The Steeple Times

Tag: abuse

  • Sophie Michell: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”

    Sophie Michell: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”

    The Steeple Times asks the chef, author and television personality Sophie Michell: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”

     

    The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom.” What’s your guiding force? 

    “Independence and the life choices that come with it.”

     

     “Never regret, never explain, never apologise” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?

    As Virginia Woolf once said: “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.”

     

    Kerry Katona was unacceptable in 2007. Who is unacceptable in 2012?

    Samantha Brick: She gave women a bad name by writing so many self-serving articles implying that all women are as shallow and as vacuous as she, and that we as a gender make judgements solely on looks.

     

    Tony Blair misses being Prime Minister. What do you miss most in your life?

    Friends and family who I have loved and lost.

     

    What might you swap all your wealth for?

    A simple life living by the sea and working in a job that involved the ocean and it’s stunning environment and creatures.

     

    What phrase or word do you most loathe?

    I hate the abbreviated text language that people use,  it makes people sound very moronic

     

    In the UK, some people consider charity to “begin at home.” What’s your view and what causes do you personally support?

    I try and support charities as much as possible within my means and I think we should all do the same. Time is also as worth as much as money in many cases. I generally support Breakthrough Breast Cancer, but I am very keen to get involved in a charity that works for abused women and children. It’s a bigger issue than people think, routinely ignored and sadly it’s on our doorstep.

     

    Have you ever been arrested and if so, for what?

    Hahaha, nope! But that could just mean that I’ve never been caught… Only joking.

     

    If you could fill a carriage on The Orient Express, who would be your fellow passengers?

    Definitely Marie Antoinette as she knew how to party and I love the clothes of that era. Cleopatra was a glamorous and formidable woman so she must come too. I’d also like Gregory Peck as he seemed like a real gentleman and my great grandfather Admiral Godfrey, who was head of Naval Intelligence in World War II. Ian Fleming was his PA and apparently the James Bond books were based on Ian Fleming’s time working with him. In fact, the character ‘M’ was based on my great grandfather and I would just love to hear the stories in person. There are many more people too, but those four would make an interesting start.

     

    Sophie Michell

    If you were unfortunate enough to end up on death row, what would be your last meal and where would you eat it?

    It would be a classic seafood platter by the sea somewhere possibly on the French Riviera. I suggest this mainly because with all the shells you have to crack open to extract the tasty morsels taking such a long time to get through, it would give me time to plan my escape.

     

    What time is it acceptable to consume the first drink of the day?

    Any time after noon if on holiday. Any time after 6pm if at home. Failing those terms, you can always bend the rules by proclaiming loudly that it is always cocktail hour somewhere in the world at any given time. This works for me.

     

    A Negroni, a martini or a cup of tea?

    A dirty martini every time.

     

    Whose parties do you enjoy the most and why?

    I love private house parties as they are personal and always great fun. I entertain a lot when I can for both work and pleasure. I think it enables one to be quite creative and I love seeing an event come off well. I also love really chilled out beach parties, when everyone is glowing from a day in the sunshine and you can hear the sea.

     

    Who is the most positive person you know?

    My darling friend Miss Emma Nettleton. Nothing seems so serious after some dancing and giggles with her.

     

    What’s your most guilty pleasure?

    Ha ha ha: Guilt is a pointless emotion, so a pleasure should be left at that and basically if you feel guilt creeping in, then just don’t do it.

     

    What was the first bone that you broke?

    An ankle bone due to my first foray into ridiculously large platform shoes, aged 14. I haven’t stopped wearing large heels, but I have since mastered the art.

     

    If a tattoo were to sum you up, what would it be of?

    Probably a dolphin. I am happier in the sea than anywhere else. Although for the record I think tattoos are vile.

     

    If you were a car, what marque would you be?

    God knows. I don’t drive and have never tried. I am not adverse to beautiful cars, but also not attached to them either.

     

    Cilla Black presented “Surprise, Surprise.” Tell us the most surprising thing about you.

    I am actually quite shy and have faint OCD according to my friends. I think it’s otherwise known as being tidy.

     

    What’s currently sitting on your mantelpiece?

    A French antique mirror, a beautiful fluorite crystal, a Dyptique blackberry leaf candle and a couple of out of date invites that will soon be removed.

     

    Sophie Michell is a chef with a true passion for nutrition and healthy eating. She was the private chef for Claudia Schiffer for two years and has cooked for various other famous names including Leonardo DiCaprio and David Cameron. She has presented and appeared on a number of television shows including Cook Yourself Thin, Market Kitchen and Ready Steady Cook.

     

    Sophie Michell’s official website can be viewed at: http://www.sophiemichell.com and information about her latest show, BBC America’s Chef Race: U.K. vs. U.S., can be seen at: http://www.bbcamerica.com/chef-race

     

    Purchase Sophie Michell’s latest book, Love Good Food, at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Love-Good-Food-Sophie-Michell/dp/1848990103/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_3

  • Why pay less?

    Why pay less?

    Living life to the full Donald G. Abbey style

     

    “Why pay less when you can pay more?” is a mantra that some strangely choose to live by. In my time, I have encountered a couple with a different Ferrari for each day of the week, someone who proudly declared their home had a window for each day of the year and an heiress who insists upon the local baker feeding her dog daily with a freshly baked caviar pie.

     

    When I discovered a house in California priced at $78,000,000, I didn’t expect to subsequently find out that the same vendor is also selling another of his homes in Montana at the very same price. Having done a little research into Donald G. Abbey, the commercial real estate tycoon who owns both The Bradbury Estate and Shelter Island, I discovered that here indeed is another personality whose excess knows no bounds.

     

    I suppose when people sell homes of this worth, the asking price they set is quite irrelevant. “What,” I’m sure they ask, “is $5 million between friends?” Equally, when it comes to developing such properties, characters of this nature do not show any reserve. Bling is most definitely the order of the day and the larger and flashier one can build, I guess, the better.

     

    An aerial shot of The Bradbury Estate, 172 Bliss Canyon Road, Bradbury, California, CA 91008, USA
    The front elevation of the main house
    The owner and his guests need not get wet on arrival in their limousines

     

    Abbey’s Bradbury Estate is a case in point. This vast property consists of a 33,000 square foot main house with 7 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms. It is almost entirely made of French limestone and includes a chef’s kitchen with a pizza oven, a 2,000 bottle wine cellar, an oak paneled elevator and a leather paneled poker room. Bedrooms include domes with hand painted frescos and in addition there is a detached 6,700 square foot guest house above a 10 car garage and a 5,700 square foot pool house with a catering kitchen, gym, massage room and a subterranean EPA certified 25 yard rifle shooting range complete with a gun storage room and 2 large safes.

     

    The hall of the main residence comes complete with a gallery and bar
    A vast library provides the perfect space to enjoy a good book
    The library’s glazed ceiling
    Another palatial reception room
    The house features a rather impressive kitchen
    Mr Abbey’s copper bath tub comes complete with a mat displaying his initials in front of it

     

    Within the 8 acre grounds there is a cross shaped infinity-edged pool – perhaps Mr Abbey is religious – that is “just a few feet short of Olympic length.” It requires 350,000 gallons of water if it is to be filled to capacity. Adjoining this is something even more ludicrous: a 1,000,000 gallon, temperature-controlled rainbow trout pond that cost some $8,000,000 to construct. The pond is said to be “adorned with perennials,” is heated by a custom gravity separator with UV filters and is “chilled for the trout by a 300-tonne central cooling plant.” At Bradbury, thoughts of water crisis in Sudan and Ethiopia come way behind the needs of Abbey’s rainbows.

     

    The rear of the house viewed from above The Bradbury Estate’s $8,000,000 trout pond
    The estate’s 350,000 gallon near Olympic length cross shaped infinity edged swimming pool
    The property’s EPA certified 25 yard rifle range

     

    For those wanting to avoid California’s UV rays, Bradbury also boasts an acre of porches, decks, loggia and walkways. A 600ft blue stone driveway completes this “once in a lifetime trophy property” that “belongs in the portfolio of the most astute collector” and it has space for “60 foot truck access or multiple limousines.”

     

    When Mr Abbey has tired of California, he is able to retreat to his own island in Montana. The 24 acre Shelter Island on Flathead Lake includes 7,000 feet of frontage to the water, a world class sporting clay course and 3 computer controlled tracks and docking systems that allow boats to be landed in the dry dock without riders ever leaving the craft or handling a line. The island is powered via an underground armoured utility cable that carry 12,000 amps to it along with CAT-5 computer cable and phonelines and the main entertaining space features a mammoth television of some 120-inches in size.

     

    An aerial view of Donald G. Abbey’s Shelter Island
    Mr Abbey’s passion for copper continues with a conservatory made out of the metal on the lakeside elevation of the main residence on Shelter Island
    The Great Room of the main residence on Shelter Island
    Mr Abbey’s passion for fine wines is displayed in a bar and tasting room in the property
    The owner and his guests can access their boats without having to go anywhere near the water

     

    Abbey has built over 44,000 square foot of accommodation on his island. The main house has 5 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms. His “Great Room” features ceilings of some 45 foot in height and in addition to yet another indoor shooting range, there is a kitchen that woudn’t look out of place in The Savoy hotel.

     

    In the UK, the property most similar to anything Abbey has built has to be Updown Court at Windlesham in Surrey. Developed by a former bricklayer named Leslie Allen-Vercoe, the house was described by him as being: “The most important residence to be built in England since the 19th century.” Architectural critics did not agree and some went as far as to say that it looked like: “A cross between a Tesco superstore and Center Parcs.”

     

    Allen-Vercoe’s behemoth of a house is gargantuan in size. With 103 rooms it includes 24 bedrooms, 5 swimming pools, a 2-lane bowling alley, a squash court, a floodlit tennis court, a 50-seat cinema and a panic room. The heated driveway that led to the house is entirely made of marble and cost some £2.5 million to construct but plainly none of this appealed to the market as it languished for sale at a price of £70,000,000 from 2006 to 2011 before being repossessed by the Irish National Asset Management Agency (NAMA). Updown Court was sold for half the original asking price to a foreign buyer in October 2011 and is, I believe, due to undergo extensive remodeling.

     

    Updown Court, Chertsey Road, Windlesham, Surrey, GU20 6HY, UK

     

    Allen Vercoe once stated: “If Elton John were a house, he’d be Updown Court.” Equally, I imagine if Mr Abbey’s residences were to be compared to any celebrities they’d be the vulgar car crash that is Donatella Versace and the ludicrous money obsessed singer with a dollar sign in her name, Ke$ha.

     

    Updown Court, Shelter Island and The Bradbury Estate all illustrate that money cannot buy you good taste. I suppose, though, that those who ultimately come to live in them will have plenty of space to choose how and where to enjoy their own form of misery.

     

    For more information about Donald G. Abbey, go to: http://www.theabbeyco.com

     

    For information on both The Bradbury Estate and Shelter Island, contact Bob Hurwitz of the Hurwitz James Company on +1 310-477-8865. Website: http://www.hurwitzjamesco.com

     

    A website devoted to The Bradbury Estate can be viewed at: http://www.bradburyestate.com

     

    A video of Shelter Island can be watched at: http://vimeo.com/11404637

     

    For more details on Updown Court, go to: http://www.updowncourt.com/