Could the most deprived area in Britain be the place to invest?
The city of Detroit has long been a no-go area and its decline from an automotive giant to a capital of deprivation has been well documented. Britain’s equivalent is a small seaside village named Jaywick, near Clacton-on-Sea in Essex. (more…)
An image of Nigel Farage outside his home shows his true character
God help us: They say we get the leaders we deserve and our Picture of the Week clearly shows what we’d be getting if we ever elect Nigel Farage as our Prime Minister. (more…)
Car dealer Andy Lee House faces jail after wrecking a Bugatti Veyron
In November 2009, Andy Lee House, an American car dealer, thought he’d come up with the perfect scam when he decided to crash a 2006 Bugatti Veyron worth £603,332 ($1 million) into a swamp in East Texas. His scheme – which he based upon suggesting a pelican caused him to swerve and crash– backfired and now he’s looking at up to 20 years in jail. (more…)
The worst property particulars ever?
Estate agents often use clever photography to promote properties and urge sellers to tidy up and brew hot coffee before viewings. The brochure for a one bedroom flat in Stanhope Gardens in London’s South Kensington, however, is an example where an agent has done anything but. (more…)
Manor house owned by one of the McAlpine family comes to the market
The McAlpine family have construction in their blood. They’ve built everything from The Dorchester to the Millennium Dome and one of the current generation, Cullum McAlpine, is no different. His Cotswolds country house, Cold Ashton Manor, is currently for sale for £4 million and its architectural features are stunning. (more…)
Scottish castle for sale for just £28.90 per square foot
They say that owning a grouse moor is equivalent to burning £50 notes but the buyer of the 41,433 square foot Carbisdale Castle in Sutherland will take on an altogether bigger burden. (more…)
An opportunity to buy an American equivalent of Downton Abbey
Downton Abbey returns to our screens this autumn and one has to ask whether its writer Julian Fellowes was at all influenced by the story of the story of Peter Widener of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania whose son and grandson both died in the sinking of the RMS Titanic. (more…)
Confused.com founder puts castle on market for £1.5 million less than she spent on it
“Wild haired” Kate Armstrong, the Australian founder of Confused.com, bought the medieval Scottish castle Cassillis House in Ayrshire from the Kennedy clan in 2009 for £3 million. She spent four years and £3.5 million updating and improving it but is now selling it at a loss for just £5 million. (more…)
Former residence of Leona Helmsley comes to the market
Leona Helmsley didn’t do “little”. She lived by the belief that “only the little people pay taxes” and housed herself in a vast mansion on a 40-acre plot in Connecticut. Helmsley died at the house in 2007 and it is now once again for sale (more…)
Small, unmodernised former home of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh for sale for the extraordinary figure of £7.5 million
Built in 1850, Durham Cottage in Christchurch Street, Chelsea is a house “hidden behind a high dusty brick wall” that was the love nest of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh between 1937 and 1956. Now, in totally unmodernised condition, the house is for sale after failing to sell at auction (despite a bid of £6,980,000). (more…)