهم1.5 million) in 2020.
The company was reported as employing 63 people with a wage bill of £1.6 million ($2 million, €1.8 million or درهم7.4 million). It paid dividends of £2 million ($2.5 million, €2.3 million or درهم9.2 million).
Mid 2018 – Sold by then owners Deborah Clark and Tony Orchard to Office Space in Town Ltd (OSiT), a company ultimately controlled by a London based businessman named Giles Fuchs and his sister Nichola, for a sum of £5 million ($6.3 million, €X million or درهم23 million).
January 2018 – Valued by estate agents Savills at £8.64 million ($10.81 million, €9.90 million or درهم39.69 million).
2012 – Singer-songwriter Ben Howard named his EP after the island.
2003 – The then owners closed the public footpaths on the island; this move was reversed in 2006 other than the routes closest to the hotel.
2002 – Used as a location for the television adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Evil Under The Sun.
2001 – Sold for £2 million ($2.5 million, €2.3 million or درهم9.2 million).
2001 – Used as the location of a television adaptation of Evil Under The Sun starring David Suchet as Hercule Poirot.
2001 and 2008 – Used as the location for ITV’s GMTV show Inch-loss Island.
1994 – Used as the location for an episode of the BBC series Lovejoy titled ‘Somewhere – Over the Rainbow?’
1987 – Used as a location in the BBC adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple: Nemesis.
1986 – Sold to a couple named Tony and Beatrice Porter, who “faithfully restored it to its former Art Deco glory.”
1965 – Used as a location for the film Catch Me If You Can.
1950s – Renovated, but instead of being used as a hotel became self-catering accommodation.
1939 – 1945 – Used by the RAF as a recovery centre for wounded RAF personnel. During this period, the top two floors of the main building suffered damaged after a direct hit by a bomb.
1927 – Sold to the filmmaker Archibald Nettlefold. He constructed a more substantial 25-room hotel in the Art Deco style in 1929 and after it became popular in the 1930s, added improvements and extensions in 1932 including ‘The Captain’s Cabin’ – it had been taken from HMS Ganges, a warship built in 1821.
1890s – Purchased by the music hall star George H. Chirgwin. He built a prefabricated wooden house to use for weekend parties.
14th century – The Pilchard Inn, the ‘local’ hostelry, is constructed circa 1336. It is believed to have begun life as guest lodgings for a monastery that possibly stood on the site of the current hotel.
Iron Age to Sub-Roman period – First settlers, tin traders, believed to have arrived.
More Images Of Burgh Island…
The approach to Burgh Island at low tide.Many people approach on foot; there are also a number of footpaths for visitors to enjoy once they get to the island.For guests of the hotel, there is a sea tractor they can travel on. Those that have experienced this wonderful contraption have commented on how much they have enjoyed the journey back and forth to and from the mainland.The gates to the hotel are suitably reflective of the Art Deco style of the property.The building is striking and one can certainly see what attracted the likes of Agatha Christie to it and the island.The Palm Court features a restored circular skylight. It is stunning and this is certainly a place where one can imagine such people as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and Nancy Cunard sipping martinis there of an evening whilst looking out to sea.One of two restaurants in the main hotel. The Nettlefold offers menus that are said to reflect the “uniquely wild island location.”The second, The Grand Ballroom, is a fine dining restaurant that is lauded as serving “award-winning food” in a setting that is styled around the “grandeur of a bygone era.”The guest rooms, such as ‘The Christie Room,’ have primarily been named after the famous faces who’ve stayed at the hotel in times past.The current owner has fully refurbished the property and furnished it with in-fitting Art Deco items.One of 25 bedrooms and suites at The Burgh Island Hotel; the majority enjoy superb views out to sea and to the South Devon countryside also.Another bedroom, this one with a private balcony.The Artist’s Studio is situated above The Pilchard Inn. It is a dog friendly room and just a few yards walk from the main Burgh Island Hotel building.Agatha’s Beach House has been described as “one of the sexiest hotel rooms in the UK” and is undoubtedly the ultimate place to stay on Burgh Island. It was built specifically for Agatha Christie in the 1930s and was where she penned both of her Burgh Island novels. It has a sitting room, outdoor hot tub, sun decks right onto the sea and includes a king sized bed, a double sofa bed and two single beds.The building from another angle.The sitting room of Agatha’s Beach House has the benefit of the most wonderful of aspects.It also has a woodburning stove.The Pilchard Inn was supposedly built in the 14th century as a lodging house for visitors to the monastery that is believed to have been on the island at that time. It is one of the oldest pubs in Devon.The bar.A traditional space perfect for drinks by the fire.Many of the rooms and suites at the Burgh Island Hotel, such as the Noël Coward suite, allow guests to experience the drama of the sea beyond.The ‘Mermaid Pool’ is a natural seawater pool in a “rugged” setting.Another view of this extremely unusual place to swim. Burgh Island is partly powered by solar panels.South Hams Council approved plans for additional rooms and additional staff accommodation at the Burgh Island Hotel in December 2022.The 21-acre island is just across the water from Bigbury-on-Sea.From a distance, one can genuinely see what attracted the great and the good to Burgh Island.
As Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘Paedo Islands’ sell for a knockdown price of £48 million against a £95 million asking price, we ask: “Who’d want to go and stay in the ‘luxury resort’ planned there?”
In March 2022, The Steeple Times asked: “Who on earth would want to live in a place where such hellish abuse occurred?” of the islands owned by the croaked paedophile Ponzi schemer Jeffrey Epstein.
Purchased in recent days by billionaire Stephen Deckoff via an investment vehicle named SD Investments LLC for a combined total of just £47.7 million, the plan for the islands where countless young girls and likely countless young boys also too were so horrifically abused is to turn it into a “state-of-the-art, five-star, world-class luxury 25-room resort” supposedly.
Though clearly sold at a clear knockdown price, the figure achieved for Little St James and Great St James was “the highest-priced trade in the history of the U.S. Virgin Islands.” Though “a significant portion of the sale proceeds” will be “paid to the government of the Virgin Islands per a settlement between the government and Epstein’s estate” according to a report this morning in The Washington Post, some of the proceeds will no doubt end up in the hands of the Ponzi scheming monster’s brother, Mark Epstein – whose bizarre nickname is ‘Puggy.’
Mr Deckoff himself has had an illustrious career and is listed by Forbes as having a “real time net worth” of £2.4 billion. He co-founded Black Diamond Capital Management in 1995 and is a resident of the U.S. Virgin Islands. He “also owns multi-million dollar properties in Colorado and New York City, and a Beverly Hills mansion previously owned by the Latsis shipping family.”
This morning on Twitter, I asked: “When billionaire Steven Deckoff completes the transformation of Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘Paedo Islands’ into a ‘luxury resort’ would you be tempted to visit?” By 11:30am, just 8.7% of respondents answered: “Yes; great re-use.” Mr Deckoff may thus find himself struggle to attract paying guests.
Editor’s Note – Unlike as is the case in many publications, this article was NOT sponsored or supported by a third-party. Follow Matthew Steeples on Twitter at @M_Steeples.
Pictured Top (left to right) – Jeffrey Epstein with one of his ‘victims’, the main compound currently on Little Saint James and its new owner, Stephen Deckoff.
This morning on Twitter, Matthew Steeples asked: “When billionaire Steven Deckoff completes the transformation of Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘Paedo Islands’ into a “luxury resort” would you be tempted to visit?” By 11:30am on Thursday 4th May 2023, the very clear majority of responses were: “No; inappropriate.”
The Names & Numbers – ‘The Jameses’ (Great Saint James and Little Saint James islands), United States Virgin Islands (USVI)
May 2023 – Sold to billionaire Stephen Deckoff via an investment vehicle, SD Investments LLC for a combined total of just £47.7 million ($60 million, €54.3 million or درهم220.4 million), a sum 50% lower than the initial asking price.
March 2022 – Listed for sale through Bespoke Real Estate for £94.5 million ($125 million, €113.8 million or درهم459.1 million) with “subdivision capabilities.” Listed as “two exceptional private Caribbean islands with 230 acres, 6 beaches and 5.8 miles of coastline.”
Media reports have previously estimated the islands to be worth a combined sum of £181.8 million ($240 million, €218.4 million or درهم881.4 million), a figure 92% higher than the current listing price and 178% higher than the July 2019 valuation.
10th August 2019 – Jeffrey Epstein dies by supposed suicide in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in New York. He had previously supposedly attempted suicide on 23rd July 2019 whilst sharing a cell with alleged quadruple killer cop Nicholas Tartaglione.
July 2019 – Forbes reports Little St. James to have been valued at £48.4 million ($63.9 million, €58.2 million or درهم234.7 million) and Great St. James at £17 million ($22.5 million, €20.5 million or درهم82.6 million) – or a total sum of £65.5 million ($86.4 million, €78.7 million or درهم317.3 million) – in documents filed by Epstein’s legal team when he applied for bail.
6th July 2019 – Jeffrey Epstein is arrested after his private jet lands at Teterboro Airport, New Jersey.
January 2016 – Epstein purchases the 161.3-acre Great St. James for a total sum of £17 million ($22.5 million, €20.5 million or درهم82.6 million) through various shell companies and with the help of Dubai businessman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem as a “beneficial owner” as the then owner, a Danish politician named Christian Kjær, had been “begged” not to sell to the paedophile due to rumours about his “sexual preferences.”
According to the BBC, Epstein “had drawn up plans to develop the 161-acre island by building homes, an amphitheatre, as well as an underwater office and pool.”
2007 onwards – According to the Independent, “Epstein began a massive programme of building and remodelling that drew suspicion from local officials. His main compound nearly doubled in size, sprouting into a plush mansion with an outside terrace connecting the master bedroom and the swimming pool, along with a desalination system.”
“Satellite photos show a sprawling network of terraces, cottages, beach houses, swimming pools, docks, utility buildings, a helipad, a tennis court, slipways, some kind of enclosed lake or lagoon, and various huts of unknown purpose, all connected by palm-lined roads where golf buggies ferried guests from place to place (a journey across the island reportedly took about five minutes).”
1998 – Epstein purchases the 7.16-acre Little St. James for £6.02 million ($7.95 million, €7.24 million or درهم29.20 million) through a shell company named L. S. J. LLC. It had been marketed for sale for £8 million ($10.5 million, €9.6 million or درهم38.6 million) on behalf of a venture capitalist named Arch Cummin.
Some of the ‘Famous Faces’ who’ve visited the ‘Paedo Islands’
Royal rotter Prince Andrew. Alleged to have flown to the islands on 4 occasions and is alleged to have had sexual relations with the then underaged in the territory Virginia Roberts there.
Now croaked paedophile and cocaine addict Jean-Luc Brunel. Known to have supplied three 12-year-old sisters to Epstein and visited him in jail at least 70 times during his 2008 incarceration. Known to have visited the ‘Paedo Islands’ on multiple occasions.
Temperamental supermodel Naomi Campbell.
Prone to tell porky pies politician President Bill Clinton was reportedly a visitor according to Virginia Roberts Giuffre. Hillary Clinton’s husband has denied this however.
Magician David Copperfield – who reportedly proposed to supermodel Claudia Schiffer there.
Socialite Clementine ‘Clemmie’ Hambro. Known to have visited in 1999.
Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking. Known to have visited in March 2006.
American-Canadian theoretical physicist and cosmologist Lawrence Krauss. Known to have been amongst a group of 21 physicists invited to Little St. James for a meeting about gravity. Of Epstein, the scientist later remarked: “As a scientist I always judge things on empirical evidence and he always has women ages 19 to 23 around him, but I’ve never seen anything else, so as a scientist, my presumption is that whatever the problems were I would believe him over other people… I don’t feel tarnished in any way by my relationship with Jeffrey; I feel raised by it.”
Convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. Known to have visited the islands on many occasions from when Epstein purchased them until his death in 2019.
Billionaire businessman and L Brands founder Leslie Wexner. Known to have visited in 1998 “with several Victoria’s Secret models in tow.”
Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘Temple’
The gruesome paedophile Jeffrey Epstein built a structure described by many as a “temple” between 2009 and 2013. It is unclear what the structure was actually used for, but it certainly sent conspiracy theorists crazy.
The building was said to have “acoustic walls” and a “door to prevent people from leaving” complete with a “medieval era lock.” Its base was painted with broad, vivid horizontal stripes and for a time it featured a gold dome atop.
Statues including one of the trident-wielding Poseidon, the Greek God of the sea, and birds “perched” on its corners and aside was a terrace with a labyrinth motif.
Insider suggested “it strongly resembles a temple, though of which sort remains elusive.”
The gold dome supposedly “flew off” during the “deadly 2017 hurricane season.”
Epstein’s bizarre ‘temple’ will hopefully now be razed to the ground.Epstein, pictured here with a woman he no doubt abused, had a ten-person shower installed in his main compound and made it his primary base from 2017 onwards.The sexual deviant liked to take his many, many victims on hikes across his islands. Goodness knows what he did to them during these misadventures.Fellow paedophiles Ghislaine Maxwell and Jean-Luc Brunel in the very same space where their host was primarily photographed.Bizarrely the since supposed died by ‘suicide’ Jean-Luc Brunel was pictured in the same space wearing a baseball cap with the caption ‘Israel Army.’Other visitors to the islands included the since himself disgraced CEO of Barclays Jes Staley and his beady-eyed wife Debbie.Prince Andrew, whose feckless wife happily took loans and assistance from Jeffrey Epstein, was a regular on Little Saint James.Stephen Hawking was amongst a group to visit in March 2006 for a conference about gravity.This image shows the evil ‘head of the municipality’ in a dressing gown on Little St. James with one of his victims. It is telling in that both look like they know that something truly appalling has happened.Clearly Ghislaine Maxwell liked the covered porch just as much as her ‘boss’ turned lover. Pictured here with fellow paedophile Jean-Luc Brunel munching on some nosh, the deviant daughter of the pension pot plunderer sits at the very desk where her evil cohort controlled his wicked operation.That infamous terrace in marketing material created by Bespoke Real Estate. Note that some of the original furniture has been replaced.The Ponzi scheming associate of Robert Maxwell reveled in luring young girls to his islands as once there, they could not escape him and his abusing cohorts.
Further images of Great Saint James and Little Saint James
As it is revealed that a lawyer connected to Obama and Biden is also connected with Ghislaine Maxwell’s ‘hideout lair,’ Matthew Steeples asks: “What has become of Tuckedaway?”
Granite Reality LLC – a supposed reference to New Hampshire’s ‘Granite State’ nickname – was the vehicle used by the mucky madam Ghislaine Maxwell and her then husband and fellow submarine pilot Scott Borgerson to purchase what became her hideout ‘lair’ in December 2019.
The ironically named ‘Tuckedaway,’ situated deep in the forests of Bradford, New Hampshire, returned to the news yesterday when featured in an article in National File – a “new media firm founded in 2019” that claims to have “broken major stories over its brief history including Ashley Biden’s diary, the Cal Cunningham affair, the alleged Ukrainian pay-for-play scam run by Nancy Pelosi’s son, to name a few.”
Headlined “Obama-Biden Administration Linked To Ghislaine Maxwell’s Hideout House Where She Got Arrested” and written by Patrick Howley – whom ambitiously claims to have also “exposed Ralph Northam’s racist yearbook photos, Cal Cunningham’s extramarital affair, the VA scandal, and broke other groundbreaking articles that have permanently altered the United States’ political landscape” – the article stated:
“A top Obama-Biden administration banking official employs and works with the man who set up the anonymous ‘LLC’ company that owned the house where Ghislaine Maxwell was hiding in New Hampshire when she was arrested by the FBI, according to records obtained by National File. How did Ghislaine Maxwell manage to lay low prior to her arrest in a house that was known as ‘Tuckedaway’? The paper trail leads to the doorstep of power.”
“Jeffrey Roberts was the listed manager of Granite Reality LLC, which mysteriously bought Ghislaine Maxwell’s house in Bradford, New Hampshire in cash. The LLC was formed the month before it bought the house for over $1 million. Thus, Jeffrey Roberts’ LLC owned the house where Ghislaine Maxwell got arrested, and Jeffrey Roberts has worked directly for an Obama-Biden official. Jeffrey Roberts was replaced at Granite Reality LLC after Maxwell’s arrest in 2020.”
“Jeffrey Roberts is a lawyer at the Boston law firm Nutter McLennen & Fish, which was led for many years by Thomas J. Curry, who served as a top official in the Barack Obama administration.”
“Thomas J. Curry was nominated in 2012 by Barack Obama to be Comptroller of the Currency, a Treasury Department office that manages U.S. federal banking. He was confirmed by the Senate and served in this important role until he was replaced in early 2017 in the early period of President Trump’s administration.”
“Thomas J. Curry is a retired partner at the Boston law firm Nutter McLennen & Fish. He served – or currently still serves – on the firm’s COVID-19 task force with Jeffrey Roberts, who is on the Executive Committee for the firm and who is the chairman of the firm’s Private Client Department. The firm’s website shows that both Curry and Jeffrey Roberts are listed on the Task Force.”
“Thomas J. Curry, identified as a Nutter partner, and two Nutter associates wrote an article for Banker & Tradesman in February 2021 discussing the Joe Biden administration’s new hires and how they were expected to push for financial regulation.”
“Why did Ghislaine Maxwell involve a lawyer from the Nutter firm to get her hideaway house and to keep her location secret?”
“The Maxwell family is integrally involved in geopolitics. Ghislaine Maxwell’s father Robert Maxwell was reportedly a spy for the nation of Israel.”
“As National File reported, at least two of Ghislaine Maxwell’s nephews worked for the Obama-Biden administration including a nephew at Hillary Clinton’s State Department and a nephew in the Obama-Biden White House. Ghislaine Maxwell’s associate accused human trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, broke into the globalist establishment in the 1970’s managing money at Bear Stearns for Edgar Bronfman, the father of heiresses Clare and Sara Bronfman, who oversaw the NXIVM human trafficking cult.”
“Sara Bronfman almost became the First Lady of Libya after Hillary Clinton’s overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi, while Ghislaine Maxwell’s nephew worked on the Libya issue for Hillary Clinton in her Benghazi-tainted term at the State Department. Jeffrey Epstein worked for the nation of Israel, according to former Israeli intelligence official Ari Ben-Menashe and confirmed by Rolling Stone magazine.”
“…Hunter Biden was instrumental in funding and assisting a company responsible for Ukraine biolabs. The Metabiota company, headed by a Ghislaine Maxwell partner named Nathan Wolfe, was in charge of setting up biolabs in Ukraine. The biolabs have sparked concern that dangerous materials could be used to fuel bioterrorism in Ukraine and around the world.”
“… The company Metabiota was founded by San Francisco-based virologist Nathan Wolfe, according to Wolfe’s LinkedIn page. Until recently, Nathan Wolfe served as Metabiota’s chairman and chief executive officer. The so-called ‘virus hunter’ Nathan Wolfe actually announced the TerraMar Project, a project that was reportedly Ghislaine Maxwell’s idea, and thus Nathan Wolfe was partnering with Ghislaine Maxwell on the project from the start, records reveal. The project was supposedly about saving the oceans, though the oceans were littered with over a billion Coronavirus facemasks in the year 2020 alone during the Scamdemic that the globalists pushed. The Huffington Post gave Ghislaine Maxwell a glowing profile about the project in 2014.”
In June 2022, The Steeple Times contacted Four Seasons Sotheby’s International Realty – who sold the then Mr and Mrs Borgerson ‘Tuckedaway’ in December 2019 to enquire of the then status of the 156-acre estate. Greg Gangalis of the firm responded: “Thank you for your inquiry. We have no information on this property and unfortunately have no contact information for the owner. Sorry we could not be of more help.”
Editor’s Note – Unlike as is the case in many publications, this article was NOT sponsored or supported by a third-party. Follow Matthew Steeples on Twitter at @M_Steeples.
Pictured Top – The entrance sign at the property (left); Scott Borgerson with Ghislaine Maxwell and two others (top right) and the main residence on the New Hampshire estate.
Granite Reality LLC, which ‘owns’ he house where Ghislaine Maxwell hid out, is most curiously connected to the very same woman, Leah Saffian, who allegedly helped her fake the In-N-Out burger photo which was used to distract and suggest the noxious nonce was in California whilst ‘on-the-run’ in the summer of 2020.In happier times… The now former Mr and Mrs Scott Borgerson seemed like they were destined for a life of luxury and lavishness back when they met in 2015. Little did Mr Borgerson know what he was in for, or, did he plan it all along? Did he know what was coming and did he, like his fellow submarine pilot, have deviousness on the brain? They say that the “truth is stranger than fiction” and in the case of a couple who hid their union even from Ghislaine Maxwell’s siblings until she was arrested, something most definitely stinks to high heaven.He’s definitely moved on… Scott Borgerson clearly doesn’t miss his old ‘missus’ Ghislaine. Though he clearly was never proud enough to be open with anyone (and nor was she) during their union – they married in either late 2015 or early 2016, depending on which source you might take as gospel – he’s now living it up with a sexually saucy “yoga enthusiast” with an “ass that could crack open a walnut” named Kris McGinn. On Instagram, she describes herself to her 149 followers as a “writer” and though she’s not posted since 19th October 2021, she previously bizarrely mused about ravens in October 2020. At that time, she quoted a bit of Edgar Allan Poe – “But the Raven still beguiling my sad fancy into smiling” – and stated: “Loved learning more about these marvelous creatures with Jim Benhke for this week’s Cricket.” Clearly, whilst she then got to “smile” when Ghislaine Maxwell got sent down on 29th December 2021, all the mucky madam got instead was an errant husband who, it seems, has managed to leave her with plenty of ‘wonga wonga.’Another former Maxwell-Borgerson pad, The Phippen-Smith House (AKA ‘Tidewood’), 301 Summer Street, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Cape Ann, Essex County, Massachusetts, MA 01944, United States of America remains for sale at a reduced price of £5.42 million ($6.75 million, €6.11 million or درهم24.79 million). The property was initially offered for £6.52 million ($6.95 million, €7.28 million or درهم25.52 million). The 6,113 square foot crib was purchased by a limited liability company controlled by Ghislaine Maxwell’s then “secret husband” Scott Borgerson for £2.294 million ($2.450 million, €2.564 million or درهم8.998 million) on 30th June 2016. During the transaction, decidedly deviant Ghislaine Maxwell is said to have used the pseudonym ‘Jennifer Ellmax.’
The Names & Numbers – Tuckedaway, 338 East Washington Road, Bradford, New Hampshire, NH 03221, United States of America
27th April 2022 – Realty website Redfin estimated value of £1.284 million ($1.601 million, €1.449 million or درهم5.880 million) listed for the property – which they reference as extending to 4,365 square foot and as including 4 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms.
Elsewhere, OpenCorporates list Granite Reality LLC (company number 831395) as being of a status of “not in good standing” and its registered address as 11420 Santa Monica Boulevard, #25424, Los Angeles, CA, 90025, United States of America. The firm’s “inactive director” is named as Leah Saffian – a close associate of Ghislaine Maxwell – and cites Jeffrey W. Roberts as having been removed as an officer on 8th February 2021.
24th June 2022 – Greg Gagalis, a regional manager at Four Seasons Sotheby’s International Realty’s Bedford, New Hampshire office, told The Steeple Times: “We have no information on this property and unfortunately have no contact information for the owner. Sorry we could not be of more help.”
2nd July 2020 – Ghislaine Maxwell is arrested at Tuckedaway.
In the weeks after her arrest, as she unsurprisingly unsuccessfully sought bail, Maxwell claimed via her lawyers that the “majority of her assets” had been transferred into a “trust controlled by her husband and another unnamed party.”
In documents submitted to the courts, they put her their worth at £17.1 million ($22.5 million, €20.5 million or درهم82.6 million) and suggested: “For Ms Maxwell to flee, she would have to abandon her spouse. She will not isk destroying the lives and financial well-being of those she holds most dear to live as a fugitive during a worldwide pandemic.”
Going further, they added: “In fact, every action Ms Maxwell has taken from the time of Epstein’s arrest up to the time of the first bail hearing was designed to protect her spouse… from harassment, economic harm, and physical danger. If Ms. Maxwell were to violate her bail conditions, which she has no intention of doing… she would be leaving her spouse…with virtually nothing.”
In a letter to Judge Alison J. Nathan, Mr Borgerson added: “The person described in the criminal charges is not the person we know. I have never witnessed anything close to inappropriate with Ghislaine. Quite to the contrary, the Ghislaine I know is a wonderful and loving person… I believe that Ghislaine had nothing to do with Epstein’s crimes.”
13th December 2019 – Purchased for £1.004 million ($1.070 million, €1.121 million or درهم3.932million) in a cash transaction on 13th December 2019 by a shell company formed on 18th November 2019 named Granite Reality LLC after being marketed by Margaret Weathers of Four Seasons Sotheby’s International Realty. Granite Realty LLC’s representative at the time was Jennifer Johnson of the same firm.
According to a report in the Concord Monitor in November 2020, “an office building in South Boston, 155 Seaport Boulevard, [was] listed as the LLC’s address. According to the documents, Granite Reality purchased the land from Massachusetts lawyer Richard Yospin for $1,070,800 on 13th December. Yospin could not be reached for comment by press time. An online listing names New London-based realtor Margaret Weathers as the agent who sold the property. Weathers declined to comment on the sale. Two different houses sit on the land, public records show – the larger, a farmhouse-style home built in 2003, the second a cabin dating to 1800. The records list the property’s assessed value at $923,787.”
19th April 2019 – Listed for sale for £959,000 ($1.195 million, €1.082 million or درهم4.389 million) according to realty website Zillow.
15th December 2017 – Sold for £843,000 ($1.050 million, €951,000 or درهم3.856 million) after having subject to a “pending sale” for £1.003 million ($1.250 million, €1.132 million or درهم4.591 million) on 18th October 2017.
2002 – Built in the “Cape” style as a “custom designed” timber framed single family residence. Subsequently described as an “outdoor lover’s dream home” and lauded for having “views of the Mount Sunapee foothills to the west” as well as a room with a “cathedral ceiling and a spectacular chandelier [and] a wall of glass [that] frames a stunning southwestern view beyond the stone patio.”
Matthew Steeples takes a look at a £36 million Kensington mansion formerly owned by disgraced business tycoons Alan Bond and Lord Black; its former chatelaine was known for stating “I have an extravagance that know no bounds”
Sir Winston Churchill’s daughter Mary Soames once described the buccaneering businessman and media tycoon Lord Black of Crossharbour as “London’s biggest bore unhung” whilst his wife, Lady Black – better known as the author and journalist Barbara Amiel – was suggested to be just a “rich bitch” by Sarah Sands in a “case for the defence” article in the Independent in October 2006.
“Poster boy for the 80s” turned fraudster and jailbird Alan Bond (1938 – 2015) was an English-Australian businessman equally Marmite-like in being liked or loathed and now a Kensington mansion owned for a time by both subsequently disgraced businessmen is once again for sale.
14 Cottesmore Gardens, formerly known as 12 – 14 Cottesmore Gardens, was purchased by Alan Bond’s Satellite Group for £7 million in the 1980s and sold by administrators of that business to Conrad Black and his wife for the knockdown sum of just £3.5 million in 1992.
Plain old Mr and Mrs Black (as they then were) lavished further millions – some of which came from the company Hollinger International, Inc., which ultimately resulted in their downfall – on the double fronted 19th century mansion and used it for entertaining on a lavish scale. Guests, including the likes of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, Joan Collins, Margaret Thatcher, Henry Kissinger, Jimmy Goldsmith, James Hanson, Arnold Weinstock, Jacob Rothschild, Peter Mandelson and Tony Blair, were said to flock to the parties they gave there, but in 2005 these gatherings of upto 400 people at a time came to an almighty end.
Forced to sell at a bargain basement price of just £13.1 million on an ask of £17.5 million as the Canadian born billionaire faced jail time in America, Lord and Lady Black’s tenure was over and the residence saw its “arriviste torch” passed to Juan and Adriana Villalonga, a couple described as “a Mexican telecom czar and his beauty-queen wife.” Of what came next, The Globe And Mail’s Paul Waldie pointedly penned in February 2007: “[They] quickly erased many of the features that the Blacks prized.”
Once again for sale as of April 2023, the value of 14 Cottesmore Gardens has again been deemed to have substantially risen. Knight Frank offer the 12,310 square foot, five-storey residence at a punchy price of £36 million and laud it as “imposing” and “presented in good order throughout.” They add that a “pre-planning consultation” has found that further accommodation could be added that would take the internal space to more than 15,000 square feet; business barons with deep pockets only need apply.
Editor’s Note – Unlike as is the case in many publications, this article was NOT sponsored or supported by a third-party. Follow Matthew Steeples on Twitter at @M_Steeples.
Pictured Top – 54-foot wide 14 Cottesmore Gardens is described by selling agents Knight Frank as “offering lateral living so often requested but so hard to find in central London.” They neglect to mention that with its hedges cut back to the minimum, the place actually looks extremely forlorn.
Flamboyant Lord and Lady Black dressed as Cardinal Richelieu and Marie Antoinette for a party at Kensington Palace in 2000. For a time, the couple employed 17 butlers (if Tom Bower is to be believed) and had two private jets and homes – aside from the 19th Cottesmore Gardens mansion – in New York, Palm Beach and Toronto. “Guests packed into their parties at Cottesmore Gardens,” Bower remarked in his 2006 book the couple, adding: “Amiel was a big spender… Under the control of senior butler Andrew Lightwood, second butler Peter Wilson and a succession of third butlers, Amiel’s life in Kensington had become what her constantly changing staff called ‘bizarre.’ Each recruit was taken by Lightwood on an introductory tour of the house, ending on the roof. ‘Make sure the landing lights are on at all times,’ instructed Lightwood solemnly, ‘because Madame takes off from here on her broomstick looking for cats. She needs the lights to guide her return.’ His face would crack into a smile. ‘Most important, take care that she never sees you. She hates seeing any of us.’ Amiel’s eccentricity demanded that her staff hid whenever she approached, diving into cupboards if necessary, and never entered her quarters when she was present. Every day, all the bed linen was changed and subjected to ‘the penny test.’ A coin was dropped onto the sheets. If it failed to bounce they were not drawn sufficiently tight. Every cushion was arranged to a precise pre-ordained position, and each towel placed exactly as Amiel had predetermined. ‘Andrew!’ she screamed down the telephone on one memorable occasion, ‘the towels are in the wrong place!’ Lightwood, as Amiel knew, was in New York, but he was expected to telephone the staff in the house in London to rectify the error. ‘You f**king pillock!’ she yelled at another member of staff for reading her ‘Daily Mail’ before it was delivered to her.”Barbara Amiel Black (or ‘Lady Black’ as she prefers to be known) in her drawing room at Cottesmore Gardens (pictured). Of her, Sarah Sands on Lord and Lady Black in the ‘Independent’ in October 2006 opined: “Conrad and Barbara in their monstrous, glamorous way, knew how to throw parties. The talk was of geo-politics and hemlines. Nowadays, we scorn their extravagance and doubt the source of their wealth with prune-faced hindsight. Meanwhile, everyone is sucking up to Russians…. Barbara would disingenuously begin her midnight calls to me by saying in her low, breathy voice: ‘I hope I am not disturbing you.’ She would then offer little glimpses of her own home life. I remember her mentioning that Conrad Black was upstairs playing with his fleet of toy gun ships in the bath… I remember her examining an exhibition of doll’s houses at the Chelsea Flower Show and sighing how restful it would be to live in this cosy little home. How she envied people in small houses. The burden of wealth was one of her more dangerous fantasies. At one of her Gatsby-style parties in Kensington, she flinched at the elaborate canapés on offer: ‘Really, all I want is a sausage,’ she said, piteously. Then, she ran a hand down her inconceivably expensive dress and whispered: ‘I hate these parties, I am so shy.’ Later, I was invited to her boudoir, where she lay on cushion surrounded by her women friends. She was Kensington’s Cleopatra, surrounded by maidens such as the designer and Forte daughter Olga Polizzi, the political thinker Tessa Keswick and the writer Miriam Gross.”The very same drawing room at 14 Cottesmore Gardens today. The décor is now somewhat more modern and less ‘classical country house-ified.’ It’s certainly more Soho Farmhouse than Alberto Pinto in style; it is currently a space that the former Meghan Markle would feel more at home than say, perhaps, the likes of Lord and Lady Black’s chum Ghislaine Maxwell and her fellow noxious nonce Ponzi scheming paedophile boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein. Mr Pinto was responsible, it should be noted, for the designs of most of Epstein’s residences.The front elevation of 12 – 14 Cottesmore Gardens during the era it was owned by Lord and Lady Black.Multiple entries for Lord and Lady Black during the time they owned 14 Cottesmore Gardens appeared in the ‘Little Black Book’ address book often attributed as being that of the friends and associates of Jeffrey Epstein, but that featured more of the contacts of Ghislaine Maxwell in fact. In October 2020, Barbara Amiel took revenge on the pension pot plunderer’s padeophile sex trafficker daughter by featuring her in her “score-settling” memoir ‘Friends & Enemies: A Life in Vogue, Prison, & Park Avenue.” Maxwell had “dumped” Lady Black when Lord Black was being investigated for fraud. She wrote of their last meeting: “We were friends – so putting on my ‘So good to see you’ face, I headed for her. She bolted. Turned that sharp tight little turn when you really want to get away. And that was it.” Of the clear lover of plastic surgery Lady Black, in October 2020, Sarah Sands remarked in ‘The Mail on Sunday’: “She had a bohemian, almost masculine, view of opportunistic sex. She describes, for instance, accompanying an early love in his white Triumph sports car ‘in which once or twice I had performed fellatio to the fascination of passing truck drivers, all for fun.’”After getting out of the clink in 2012, Lord and Lady Black decided to go back on the ‘razzle-dazzle’ and posed for photographers before heading back to London to party with friends. In May 2019, the rambunctious peer arrogantly announced he’d be returning to the House of Lords after President Donald Trump pardoned and praised him. Commenting, of this pardon, Lord Black declared: “I’m not bitter… Officially in the United States, I’ve never been charged and I won in the end. It was a war and there are casualties in wars. I lost the time, I lost a lot of money, but as you can see my standards of living isn’t bad… The truth is, these, last 15 years, I haven’t been as interested in British politics as I was before – in the Thatcher years. It could be quite interesting again, in fact it is as of right now – it’s very interesting… It’s my good fortune that at a time when it is feasible, it happens – by happy coincidence – that it is a time of great fermentation in British public affairs.” Surprisingly, he doesn’t seem to have turned up on occasions since.The previous owner of 14 Cottesmore Gardens, Alan Bond (1938 – 2015), will forever be remembered as “Australia’s most notorious corporate criminal.” Born in Hammersmith, London, Bond’s first crime occurred when he was charged with theft aged 14 in Fremantle in Australia and whilst he is remembered for bankrolling the successful challenge for the 1983 America’s Cup, it is for causing the then biggest corporate collapse in Australian history that he will be go down in history. Former Miss Mexico Adriana Abascal López-Cisneros (at the time Adriana Villalonga) bought the house in 2005. She divorced the Spanish businessman Juan Villalonga in 2009 and married the French businessman Emmanuel Schreder in Ibiza in June 2013. In August 2014, the magazine ‘Quién’ featured the model and television presenter on its cover and at that time she described her new husband as “the love of my life.”Madrid born Juan Villalonga became the joint owner of 14 Cottesmore Gardens with his then wife Adriana Abascal – the couple were married between 2000 and 2009 – in 2005. He is listed on Companies House as being a director of the now dissolved Medikidz Foundation at the address between August 2009 and November 2013. Married since 2011 to a photographer named Vanessa Von Zitewitz, Mr Villalonga was a partner at McKinsey & Company in the 1980s, CEO for Credit Suisse First Boston and Bankers Trust in Spain in the early 1990s and CEO of Telefónica from 1996 to 2000. He was named as one of the best performing chief executive officers in the world by ‘Harvard Business Review’ in 2010 and is also linked to addresses in Monaco.
The Names & Numbers – 14 Cottesmore Gardens (formerly known as ’12 – 14 Cottesmore Gardens’), Kensington, London, W8 5PR, United Kingdom
April 2023 – Offered for sale for £36 million ($44.4 million, €40.9 million or درهم163.2 million) through Knight Frank. Valued on Homipi at an upper sum of £28.558 million ($35.250 million, €32.440 million or درهم129.456 million).
2009 – Mr and Mrs Villalonga divorce and subsequently Adriana Abascal married Emmanuel Schreder, a French businessman, in Ibiza in June 2013.
2005 – Sold by Lord and Lady Black for £13.1 million ($16.2 million, €14.9 million or درهم59.4 million) to Spanish businessman Juan Villalonga Navarro and Mexican model, Miss Mexico winner and television presenter Adriana Abascal López-Cisneros Villalonga.
October 2004 – Placed for sale for £17.5 million ($21.6 million, €19.9 million or درهم79.3 million) according to NZ Herald.
January 2004 – Valued at £14 million ($17.3 million, €15.9 million or درهم63.5 million) according to The Globe And Mail. At the time, the “mansion” in “the upscale Kensington neighbourhood” was described as having “10 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms and a swimming pool.”
Featured also in The Guardian in an article by Chris Tryhorn. Quoting Lord Black, he shared: “At a certain price, anything is for sale. [It has] been shown to people in the not-too-distant-past.”
Going further, Tryhorn added: “Artwork from the 18th and 19th centuries lines the walls, and there is plenty of storage space for the extensive wardrobe and shoe collection of Lord Black’s wife, Barbara Amiel, who famously declared once that her ‘extravagence knows no bounds.’ … It was originally two homes and one of the two original front doors is now a ‘deliveries’ entrance. He has used it in the past to host dinners with butler and maid service that was part-paid by Hollinger.”
Also in 2004, in a profile in The Spectator, Peter Oborne wrote:
“Every year the Blacks threw two parties, one at Christmas and one summer event, at their double-fronted 11-bedroom mansion in Cottesmore Gardens. Everybody who mattered at the time went: Margaret Thatcher, Henry Kissinger, Jimmy Goldsmith, James Hanson, Arnold Weinstock, Jacob Rothschild, royalty, the playwright Tom Stoppard.”
“Some of these, injudiciously as it turned out, agreed to join the main Hollinger board. The luckier ones – Peter Carrington, Robert Salisbury – got away with being made directors of TheTelegraph. As the Tories faded out, Labour ministers started to arrive, the indefatigable Peter Mandelson, David Blunkett and other ministers eager to ingratiate themselves with the Tory press. Prince and Princess Michael of Kent were assiduous in attendance. In London, the Nineties belonged to the Blacks. They were London’s most glamorous power couple.”
“There had been a time when both Blacks had kept their feet on the ground. This ceased to be the case. One evening Barbara Black rang Charles Moore panic-stricken from her Kensington home. There had been a last-minute drop-out from one of the famous Black dinner parties. ‘I’m short of a woman,’ she told Moore. Moore surveyed the newsroom. His gaze alighted on the journalist Eleanor Mills, by chance the stepdaughter of the Cabinet minister Tessa Jowell.”
“An hour later, hastily groomed, made-up and brushed, Mills was sipping pre-dinner drinks in Cottesmore Gardens. Then disaster struck. A male guest, Max Fisher, dropped out. Mills was approached by Conrad Black. ‘Finish your drink and skedaddle,’ he told her. Barbara Black then told her to go to the kitchen and out through the servants’ door, where the driver would pick her up and take her home.”
2001 – Conrad Black is elevated to a life peerage in the United Kingdom at the suggestion of Tony Blair. He sat on the Conservative benches in the House of Lords until 2007 as The Right Honourable The Lord Black of Crossharbour KCSG, but took a “leave of absence” between 2012 and 2019.
28th May 1996 – The Royal Borough of Kensington And Chelsea ordered that 12 – 14 Cottesmore Gardens “shall be known and described” simply instead as 14 Cottesmore Gardens.
Mid 1990s – The Blacks set about renovating 12 and 14 Cottesmore Gardens with the help of J. E. Evans Associates. Of the work in October 2006, The Sunday Times shared a segment of Tom Bower’s 2006 hatchet job Conrad and Lady Black that read: “Amiel vowed to create a palace that would attract celebrity worshipers of a power couple. Part of the first floor was to be removed to create a huge ground floor reception area.”
1992 – 12 and 14 Cottesmore Gardens sold by the administrators of the affairs of Alan Bond through estate agents Savills to media tycoon Conrad Black and his Watford born journalist wife Barbara Amiel Black for “well under the asking price” for a sum of £3.5 million ($4.3 million, €4 million or درهم15.9 million).
Mr Bond had been granted mortgages valued at £16.2 million ($20 million, €18.4 million or درهم73.5 million) on the property by Bell Satellite Services on the property along with two others at 4 and 16 Belgrave Mews in London, SW1 previously according to a report published by Financial Review in March 1990.
1991 – Rented to an American businessman for £6,000 per week ($7,400, €6,800 or درهم27,200 per week).
1990 – Placed in the hands of administrators of Mr Bond’s and placed for sale through Savills for a bargain basement sum of £3.8 million ($4.7 million, €4.3 million or درهم17.2 million) according to Financial Review.
1980s – Sold to Alan Bond’s Bell Satellite Group for £7 million ($8.6 million, €8 million or درهم31.7 million).
Circa 1905 – Walter Tapper is said to have “designed a library with handsome Arts and Crafts plasterwork (now removed) at the rear of the building.”
1869 – In their current marketing blurb, Knight Frank suggest: “There has been a house on the site of 12 – 14 Cottesmore Gardens since at least 1869. The current house has been altered, extended and most notably joined over the subsequent century and a half. With the local planning department strongly opposed to further amalgamation of homes, opportunities to acquire a house of this width will be rarer still in the future.”
1850s to 1860s – Built “under the direction of David Howell, of Serjeants Inn, Fleet Street.” Mr Howell was described in 1853 as an “articled clerk to a solicitor, lately carrying on business as a solicitor.” The architecture was lauded as: “Designed in a bold classical manner, with rather fleshy consoles and modillions… and bands of Vitruvian scroll between the bases of the ground-floor windows.”
More photographs of the £36 million mansion…
An entrance hall where power and privilege have most certainly mingled previously.The 54-foot wide drawing is lauded by selling realtors Knight Frank as “arguably the best room in the house” and “double aspect.” They add: “[It has] six windows overlooking the street and additional views over the private garden to the rear.”The columns where Barbara Amiel Black once posed for photographs remain, but the subsequent owners eliminated much of the 1990s ‘brash’ that had been installed by a Watford born woman whose excess clearly offended so many.This dining room, where Conrad Black hosted presidents and prime ministers, is now somewhat diminished. The table for eight looks completely out of place and a future owner would do well to install something a little grander.A double height entertaining space was installed at the insistence of the loftier-than-lofty Lady Black in the 1990s and it remains today. However, it is now currently being used for more casual affairs such as Netflix viewing rather than being the scene of something that you’d more likely find in the ‘House of Cards’ in fact.A new owner might reinstate the grandeur of the past; sadly, however, this seems unlikely and the purchaser is more likely to be a footballer or Internet tycoon than a super-connected business tycoon.This currently very dark and very depressing study would most certainly not appeal to the very clearly very, very bright yet very, very pompous The Right Honourable The Lord Black of Crossharbour KCSG – a man who is said to count Julius Caesar and Napoleon Bonaparte as “his military heroes.” Of him in July 1997, Mark Honigsbaum in the ‘Independent’ remarked: “Although Black’s grandfather had briefly been a business partner of Harold Harmsworth, the original Viscount Rothermere, it was from his father, George Montegu Black Jr, that Black learned the art of corporate warfare, the importance of historical perspective and that gambling provides a disappointing rate of return compared to the Dow Jones index… The young Conrad was precocious. At the age of eight he sank his life savings of $60 into a single share of General Motors. He also became obsessed with Napoleon, and would astound his father’s friends by reeling off details of campaigns. Another story has him washing dollar bills and hanging them out to dry on a line outside his father’s home in Toronto. The last is apocryphal – Black says he slipped in the mud and was cleaning his change – but the image of the young capitalist, wise beyond his years, is accurate. His childhood tutor, the historian Laurier LaPierre, once asked Black why he always seemed to have the air of someone waiting for something to happen… A few years ago, for instance, the rumour went round Fleet Street that Black had bought Napoleon’s preserved penis at an auction. Black denied it, but many remain convinced that Bonaparte’s body part sits in Black’s collection of military curios… Black is no philanderer and is devoted to his second wife, the former ‘Sunday Times’ columnist Barbara Amiel. They are said to be intellectual soul mates and the parties at their four-storey mansion in Kensington are famous for bringing together a cross-section of the great and good.”One could not imagine the likes of the late great Baroness Thatcher, for example, liking the idea of sitting in this extremely depressing and dark waiting area. A new owner would do well to obliterate a décor scheme that could have only been favoured by a completely colour blind banker.A room currently described as a ‘cinema room’ measures 28’6” by 21’6” and is situated at the rear of the house. One can imagine Conrad Black having sat here for hour upon hour watching historical dramas about Napoleon with the likes of chums such as the acclaimed historian Andrew Roberts, the gambling tycoon John Aspinall and the politician and diarist Alan Clark, but a new owner will be more likely next showing episodes of ‘Succession’ – based on ‘The Telegraph’ tycoon’s rival Rupert Murdoch – than viewing historical works one most definitely suspects.Dining whilst the staff cook would NEVER have been on the agenda in the era that pomposity reigned whilst Lady Black was chatelaine of 14 Cottesmore Gardens.A 2,000 square foot entire floor fit for a tycoon… The master bedroom suite of the house takes up the entirety of the second floor of the building. It incorporates not only the principal bedroom, but also a “his” dressing room and a “her” dressing room as well as a sitting area, a bathroom, a shower room and storage rooms. It has direct lift access and is bigger than the average Brit’s entire house.A dressing room in the house where Barbara Black opened up to ‘Vogue’ and displayed “closets overflowing with dazzling evening gowns, designer handbags and 100 pairs of Manolo Blahnik shoes. ‘I have an extravagance that knows no bounds,’ she famously declared. Unfortunately for Lady Black, the article was closely perused at investment company Tweedy, Browne, a Hollinger International shareholder.”This playroom certainly did not exist in the era that Lord and Lady Black owned the property. It would be more likely crammed with books or stuffed with Manolo Blahnik shoes than toys from Toys ‘R Us. A new owner may likely reinstate it as an additional bedroom or office or games room perhaps.The pool room measures 43’9” by 26’9” and is no doubt where Lady Black spent many an hour relaxing.The garden to the rear was where Lord and Lady Black hosted their annual summer party (with guests “spilling” into their drawing room also). In surprisingly Tardis-like fashion, the duo were able to supposedly squeeze in upto 400 guests at such occasions. Amongst those said to have enjoyed hospitality there were Joan Collins and of such, magazine publisher Nicholas Coleridge wrote: “If you get a kick out of milling about with present and former prime ministers, cabinet ministers, minor royals, dukes, editors, vastly rich Americans, distinguished historians, gossip columnists, playboys and lots of pretty ‘it’ girls, then this was the place to be.”The existing floor plan of the property illustrates the vast scale of the building offered. A buyer, Knight Frank observe, has additional options and “a pre-planning consultation has been carried out with RBKC by leading architects Studio Indigo.” They add: “[It] would completely reconfigure the house adding an additional basement floor and taking the internal space to more than 15,000 square foot. The resulting house would have a 40-foot by 41-foot south-facing rear garden.”A plan of the site as presented in 1996 when 12 and 14 became known just as 14 Cottesmore Gardens.
