The Steeple Times

Tag: England

  • Over-Engineered

    Over-Engineered

    Essex “neo Georgian Palladian” residence created from an ordinary detached house marketed for £5.4 million; it is a bit of a mish-mash and described as “over-engineered”

     

    Estate agents normally wax lyrical about properties they are marketing but in the case of £5.4 million ($6.7 million, €6.3 million or درهم24.8million) Threshers House at Threshers Bush, near Harlow in Essex, Beresfords bizarrely go as far as to describe it as “over-engineered”.

     

    Situated on a plot of 11.5 acres and redeveloped and extended since 2010 by an “award winning builder” named Paul Pickering, the 7,409 square foot main residence offered is described as being “neo Georgian Palladian” in style. Given such an architectural period doesn’t exist as a sole entity, it is a bit of a mish-mash but given the new building is an improvement on the plain house that it has been created from, one can be forgiving of the result.

     

    Over-Engineered – Threshers House, Hobbs Cross Road, Matching, Threshers Bush, Magdalen Laver, Harlow, Hastingwood, Essex, CM17 0NP – For sale for £5.4 million ($6.7 million, €6.3 million or درهم24.8million) through Beresfords
    The old Threshers House, Hobbs Cross Road, Threshers Bush, Harlow, Essex, CM17 0NP
    Over-Engineered – Threshers House, Hobbs Cross Road, Matching, Threshers Bush, Magdalen Laver, Harlow, Hastingwood, Essex, CM17 0NP – For sale for £5.4 million ($6.7 million, €6.3 million or درهم24.8million) through Beresfords
    The new Threshers House, Hobbs Cross Road, Threshers Bush, Harlow, Essex, CM17 0NP
    Over-Engineered – Threshers House, Hobbs Cross Road, Matching, Threshers Bush, Magdalen Laver, Harlow, Hastingwood, Essex, CM17 0NP – For sale for £5.4 million ($6.7 million, €6.3 million or درهم24.8million) through Beresfords
    The old interior of the building and the new interior
    Over-Engineered – Threshers House, Hobbs Cross Road, Matching, Threshers Bush, Magdalen Laver, Harlow, Hastingwood, Essex, CM17 0NP – For sale for £5.4 million ($6.7 million, €6.3 million or درهم24.8million) through Beresfords
    A proposed design that was ultimately rejected by planning officials at Epping Forest District Council

     

    Aside from a somewhat ostentatious South Fork-esque portico entrance, Threshers House is presented without kitchens and bathrooms so as to allow “incoming purchasers to design to their own requirements”. It includes 5 reception rooms, 5 bedrooms and a 2-bedroom first floor flat and comes with planning permission for a 1,400 square foot orangery and underground leisure facility. Within the grounds is a completed 1,988 square foot 3 bedroom cottage, a 886 square foot bungalow, a 768 square foot bungalow and a 1,386 square foot six car garage.

     

    Elsewhere and benefitting from separate access, a tiled stable and thatched barn complex provides accommodation for 14 horses and was previously run as a business named Threshers Equestrian. It comes with a horse walker, floodlit manège, lunging room and hard standing as well as a number of paddocks.

     

    Threshers House – which is situated about 40 minutes drive from Canary Wharf – is also available for £3.25 million ($4.06 million, €3.81 million or درهم14.92 million) with just 5 acres of land and minus the ancillary accommodation.

     

    Over-Engineered – Threshers House, Hobbs Cross Road, Matching, Threshers Bush, Magdalen Laver, Harlow, Hastingwood, Essex, CM17 0NP – For sale for £5.4 million ($6.7 million, €6.3 million or درهم24.8million) through BeresfordsOver-Engineered – Threshers House, Hobbs Cross Road, Matching, Threshers Bush, Magdalen Laver, Harlow, Hastingwood, Essex, CM17 0NP – For sale for £5.4 million ($6.7 million, €6.3 million or درهم24.8million) through BeresfordsOver-Engineered – Threshers House, Hobbs Cross Road, Matching, Threshers Bush, Magdalen Laver, Harlow, Hastingwood, Essex, CM17 0NP – For sale for £5.4 million ($6.7 million, €6.3 million or درهم24.8million) through BeresfordsOver-Engineered – Threshers House, Hobbs Cross Road, Matching, Threshers Bush, Magdalen Laver, Harlow, Hastingwood, Essex, CM17 0NP – For sale for £5.4 million ($6.7 million, €6.3 million or درهم24.8million) through Beresfords Over-Engineered – Threshers House, Hobbs Cross Road, Matching, Threshers Bush, Magdalen Laver, Harlow, Hastingwood, Essex, CM17 0NP – For sale for £5.4 million ($6.7 million, €6.3 million or درهم24.8million) through BeresfordsOver-Engineered – Threshers House, Hobbs Cross Road, Matching, Threshers Bush, Magdalen Laver, Harlow, Hastingwood, Essex, CM17 0NP – For sale for £5.4 million ($6.7 million, €6.3 million or درهم24.8million) through BeresfordsOver-Engineered – Threshers House, Hobbs Cross Road, Matching, Threshers Bush, Magdalen Laver, Harlow, Hastingwood, Essex, CM17 0NP – For sale for £5.4 million ($6.7 million, €6.3 million or درهم24.8million) through BeresfordsOver-Engineered – Threshers House, Hobbs Cross Road, Matching, Threshers Bush, Magdalen Laver, Harlow, Hastingwood, Essex, CM17 0NP – For sale for £5.4 million ($6.7 million, €6.3 million or درهم24.8million) through Beresfords

  • Chop the Charitycats

    Chop the Charitycats

    As San Francisco socialite and clothes horse Joy Venturini Bianchi is highlighted to be an American version of her fellow former ‘charitycat’ Lady Meyer, it’s time that charities worldwide were better regulated

     

    In Britain, in 2011, the “Chanel-clad” wife of the former British ambassador to Washington, Lady Meyer, faced criticism after The Telegraph revealed the majority of the income of the charity she was then running was spent on her very own pay. She subsequently ceased to be involved in that organisation in 2016 but now, in San Francisco, a similar scandal has come to light in the form of Helpers Community Inc. (formerly rather crudely known as ‘Helpers of the Mentally Retarded’) and its executive director, a wannabe lookalike of Iris Apfel named Joy Venturini Bianchi.

     

    The so-called charity that “natty” Ms. Venturini Bianchi, a self-proclaimed “divorced philanthropist” runs, it was reported last Friday, must “repay the public tens of thousands of dollars after misleading city officials” according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The same paper had previously highlighted that Helpers had paid 78-year old Venturini Bianchi a base salary of £159,149 ($193,828), roughly £82,109 ($100,000) more annually than directors of similarly sized San Francisco non-profits and that supporters had been “disgusted with the way they were using this cause to raise money”.

     

    Ms. Venturini Bianchi stands accused of raising “millions of dollars but failed to adequately distribute [them]” and that she is also attacked for not doing “much to fulfill [her non-profit’s] promise to donors” is, if correct, truly shocking. Just as with Meyer in England, the board of Helpers was composed from “longtime friends” and as state senator Mark Leno pointed out: “It would appear that the board is in need of a serious governance makeover”.

     

    It is time the era of the ‘charitycat’ came to its natural conclusion. In Britain, America and elsewhere, for far too long, wealthy and connected individuals with little-to-no experience have been able to benefit from tax breaks, benefits, salaries and bonuses naïvely given by the public simply by taking over “a cause”. These amateurs should now be banished and running charities should instead become the domain of professionals.

     

    Chop the Charitycats – Joy Venturi Bianchi and Lady Meyer
    Joy Venturini Bianchi with Iris Apfel
    Chop the Charitycats – Joy Venturi Bianchi and Lady Meyer
    Joy Venturini Bianchi with Sir Elton John
  • Mind Your Manor

    Mind Your Manor

    Quintessential English manor house for sale

     

    A typical English manor house has been placed on the market for £3.85 million ($4.8 million, €4.5 million or درهم17.7 million).

     

    Grade II* listed The Manor House at Cholderton, near Salisbury in Wiltshire dates to around 1700 and is primarily built in red and blue brick in English bond with red brick quoins and string courses on the front elevation. Extending in total to 6,386 square foot over 4 floors, the property has 6 reception rooms, 8 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms.

     

    The Manor House – which is offered for sale by Strutt & Parker – stands in 23 acres of land. Aside from a whole array of outbuildings, there is a salinated outdoor swimming pool and a tennis court.

     

    Mind Your Manor – The Manor House, Cholderton, Salibsury, Wiltshire, SP4 0DW – £3.85 million ($4.8 million, €4.5 million or درهم17.7 million)Mind Your Manor – The Manor House, Cholderton, Salibsury, Wiltshire, SP4 0DW – £3.85 million ($4.8 million, €4.5 million or درهم17.7 million) Mind Your Manor – The Manor House, Cholderton, Salibsury, Wiltshire, SP4 0DW – £3.85 million ($4.8 million, €4.5 million or درهم17.7 million)Mind Your Manor – The Manor House, Cholderton, Salibsury, Wiltshire, SP4 0DW – £3.85 million ($4.8 million, €4.5 million or درهم17.7 million)Mind Your Manor – The Manor House, Cholderton, Salibsury, Wiltshire, SP4 0DW – £3.85 million ($4.8 million, €4.5 million or درهم17.7 million)Mind Your Manor – The Manor House, Cholderton, Salibsury, Wiltshire, SP4 0DW – £3.85 million ($4.8 million, €4.5 million or درهم17.7 million)Mind Your Manor – The Manor House, Cholderton, Salibsury, Wiltshire, SP4 0DW – £3.85 million ($4.8 million, €4.5 million or درهم17.7 million)Mind Your Manor – The Manor House, Cholderton, Salibsury, Wiltshire, SP4 0DW – £3.85 million ($4.8 million, €4.5 million or درهم17.7 million)Mind Your Manor – The Manor House, Cholderton, Salibsury, Wiltshire, SP4 0DW – £3.85 million ($4.8 million, €4.5 million or درهم17.7 million)Mind Your Manor – The Manor House, Cholderton, Salibsury, Wiltshire, SP4 0DW – £3.85 million ($4.8 million, €4.5 million or درهم17.7 million)

  • Sex and the Single Zillionaire

    Sex and the Single Zillionaire

    Belvedere, CA home of late tech billionaire and author of ‘Sex and the Single Zillionaire’ Thomas Perkins for sale; he entertained amongst others Sophia Loren and Rupert Murdoch there

     

    Thomas Perkins (1932 – 2016) had it all. Born in New York, this Harvard University and MIT graduate made his fortune in Silicon Valley, California when he co-founded Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in 1972 and invested in amongst others Amazon, AOL, Compaq, Google, Macromedia, Netscape and Segway. He was said to be worth £6.4 billion ($8 billion, €7.4 billion or درهم29.4 billion), was briefly married to famed author Danielle Steel between 1998 and 2002 and wrote a novel of his own, Sex and the Single Zillionaire, in 2006.

     

    Aside from an £8 million ($10 million, €9.3 million or درهم36.6 million) country house in East Sussex, England named Plumpton Place and ‘The Maltese Falcon’ – his 289-foot long, £104.3 million ($130 million, €120.9 million or درهم477.5 million) sailing yacht – Perkins owned a French style residence on Belvedere Island in Marin County, California. He purchased it with his Norwegian first wife, Gerd Thune-Ellefsen, in 1972 and continued to live there after her death in 1994.

     

    Sex and the Single Zillionaire – 345 Golden Gate Avenue, Belvedere Island, Marin County, California, CA 94920 – £13.2 million ($16.5 million, €15.3 million or درهم60.6 million) – Sotheby’s International Realty – Former home of billionaire businessman Thomas Perkins (1932 – 2016)
    Danielle Steel and Tom Perkins remained friends even after their divorce
    Sex and the Single Zillionaire – 345 Golden Gate Avenue, Belvedere Island, Marin County, California, CA 94920 – £13.2 million ($16.5 million, €15.3 million or درهم60.6 million) – Sotheby’s International Realty – Former home of billionaire businessman Thomas Perkins (1932 – 2016)
    Steel even hosted a party for Perkins’s novel at her Pacific Heights, San Francisco mansion when it launched in 2006
    Sex and the Single Zillionaire – 345 Golden Gate Avenue, Belvedere Island, Marin County, California, CA 94920 – £13.2 million ($16.5 million, €15.3 million or درهم60.6 million) – Sotheby’s International Realty – Former home of billionaire businessman Thomas Perkins (1932 – 2016)
    The tech billionaire’s yacht, The Maltese Falcon, was the largest sailing yacht in the world when it was launched in 1990
    Sex and the Single Zillionaire – 345 Golden Gate Avenue, Belvedere Island, Marin County, California, CA 94920 – £13.2 million ($16.5 million, €15.3 million or درهم60.6 million) – Sotheby’s International Realty – Former home of billionaire businessman Thomas Perkins (1932 – 2016)
    Perkins at his English country home, Plumpton Place in East Sussex
    Sex and the Single Zillionaire – 345 Golden Gate Avenue, Belvedere Island, Marin County, California, CA 94920 – £13.2 million ($16.5 million, €15.3 million or درهم60.6 million) – Sotheby’s International Realty – Former home of billionaire businessman Thomas Perkins (1932 – 2016)
    The exterior of Perkins’s Belvedere home, 345 Golden Gate Avenue, appears modest
    Sex and the Single Zillionaire – 345 Golden Gate Avenue, Belvedere Island, Marin County, California, CA 94920 – £13.2 million ($16.5 million, €15.3 million or درهم60.6 million) – Sotheby’s International Realty – Former home of billionaire businessman Thomas Perkins (1932 – 2016)
    But what is to be found within includes this spectacular ‘Grand Salon’

     

    Extending to 8.885 square foot in total, the house – which was put up for sale last June by Perkins’s children – was built to the designs of architects Julia Morgan and George Kelham in 1928 and features 16th century linenfold wood-paneled walls in a room described as a ‘Grand Salon’. Here, Perkins entertained European royalty, his fellow News Corp board member Rupert Murdoch and the Italian actress Sophia Loren and given the room’s outlook to the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco Bay, these luminaries cannot have failed to have been impressed.

     

    Known simply as 345 Golden Gate Avenue, Perkins’s former home is for sale through Sotheby’s International Realty for £13.2 million ($16.5 million, €15.3 million or درهم60.6 million). It includes a formal dining room seating 18, 6 bedrooms, 7.5 bathrooms, a guest apartment, an outdoor swimming pool and stands on a plot of 0.85 acres.

     

    Prior to his death, in 2014, Perkins attracted controversy when he penned an article for The Wall Street Journal. At the time, he wrote:

     

    “Writing from the epicentre [sic] of progressive thought, San Francisco, I would call attention to the parallels of fascist Nazi Germany to its war on its ‘one per cent’, namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American one per cent, namely the rich”.

     

    He later apologised for making comparisons to Nazi Germany but subsequently added: “In the Nazi era it was racial demonization, now it’s class demonization”.

     

    Sex and the Single Zillionaire – 345 Golden Gate Avenue, Belvedere Island, Marin County, California, CA 94920 – £13.2 million ($16.5 million, €15.3 million or درهم60.6 million) – Sotheby’s International Realty – Former home of billionaire businessman Thomas Perkins (1932 – 2016) Sex and the Single Zillionaire – 345 Golden Gate Avenue, Belvedere Island, Marin County, California, CA 94920 – £13.2 million ($16.5 million, €15.3 million or درهم60.6 million) – Sotheby’s International Realty – Former home of billionaire businessman Thomas Perkins (1932 – 2016)Sex and the Single Zillionaire – 345 Golden Gate Avenue, Belvedere Island, Marin County, California, CA 94920 – £13.2 million ($16.5 million, €15.3 million or درهم60.6 million) – Sotheby’s International Realty – Former home of billionaire businessman Thomas Perkins (1932 – 2016)Sex and the Single Zillionaire – 345 Golden Gate Avenue, Belvedere Island, Marin County, California, CA 94920 – £13.2 million ($16.5 million, €15.3 million or درهم60.6 million) – Sotheby’s International Realty – Former home of billionaire businessman Thomas Perkins (1932 – 2016)Sex and the Single Zillionaire – 345 Golden Gate Avenue, Belvedere Island, Marin County, California, CA 94920 – £13.2 million ($16.5 million, €15.3 million or درهم60.6 million) – Sotheby’s International Realty – Former home of billionaire businessman Thomas Perkins (1932 – 2016) Sex and the Single Zillionaire – 345 Golden Gate Avenue, Belvedere Island, Marin County, California, CA 94920 – £13.2 million ($16.5 million, €15.3 million or درهم60.6 million) – Sotheby’s International Realty – Former home of billionaire businessman Thomas Perkins (1932 – 2016)Sex and the Single Zillionaire – 345 Golden Gate Avenue, Belvedere Island, Marin County, California, CA 94920 – £13.2 million ($16.5 million, €15.3 million or درهم60.6 million) – Sotheby’s International Realty – Former home of billionaire businessman Thomas Perkins (1932 – 2016)Sex and the Single Zillionaire – 345 Golden Gate Avenue, Belvedere Island, Marin County, California, CA 94920 – £13.2 million ($16.5 million, €15.3 million or درهم60.6 million) – Sotheby’s International Realty – Former home of billionaire businessman Thomas Perkins (1932 – 2016)Sex and the Single Zillionaire – 345 Golden Gate Avenue, Belvedere Island, Marin County, California, CA 94920 – £13.2 million ($16.5 million, €15.3 million or درهم60.6 million) – Sotheby’s International Realty – Former home of billionaire businessman Thomas Perkins (1932 – 2016)

  • A Happy House

    A Happy House

    Berkshire country house named “Gays” for sale

     

    Not connected with the LGBT community in any way, but in fact named after a man named John Gays, “Gays” at Holyport, near Maidenhead in Berkshire dates to around 1456 and is currently for sale for £5.95 million ($7.36 million, €6.88 million or درهم27.05 million).

     

    Gays or John Gays House, Langworthy Lane, Holyport, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 2HN, England, United Kingdom – £5.95 million ($7.36 million, €6.88 million or درهم27.05 million) – For sale through Christie’s Real Estate
    Gays or John Gays House, Langworthy Lane, Holyport, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 2HN, England, United Kingdom

     

    Also referred to as “John Gays House” and offered to the market by Christie’s Real Estate, this 12,482 square foot “bijou old world residence” stands in 20.75 acres and is predominantly built of red brick elevations with attractive sash fenestration, under a tile roof. It is Grade II listed, dates to the Tudor period and also includes later Queen Anne, Georgian, Victorian and 20th century additions.

     

    Less than 30 miles from central London, Gays has been owned by a Swiss family for 20 years according to Country Life and includes 6 reception rooms, a conservatory, a master bedroom suite with 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and 2 dressing rooms, 6 further bedrooms and 5 further bathrooms. In addition, the property also comes with a 2-bedroom lodge cottage, a 2-bedroom staff cottage, an indoor swimming pool, wine store and 4-car garage.

     

    Aside from a large lawned garden with an irrigation system, a lake adjoins the house and there is also an orchard with apple and pear trees. A stable block, a manège and paddocks stand beyond whilst a 1-kilometre long sand and rubber chip horse exercise track circles it. The Duke of York, it transpires, borrowed these facilities in the late 1990s for his own horses.

     

    Gays or John Gays House, Langworthy Lane, Holyport, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 2HN, England, United Kingdom – £5.95 million ($7.36 million, €6.88 million or درهم27.05 million) – For sale through Christie’s Real Estate Gays or John Gays House, Langworthy Lane, Holyport, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 2HN, England, United Kingdom – £5.95 million ($7.36 million, €6.88 million or درهم27.05 million) – For sale through Christie’s Real EstateGays or John Gays House, Langworthy Lane, Holyport, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 2HN, England, United Kingdom – £5.95 million ($7.36 million, €6.88 million or درهم27.05 million) – For sale through Christie’s Real EstateGays or John Gays House, Langworthy Lane, Holyport, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 2HN, England, United Kingdom – £5.95 million ($7.36 million, €6.88 million or درهم27.05 million) – For sale through Christie’s Real EstateGays or John Gays House, Langworthy Lane, Holyport, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 2HN, England, United Kingdom – £5.95 million ($7.36 million, €6.88 million or درهم27.05 million) – For sale through Christie’s Real EstateGays or John Gays House, Langworthy Lane, Holyport, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 2HN, England, United Kingdom – £5.95 million ($7.36 million, €6.88 million or درهم27.05 million) – For sale through Christie’s Real EstateGays or John Gays House, Langworthy Lane, Holyport, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 2HN, England, United Kingdom – £5.95 million ($7.36 million, €6.88 million or درهم27.05 million) – For sale through Christie’s Real EstateGays or John Gays House, Langworthy Lane, Holyport, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 2HN, England, United Kingdom – £5.95 million ($7.36 million, €6.88 million or درهم27.05 million) – For sale through Christie’s Real EstateGays or John Gays House, Langworthy Lane, Holyport, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 2HN, England, United Kingdom – £5.95 million ($7.36 million, €6.88 million or درهم27.05 million) – For sale through Christie’s Real Estate Gays or John Gays House, Langworthy Lane, Holyport, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 2HN, England, United Kingdom – £5.95 million ($7.36 million, €6.88 million or درهم27.05 million) – For sale through Christie’s Real EstateGays or John Gays House, Langworthy Lane, Holyport, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 2HN, England, United Kingdom – £5.95 million ($7.36 million, €6.88 million or درهم27.05 million) – For sale through Christie’s Real Estate

  • Sexing up Brexit

    Sexing up Brexit

    Defrocked priest appears outside the Supreme Court dancing a jig without any trousers; he believes Nigel Farage was “sent by Christ”

     

    This week, as the Supreme Court debated one of the most serious constitutional cases in history, a strange little man dressed as a leprechaun danced a jig whilst holding placards about Nigel Farage, a Third World War and Brexit.

     

    The strange, trouser-less pensioner’s banners bizarrely were captioned:

     

    “Nigel Farage was sent by Christ to get Britain out of Europe and fulfill [sic] Bible prophecy”.

     

    “Britain will fight for Israel in the Third World War whereas Europe will fight against Israel and against Christ”.

     

    Dubbed a “sex elf” in one tweet, The Huffington Post later suggested the man to be Neil Horan, “a defrocked Irish Catholic priest who has previously disrupted major events like the Grand Prix and the Olympics and appeared on Britain’s Got Talent”. Horan was given an ASBO for attempting to disrupt the London Marathon in 2007 and his published works number A Glorious New World Very Soon to Come and Christ Will Soon Take Power From All Governments.

     

    In 2006, Horan was held for two months in custody in Germany during the World Cup. He had announced that he had planned to carry posters that declared “Adolf Hitler was a good leader who was following the word of Christ”.

     

    You truly couldn’t make it up.

     

    Sexing up Brexit – Defrocked priest Neil Horan appears outside the Supreme Court dancing a jig without any trousers; he believes Nigel Farage was “sent by Christ”Sexing up Brexit – Defrocked priest Neil Horan appears outside the Supreme Court dancing a jig without any trousers; he believes Nigel Farage was “sent by Christ”

  • Mary Millington (marital name Mary Maxted, born Mary Quilter, 1945 – 1979)

    Mary Millington (marital name Mary Maxted, born Mary Quilter, 1945 – 1979)

    Mary Millington (marital name Mary Maxted, born Mary Quilter, 1945 – 1979)Defined as “wanting it and wanting as much as she could get”, tragic English model and pornographic actress Mary Millington “loved money more than anything else”. (more…)

  • Selling Clifford

    Selling Clifford

    Max Clifford attempts to sell his bland and frankly boring £3.45 million Surrey home for a million more than he paid for it
     (more…)

  • A muscular Mercedes

    A muscular Mercedes

    Muscular 1990 Mercedes-Benz offered for sale for a higher price than when new (more…)

  • Colditz comes to Shropshire

    Colditz comes to Shropshire

    Shropshire cottage with a most unusual secret for sale for just shy of £200,000 (more…)