The Steeple Times

Tag: attractive

  • Put A Stamp In It

    Put A Stamp In It

    Bath pensioner gets very, very, very worked up about the quality of stamps available in a Post Office in a WHSmith store

    Right now, whilst most people are either worrying about the health of their friends and relatives or their next pay cheque during the coronavirus lockdown, a man named Dave French from Bath, Somerset has other priorities.

     

    Last month, Mr French contacted SomersetLive to moan about the quality of service and stamps in his local WHSmith. Speaking to the local newspaper’s senior reporter Richard Mills, the 68-year-old remarked:

     

    “I buy hundreds of pounds of postage stamps for correspondence and parcels. I prefer to buy sheets of commemorative stamps the first day they are issued. When legibly franked and postmarked they take on a second life… So, I was disappointed soon after the new Post Office in WHSmiths opened to be told that they had not received the new stamp issue.”

     

    After returning on another occasion, after getting what he ‘thought’ he wanted, this moaning Minnie added:

     

    “I returned a few days later to the Smiths Post Office and bought what was left of the newly issued stamps. Very attractive but when I got home I found they had been ripped across and parts of them missing. Somebody hadn’t noticed you are meant to use the perforations. What kind of staff were they employing?”

     

    Mr French supposedly then visited again. This time, he found: “On my third and final attempt to get decent service in Smiths, there was the usual long queue, nowhere to sit and the priority was the staff fixing the self-service stamp machines.”

     

    Summing up, the pensioner concluded by sharing his fury: “Speechless, I left and will not be returning… Ralph Allen [an 18th century British postal service reformer] will be turning in his mausoleum in Claverton churchyard… I won’t go back there.”

     

    One thing is for sure about customer from hell Dave French’s decision: The workers of WHSmith and the Post Office of Bath will be eternally grateful.

     

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  • Unfinished Business

    Unfinished Business

    519 acre Gloucestershire estate complete with “challenging” high bird estate goes on sale for £16.5 million in spite of needing a further £1.5 million spent on it

     

    A ringfenced Cotswolds estate has gone on sale for £16.5 million ($21.6 million, €18.8 million or درهم78.9 million) in spite of being centred around an eight bedroom house that is basically nothing other than shell.

     

    Altered and extended in the 1920s when part of the Dent-Brocklehurst family’s Sudeley Castle estate, Sudeley Lodge was supposedly visited by George III in 1788 and needs a further £1.5 million ($1.9 million, €1.7 million or درهم7.1 million) spent completing its renovation.

     

    Offered for sale due to the current owner having fallen ill and thus become able to complete its refurbishment, this 10,781 square foot Grade II listed former hunting lodge is described by selling agents Knight Frank as “an enchanting sporting estate.” It comes with a farmhouse, keeper’s cottage, two cottages and various traditional and modern farmbuildings.

     

    What makes the property most attractive, however, is the estate’s “challenging” high bird pheasant and partridge shoot. Shot for 13 days per season currently, bags average 150 to 300 birds a day and of it, in September 2012, Country Life remarked: “I know of one syndicate in particular that embodies all the qualities one could ask for in a syndicate day… Studeley Lodge… A beautiful high-bird shooting and farming estate.”

     

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    Unfinished Business – £16.5 million ($21.6 million, €18.8 million or درهم78.9 million) for Sudeley Lodge, Sudeley Road, Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, GL54 5JB, United Kingdom through estate agent Knight Frank – 519 acre Gloucestershire estate goes on sale for £16.5 million in spite of needing a further £1.5 million spent on it.Unfinished Business – £16.5 million ($21.6 million, €18.8 million or درهم78.9 million) for Sudeley Lodge, Sudeley Road, Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, GL54 5JB, United Kingdom through estate agent Knight Frank – 519 acre Gloucestershire estate goes on sale for £16.5 million in spite of needing a further £1.5 million spent on it.Unfinished Business – £16.5 million ($21.6 million, €18.8 million or درهم78.9 million) for Sudeley Lodge, Sudeley Road, Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, GL54 5JB, United Kingdom through estate agent Knight Frank – 519 acre Gloucestershire estate goes on sale for £16.5 million in spite of needing a further £1.5 million spent on it.Unfinished Business – £16.5 million ($21.6 million, €18.8 million or درهم78.9 million) for Sudeley Lodge, Sudeley Road, Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, GL54 5JB, United Kingdom through estate agent Knight Frank – 519 acre Gloucestershire estate goes on sale for £16.5 million in spite of needing a further £1.5 million spent on it.Unfinished Business – £16.5 million ($21.6 million, €18.8 million or درهم78.9 million) for Sudeley Lodge, Sudeley Road, Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, GL54 5JB, United Kingdom through estate agent Knight Frank – 519 acre Gloucestershire estate goes on sale for £16.5 million in spite of needing a further £1.5 million spent on it. Unfinished Business – £16.5 million ($21.6 million, €18.8 million or درهم78.9 million) for Sudeley Lodge, Sudeley Road, Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, GL54 5JB, United Kingdom through estate agent Knight Frank – 519 acre Gloucestershire estate goes on sale for £16.5 million in spite of needing a further £1.5 million spent on it.Unfinished Business – £16.5 million ($21.6 million, €18.8 million or درهم78.9 million) for Sudeley Lodge, Sudeley Road, Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, GL54 5JB, United Kingdom through estate agent Knight Frank – 519 acre Gloucestershire estate goes on sale for £16.5 million in spite of needing a further £1.5 million spent on it. Unfinished Business – £16.5 million ($21.6 million, €18.8 million or درهم78.9 million) for Sudeley Lodge, Sudeley Road, Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, GL54 5JB, United Kingdom through estate agent Knight Frank – 519 acre Gloucestershire estate goes on sale for £16.5 million in spite of needing a further £1.5 million spent on it. Unfinished Business – £16.5 million ($21.6 million, €18.8 million or درهم78.9 million) for Sudeley Lodge, Sudeley Road, Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, GL54 5JB, United Kingdom through estate agent Knight Frank – 519 acre Gloucestershire estate goes on sale for £16.5 million in spite of needing a further £1.5 million spent on it. Unfinished Business – £16.5 million ($21.6 million, €18.8 million or درهم78.9 million) for Sudeley Lodge, Sudeley Road, Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, GL54 5JB, United Kingdom through estate agent Knight Frank – 519 acre Gloucestershire estate goes on sale for £16.5 million in spite of needing a further £1.5 million spent on it. Unfinished Business – £16.5 million ($21.6 million, €18.8 million or درهم78.9 million) for Sudeley Lodge, Sudeley Road, Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, GL54 5JB, United Kingdom through estate agent Knight Frank – 519 acre Gloucestershire estate goes on sale for £16.5 million in spite of needing a further £1.5 million spent on it.Unfinished Business – £16.5 million ($21.6 million, €18.8 million or درهم78.9 million) for Sudeley Lodge, Sudeley Road, Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, GL54 5JB, United Kingdom through estate agent Knight Frank – 519 acre Gloucestershire estate goes on sale for £16.5 million in spite of needing a further £1.5 million spent on it.

  • A River Runs Through It

    A River Runs Through It

    Attractive Grade II listed riverside residence at Marlow goes on sale

     

    A charming Grade II listed 19th century riverside townhouse at Marlow in Buckinghamshire has been put on the market just before the 162nd annual Marlow Regatta.

     

    The Lodge on St Peter Street boasts what selling agents Hamptons refer to as “one of the most significant river frontages” and is opposite the weir and The Compleat Angler. Aside from mooring rights and a 65’ southerly terrace backing onto the River Thames, this 3,475 square foot two storey detached house includes 3 reception rooms, 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms.

     

    Agents Hamptons seek £3.75 million ($4.84 million, €4.44 million or درهم17.77 million).

     

     A River Runs Through It – £3.75 million for The Lodge at Marlow, Bucks – Attractive Grade II listed riverside residence, The Lodge, 39 St Peter Street, Marlow, Buckinghamshire, SL7 1NQ goes on sale for £3.75m.A River Runs Through It – £3.75 million for The Lodge at Marlow, Bucks – Attractive Grade II listed riverside residence, The Lodge, 39 St Peter Street, Marlow, Buckinghamshire, SL7 1NQ goes on sale for £3.75m.A River Runs Through It – £3.75 million for The Lodge at Marlow, Bucks – Attractive Grade II listed riverside residence, The Lodge, 39 St Peter Street, Marlow, Buckinghamshire, SL7 1NQ goes on sale for £3.75m. A River Runs Through It – £3.75 million for The Lodge at Marlow, Bucks – Attractive Grade II listed riverside residence, The Lodge, 39 St Peter Street, Marlow, Buckinghamshire, SL7 1NQ goes on sale for £3.75m.A River Runs Through It – £3.75 million for The Lodge at Marlow, Bucks – Attractive Grade II listed riverside residence, The Lodge, 39 St Peter Street, Marlow, Buckinghamshire, SL7 1NQ goes on sale for £3.75m.A River Runs Through It – £3.75 million for The Lodge at Marlow, Bucks – Attractive Grade II listed riverside residence, The Lodge, 39 St Peter Street, Marlow, Buckinghamshire, SL7 1NQ goes on sale for £3.75m.A River Runs Through It – £3.75 million for The Lodge at Marlow, Bucks – Attractive Grade II listed riverside residence, The Lodge, 39 St Peter Street, Marlow, Buckinghamshire, SL7 1NQ goes on sale for £3.75m.A River Runs Through It – £3.75 million for The Lodge at Marlow, Bucks – Attractive Grade II listed riverside residence, The Lodge, 39 St Peter Street, Marlow, Buckinghamshire, SL7 1NQ goes on sale for £3.75m.A River Runs Through It – £3.75 million for The Lodge at Marlow, Bucks – Attractive Grade II listed riverside residence, The Lodge, 39 St Peter Street, Marlow, Buckinghamshire, SL7 1NQ goes on sale for £3.75m.

  • Barbed Manors

    Barbed Manors

    Grade II* listed Kent manor house for sale for £3.95 million; the purchaser will get a controversial £107.9 million EuroMillions jackpot winner as their neighbour

     

    Sold last in 2009 for £1.9 million (the equivalent of £2.3 million, $2.8 million, €2.2 million or درهم 10.3 million today), Waystrode Manor at Cowden, near Edenbridge in Kent is a Grade II* listed manor house.

     

    For sale currently for £3.95 million ($4.81 million, €4.56 million or درهم 17.65 million) through Savills, the main 4,435 square foot house dates back as far, perhaps, as 1208. The present Tudor residence includes 4 reception rooms, 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, but aside from that there is a 3 bedroom cottage, a converted oast house providing a recreation space, a Grade II listed double vaulted timber frame barn, an orangery and a coach house.

     

    Within the 7.8 acres of formal and informal gardens and grounds of this attractive, restored property – which has been offered as a film and photo shoot location through the JJ Media agency – there is also an outdoor swimming pool, a hard tennis court, three ponds and an orchard.

     

    Though the eventual purchaser of Waystrode Manor will of course be a multi-millionaire, they will most likely not be nearly as rich as their controversial neighbours, Neil Trotter and his partner Nikki Ottaway. Mr Trotter won £107.9 million ($131.4million, €124.6 million or درهم 482.4 million) on the EuroMillions lottery in 2014 and subsequently bought the adjoining 423-acre estate, Leighton Manor, for £5 million ($6.1 million, €5.8 million or درهم 22.4 million). In 2016, Trotter and Ottaway were “slammed” in the national press by locals after installing what was termed an “unsightly” barbed wire fence.

     

    Barbed Manors – Waystrode Manor, Spode Lane, Cowden, Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 7HW – For sale for £3.95 million ($4.81 million, €4.56 million or درهم 17.65 million) through Savills – Neighboring estate to Leighton Manor, owned by EuroMillions winners Neil Trotter and Nikki Ottaway
    Neil Trotter was a garage mechanic before he won a EuroMillions jackpot

    Barbed Manors – Waystrode Manor, Spode Lane, Cowden, Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 7HW – For sale for £3.95 million ($4.81 million, €4.56 million or درهم 17.65 million) through Savills – Neighboring estate to Leighton Manor, owned by EuroMillions winners Neil Trotter and Nikki Ottaway
    Waystrode Manor, Spode Lane, Cowden, Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 7HW

    Barbed Manors – Waystrode Manor, Spode Lane, Cowden, Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 7HW – For sale for £3.95 million ($4.81 million, €4.56 million or درهم 17.65 million) through Savills – Neighboring estate to Leighton Manor, owned by EuroMillions winners Neil Trotter and Nikki Ottaway
    A sitting room in the main house

    Barbed Manors – Waystrode Manor, Spode Lane, Cowden, Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 7HW – For sale for £3.95 million ($4.81 million, €4.56 million or درهم 17.65 million) through Savills – Neighboring estate to Leighton Manor, owned by EuroMillions winners Neil Trotter and Nikki Ottaway
    A drawing room with an equally imposing fireplace

    Barbed Manors – Waystrode Manor, Spode Lane, Cowden, Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 7HW – For sale for £3.95 million ($4.81 million, €4.56 million or درهم 17.65 million) through Savills – Neighboring estate to Leighton Manor, owned by EuroMillions winners Neil Trotter and Nikki Ottaway
    This hallway is used as a dining space

    Barbed Manors – Waystrode Manor, Spode Lane, Cowden, Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 7HW – For sale for £3.95 million ($4.81 million, €4.56 million or درهم 17.65 million) through Savills – Neighboring estate to Leighton Manor, owned by EuroMillions winners Neil Trotter and Nikki Ottaway
    Whilst this is described as a breakfast room

    Barbed Manors – Waystrode Manor, Spode Lane, Cowden, Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 7HW – For sale for £3.95 million ($4.81 million, €4.56 million or درهم 17.65 million) through Savills – Neighboring estate to Leighton Manor, owned by EuroMillions winners Neil Trotter and Nikki Ottaway
    The kitchen is one of the few “modern” rooms in the main building

    Barbed Manors – Waystrode Manor, Spode Lane, Cowden, Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 7HW – For sale for £3.95 million ($4.81 million, €4.56 million or درهم 17.65 million) through Savills – Neighboring estate to Leighton Manor, owned by EuroMillions winners Neil Trotter and Nikki Ottaway
    The master bedroom has its own bathroom

    Barbed Manors – Waystrode Manor, Spode Lane, Cowden, Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 7HW – For sale for £3.95 million ($4.81 million, €4.56 million or درهم 17.65 million) through Savills – Neighboring estate to Leighton Manor, owned by EuroMillions winners Neil Trotter and Nikki Ottaway
    This barn is Grade II listed

    Barbed Manors – Waystrode Manor, Spode Lane, Cowden, Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 7HW – For sale for £3.95 million ($4.81 million, €4.56 million or درهم 17.65 million) through Savills – Neighboring estate to Leighton Manor, owned by EuroMillions winners Neil Trotter and Nikki Ottaway
    It features a double height, vaulted interior

    Barbed Manors – Waystrode Manor, Spode Lane, Cowden, Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 7HW – For sale for £3.95 million ($4.81 million, €4.56 million or درهم 17.65 million) through Savills – Neighboring estate to Leighton Manor, owned by EuroMillions winners Neil Trotter and Nikki Ottaway
    An oast house stands in the grounds also

    Barbed Manors – Waystrode Manor, Spode Lane, Cowden, Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 7HW – For sale for £3.95 million ($4.81 million, €4.56 million or درهم 17.65 million) through Savills – Neighboring estate to Leighton Manor, owned by EuroMillions winners Neil Trotter and Nikki Ottaway
    The interior of the building

    Barbed Manors – Waystrode Manor, Spode Lane, Cowden, Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 7HW – For sale for £3.95 million ($4.81 million, €4.56 million or درهم 17.65 million) through Savills – Neighboring estate to Leighton Manor, owned by EuroMillions winners Neil Trotter and Nikki Ottaway
    A view of the gardens

    Barbed Manors – Waystrode Manor, Spode Lane, Cowden, Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 7HW – For sale for £3.95 million ($4.81 million, €4.56 million or درهم 17.65 million) through Savills – Neighboring estate to Leighton Manor, owned by EuroMillions winners Neil Trotter and Nikki Ottaway
    This orangery is quite impressive from the outside

    Barbed Manors – Waystrode Manor, Spode Lane, Cowden, Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 7HW – For sale for £3.95 million ($4.81 million, €4.56 million or درهم 17.65 million) through Savills – Neighboring estate to Leighton Manor, owned by EuroMillions winners Neil Trotter and Nikki Ottaway
    As is its interior

    Barbed Manors – Waystrode Manor, Spode Lane, Cowden, Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 7HW – For sale for £3.95 million ($4.81 million, €4.56 million or درهم 17.65 million) through Savills – Neighboring estate to Leighton Manor, owned by EuroMillions winners Neil Trotter and Nikki Ottaway
    There is a tennis court

    Barbed Manors – Waystrode Manor, Spode Lane, Cowden, Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 7HW – For sale for £3.95 million ($4.81 million, €4.56 million or درهم 17.65 million) through Savills – Neighboring estate to Leighton Manor, owned by EuroMillions winners Neil Trotter and Nikki Ottaway
    And a swimming pool

    Barbed Manors – Waystrode Manor, Spode Lane, Cowden, Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 7HW – For sale for £3.95 million ($4.81 million, €4.56 million or درهم 17.65 million) through Savills – Neighboring estate to Leighton Manor, owned by EuroMillions winners Neil Trotter and Nikki Ottaway
    A further outbuilding

    Barbed Manors – Waystrode Manor, Spode Lane, Cowden, Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 7HW – For sale for £3.95 million ($4.81 million, €4.56 million or درهم 17.65 million) through Savills – Neighboring estate to Leighton Manor, owned by EuroMillions winners Neil Trotter and Nikki Ottaway
    The setting

    Barbed Manors – Waystrode Manor, Spode Lane, Cowden, Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 7HW – For sale for £3.95 million ($4.81 million, €4.56 million or درهم 17.65 million) through Savills – Neighboring estate to Leighton Manor, owned by EuroMillions winners Neil Trotter and Nikki Ottaway
    Another view of the main house

  • Overheard – 1st March

    Overheard – 1st March

    Clangers overheard by readers of ‘The Steeple Times’ (more…)

  • Making a mews

    Making a mews

    Lennox Gardens Mews house for sale for £5.8 million (more…)

  • Randy Harris

    Randy Harris

    Randy HarrisThe son of businessman King Harris and publishing heiress Anne Hearst McInerney, Randy Harris celebrated his 21st birthday party at the ‘21’ Club in 2012 (more…)

  • Meek but not mild

    Meek but not mild

    Matthew Steeples asks: “In becoming ‘prison porn’ what does the case of Jeremy Meeks tell us about society?”

     

    The countless articles that have been written about the “hot mugshot guy” Jeremy Meeks fail to miss the point that here is a previously jailed individual awaiting trial for multiple felony weapon charges. (more…)

  • An adult Disneyworld

    An adult Disneyworld

    Donna Leon’s portrait of Venice has telling similarities to our view about what Central London has become

     

    In yesterday’s The Times, author Donna Leon was interviewed about her latest novel, By Its Cover. Born in America, but a longtime resident of Venice, Leon made telling remarks about what the city where she lives has become (more…)

  • Omar Borkan Al Gala

    Omar Borkan Al Gala

    Omar Borkan Al GalaThis Dubai born poet, actor and photographer was expelled from Saudi Arabia in April 2013 by the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vices for being “too sexy”. He has over 175,000 fans on his Facebook page and of women he states: “The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides”. As Derek Zoolander once said: “There must be more to life than being really, really ridiculously good-looking”.