Tag: house

Falling Down Flass

Grade II* listed Cumbrian mansion built by opium dealer and once marketed for £1.5 million for sale for just £460,000; it was also the scene of the UK’s biggest ever cannabis raid in 2012

A 23,000 square foot, 52 room, mid-19^th century Palladian mansion in the Westmorland Dales National Park is to be sold at auction – by order of the mortgagees not in possession – for £1 million less than it was marketed for in 2014. It is sadly now described as being in an utterly wrecked, vandalised condition.

The entrance elevation of the mansion then and now

The strikingly grand interiors of Flass (prior to visits from the ‘Urban Explorers’)

The completely trashed interiors of the mansion (after visits from the ‘Urban Explorers’)

Built in 1851 for wealthy merchant brothers and tea and opium magnets Lancelot and Wilkinson Dent, 8-bedroomed Flass at Maulds Meaburn, near Penrith in Cumbria was designed by architects Grey and Mair and includes furnishings by the renowned firm Gillows of Lancaster and London.

Opulent to its core and said to have featured marble fireplaces, ivory door handles and friezes with pearls, Flass remained in the Dent family until 1973. Just prior to being sold for £17,000 (the equivalent of £202,000 today) that year to a historian named Frank Walsh, the then owner Sir Robert Dent opened up an attic of the house and discovered items from the Mughal Empire that he then auctioned for the astounding sum of £220,000 (the equivalent of £2.6 million today).

Subsequently this vast stucco finished, limestone built house – complete with a Doric porte-cochère and a three-storey tower – became a care home and was then after sold in 2000 to a singer-songwriter best known for co-writing the creepy Christian crooner Sir Cliff Richard’s Devil Woman named Christine Holmes (also known as Kristine Sparkle) and her husband Paul Davies. The pair turned the property into a performing arts school.

After the couple divorced, Davies took control of the mansion but due to spiraling maintenance costs, he eventually got himself involved with a gang of drug dealers in 2011. Due to what rental agents at the time described as the house being “totally private and hidden away, with an unmatched seclusion and charm,” Davies and his five cohorts were able to grow cannabis with a street value of £5.26 million undetected until a neighbour became suspicious. He was jailed for his role in the crime for three years and eight months in September 2015.

Singer-songwriter Christine Holmes outside Flass in September 2017 (after visits from the ‘Urban Explorers’ and their having trashed her home)

Paul Davies turned Flass into Britain’s biggest cannabis farm (and got himself three years and eight months in jail for his efforts; on his conviction his representative said: “He blames nobody but himself for getting involved in this criminal business”)

The “massive scale” £5 million cannabis farm operated at Flass was described in court as “a professional setup” and having the “real hallmarks of organised crime”

Christine Holmes subsequently took back control of Flass and after trying and failing to sell the house for £1.5 million spent £200,000 on renovations to put right the damage done by the drug operation. Her bad luck, however, was not to end there. In September 2017, the Cumberland & Westmorland Herald reported that a gang of ‘Urban Explorers’ had raided the somewhat derelict building and filmed their exploits. In the weeks that followed, trespassers returned at least twelve further times and “ransacked and trashed” the once glorious residence. She told the paper:

“I was absolutely horrified when I saw [videos of the house] online. I couldn’t believe how anyone could come into my home and believe it was an abandoned building.”

“I think since then people have been staying in the building and have even been there hiding while I’ve been there. I’m petrified. These are evil people who are breaking into my home. I think it’s becoming a game to them. They are breaking in every day.”

Auctioneers Harman Healy will now offer Grade II* listed Flass along with 17.5 acres of overgrown grounds with a guide price of just £460,000+ on 30^th January. Christine Holmes no doubt will be glad if she finally gets shot of what she likely ended up considering to be the worst kind of white elephant.

Flass – The Numbers

January 2019 – To be offered at auction with a guide price of just £460,000 ($596,000, €525,000 or درهم2.2 million).

July 2014 – Offered for sale for £1.5 million ($1.9 million, €1.7 million or درهم7.1 million).

2000 – Sold for £490,000 ($635,000, €559,000 or درهم2.3 million) to the currently jailed drug dealer Paul Davies and his then wife songwriter Christine Holmes.

1998 – Reduced to £650,000 ($842,000, €741,000 or درهم3.1 million).

1997 – For sale for £750,000 ($972,000, €855,000 or درهم3.6 million).

1982 – Sold for £115,000 ($149,000, €131,000 or درهم547,000) to a retired solicitor named Malcolm Whiteside. He turned Flass into a care home which he ran with his wife Mary.

1973 – Sold by Sir Robert Dent, a descendant of the family who built the house, for £17,000 ($22,000, €19,000 or درهم81,000) to a historian named Frank Welsh.

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The garden elevation of the mansion then and now

The no doubt once glorious gardens of Flass have now gone to wrack and ruin

The entrance gates to the estate (in better days)

A plan of Flass and its surrounding land

January 23, 2019
Mrs Simpson Farmed in Mayfair

Mayfair “farmhouse” where Mrs Simpson began her affair with the then Prince of Wales for sale for 147% more than it was marketed for in 2012

Last marketed at a price of £4.75 million ($6.04 million, €5.30 million or درهم22.19 million) in 2012 and offered for sale in 2005 at an undisclosed sum also, a house where the then Mrs Simpson began her affair with the then Prince of Wales is again for sale.

Rebuilt in the early 1900s by a Mrs M. Strakosch in “the Gothic style,” Farm House – or 22 Farm Street as it is more simply known – stands on the site of a farmhouse that predated the development of Mayfair.

Entered through a large oak front door that feature the heads of the twelve apostles, the half-timbered house Mrs Strakosch commissioned featured Flemish linenfold paneling and 17^th century doors. Though much of this has now gone, a number of Jacobean and medieval features remain and what is now offered is described as “the perfect space for modern entertaining.”

Farm House, 22 Farm Street, Mayfair, London, W1J 5RQ – For sale for £11.75 million

Gloria Swanson, Gloria Vanderbilt and Thelma Furness

Farm House includes three reception rooms, two kitchens, six bedrooms, four bathrooms, two terraces and a garage. It extends to 4,564 square foot over four floors and was home to the Swiss born Thelma Furness, Viscountess Furness (1904 – 1970), the twice married mistress of the then Prince of Wales and later King Edward VIII between 1930 and 1934, during their relationship.

Furness, whose twin sister Gloria (1904 – 1965) became a Vanderbilt and was also the maternal grandmother of the American news anchor Anderson Cooper, at this time, was friends with Wallis Simpson. She introduced her American friend to the prince at her country house, Burrough Court, near Melton Mowbray, first in 1931 but then became supplanted in his affections in 1934.

With their relationship approaching its end, Furness embarked on a short affair with Prince Aly Khan whilst in America and whilst there allowed Simpson to live in her Farm Street home according to the actress Gloria Swanson (1899 – 1983). Later, in her autobiography Silent Boulevard, Swanson wrote:

“Lady Thelma Furness had a charming house on Farm Street, where her friend Wallis Simpson has kept the Prince of Wales company while Thelma was away in the States.”

Swanson, whilst pregnant, and her then husband Michael Farmer subsequently rented Farm House from Furness and of their time there wrote: “The house was empty for the moment, so we settled in to wait for the baby and see old friends.”

Knight Frank now seek £11.75 million ($14.95 million, €13.12 million or درهم54.90 million) for Farm House. Reportedly, according to a 2012 Mayfair Times article, the property comes with deeds that specifically mention that it still has a “right of way for sheep.”

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January 6, 2019
A Cheap Country Cottage

A Lancashire country cottage with 1.4 acres is for sale for less than the price of a parking space in Knightsbridge; it could be yours for just £80,000

A country cottage with acreage: It sounds idyllic and with a price of just £80,000 ($104,000, €92,000 or درهم381,000), it’s cheaper than the price of a parking space in Knightsbridge.

Situated in the rural Ribble Valley village of Hothersall in Lancashire, Falicon Cottage is in need of modernisation but includes a sitting room, dining kitchen, utility room, two bedrooms and a bathroom. It comes with 1.42 acres of land split into three parcels and a set of what are described as “dilapidated huts.”

The property is offered for sale by agents Richard Turner & Son.

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November 11, 2018
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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October 22, 2018
A Rental Ruin

Chelsea estate agent optimistically markets an £850 per week house with unpainted walls and an exposed gas meter by announcing: “It does have a new boiler”

Other than the legendary Roy Brooks, the only honest man in his game, estate agents will be optimistic about just about anything. A bit of damp: “no problem”; a nuclear power station next door: “positively charming” but John D. Wood & Co. truly take the biscuit with the marketing material for a property they are currently trying to let in chi-chi Christchurch Street, Chelsea, London.

Sent to us by an eagle eyed reader, the £850 per week ($1,108, €955 or درهم4,070 per week), 867 square foot three floor aforementioned house has conventional features such as a reception room, kitchen, three bedrooms and a bathroom. It also, rather unconventionally, has walls that haven’t even been painted and are just bare plaster. Pictures show also scruffily made-up beds propped up on wooden blocks, wiring and ageing televisions discarded on the floors and a garden littered with leaves.

Of this strange offering, our reader remarked: “I saw this listing and thought it was a half-finished project and up for sale, but no, it’s a rental. Buy-to-let plainly says can’t afford to finish it, says sod it and tries to rent it out in a half-finished state and describe it as a ‘unique house packed with character and charm.’ I particularly like the exposed gas meter!”

When he telephoned, a member of staff at John D. Wood told our reader: “The landlord would prefer to rent the property ‘as is’ and not do further work. It would be at least £1,000 per week if it were finished. He is happy for any tenant to paint and make further improvements.”

In typical estate agent fashion, she optimistically added: “It does have a new boiler.”

Roy Brooks – “A painfully honest estate agent”

“Beyond any doubt the best copywriter for property advertising in the history of the British press,” Roy Brooks (died 1971) took a “puckish delight in telling the truth” about the houses he was asked to sell.

An example of this Kings Road based eccentric’s advertisements read:

“Do not be misled by the trim exterior of this modest period res with its dirty broken windows; all is not well with the inside. The décor of the nine rooms, some of which hangs inelegantly from the walls, is revolting. Not entirely devoid of plumbing, there is a pathetic kitchen and one cold tap. No bathroom, of course, but Chelsea has excellent public baths. Rain sadly drips through the ceiling on to the oilcloth. The pock-marked basement floor indicates a thriving community of woodworm, otherwise there is not much wrong with the property… Sacrifice £6,750.”

Another announced:

“Wanted: Someone with taste, means and a stomach strong enough to buy this erstwhile house of ill-repute in Pimlico. It is untouched by the 20^th century as far as conveniences for even the basic human decencies are concerned. Although it reeks of damp or worse, the plaster is coming off the walls and daylight peeps through a hole in the roof, it is still habitable judging by the bed of rags, fag ends and empty bottles in one corner. Plenty of scope for the socially aspiring to express their decorative taste and get their abode in The Glossy, and nothing to stop them putting Westminster on their notepaper. Comprises 10 rather unpleasant rooms with slimy back yard, £4,650 Freehold. Tarted up, these houses make £15,000.”

Justifying his reasoning for driving his Rolls-Royce from London to Russia loaded up with 1,000 pairs of shoes, Brooks – author of Brothel in Pimlico and Mud, Straw and Insults: Confessions of an Honest Estate Agent – glibly explained: “I take these for old times’ sake – Stalingrad and the defeat of the German hordes. Perhaps I could bring back in return some of their women engineers whose factories I saw prefabricating good homes by the thousands.”

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September 10, 2018
Revolving Friends

Friendship is a ‘revolving door’ suggests Matthew Steeples; embrace the unknown

One’s life, in terms of those we become acquainted with, is much like a revolving door. It is a door that operates at varying speeds dependent on some coming and staying and others coming and going more quickly than others. Sometimes, even, this door is known to repeat itself and welcome back old timers and sometimes it rightly bangs shut in such people’s very faces.

Friends, alas, are often transient in how long they remain with you and last week, after reading an insightful article by Rhik Samadder of the Guardian, I got thinking about some of the most recent ‘revolvers’ to have passed through the doors of my life. Pertinently, Samadder remarked:

“Seasons change, friendships fade, people die. But there are new relationships, jobs, houses, waiting to rise under the ground of your loss. Extraordinary things you know nothing about yet. That is why it’s good to make friends with the unknown.”

He is entirely right and in this age where the majority have become totally absorbed by social media we must embrace just such.

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September 9, 2018
A Pricey Doer-Upper

Derelict Uncle Monty-esque farmhouse in the countryside of the Lake District National Park World Heritage Site for sale for a staggering sum

Described as “one of the most stunning sites in the Lake District National Park” by selling agents Michael C. L. Hodgson, the Hard Crag farmstead above High Brow Edge at Backbarrow in Cumbria has gone on sale for £795,000 ($1 million, €889,000 or درهم3.8 million) in spite of being nothing but an utter wreck.

Unusual in that it was built high on a hillside rather than in a valley in the 17^th century and unoccupied since 1954, this ‘yeoman style farmhouse’ with a barn and outbuildings is Grade II listed and on the National Park Authority’s register of Listed Buildings at Risk.

Offered with planning permission for redevelopment, designs for Hard Crag envision the creation of a parlour, snug, dining kitchen, utility room and guest bedroom suite with wet room to the ground floor and a sitting room with a raised platform and a master bedroom suite with a dressing room and bathroom to the first floor.

Surrounded by 36 acres of land that includes pasture, grazing, meadows, a tarn and rocky outcrop features, what sets this property apart are its views to Consiston, Scafell and the Langdales.

Though presently akin to Uncle Monty’s cottage in the cult film Withnail & I in its present condition, Hard Crag will most certainly once again soon be a truly fine home.

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September 8, 2018
Davide Giardino – What’s on your mantelpiece?

A 20-question interview with economist turned real estate investor Davide Giardino

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

“The happiness and success of those closest to my heart.”

“Don’t get even, get medieval” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?

“If you keep your destiny in mind, every moment in life becomes an opportunity to move closer to it.”

Kerry Katona was considered unacceptable in 2007. Who or what is unacceptable in 2018?

Technocrats – as at least populists are lying most of the time.

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

A simpler life. I miss the routine of going to an office every morning. Am I crazy?

What might you swap all your wealth for?

Assets? Well, in all seriousness, good health for me, my family and my friends.

Donald Trump was once a case of: “If you owe the bank a thousand, they close you down; but if you owe the bank a billion, you own the bank.” What’s your view on the state of the financial system?

Who is richer and who is poorer from the latest financial crisis? You’ve got my answer…

What phrase or word do you most loathe?

“I am saying it for your sake.”

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

Charity often substitutes for the lack of adequate government or international policy which is disappointing. I support a variety of causes including helping children born with congenital diseases and homeless children.

The judge in Law Abiding Citizen states: “I can pretty much do whatever I want” before being blown up whilst answering her mobile phone. What’s your view on the appropriate use of such devices?

Shut them off at night.

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

My twin brother, a bunch of friends, Isabelle Huppert, Glenn Close and probably Angelina Jolie.

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

Bucatini with lobster (I always liked bucatini more than spaghetti), gâteau de pommes de terre (cooked the Neapolitan way), a large portion of figs and a torta caprese chocolate cake. I woiuld probably eat it at the Villa San Michele in Capri, Hotel Bel Air or Cliveden House – all places close to my heart for different reasons.

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

11am, though not every day.

A Negroni, a martini or a cup of tea?

A Negroni.

Whose parties do you enjoy the most and why?

A dear friend of mine throws the most memorable dinner parties. I love how he always selects a group of diverse people who do not know each other, but will create an incredible energy together by the end of the night. It always helps that I’m always the guest of honour!

Who is the most positive person you know?

Maybe me.

What’s your most guilty pleasure?

Buying French pâtisserie and flowers for myself many times each week.

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

“I want it all.”

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

A vintage Fiat 500 with a new engine. They are so cute and practical and I don’t need a Maserati to compensate for a lack of personality or something else.

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

I am still trying to figure myself out.

What’s currently sitting on your mantelpiece?

Fresh flowers.

Davide Giardino is the founder of DGC-Luxury Homes and a licensed realtor at Rodeo Realty – Beverly Hills and Greater LA. He has extensive experience in the real estate advisory and investment business and previously was an economist at several global finance institutions. He describes himself as “a multi-lingual globetrotter” and holds a double degree from Bocconi and USC, an MSc in European political economy from the London School of Economics and a masters in finance from LBS.

Follow Davide Giardino on Facebook at @dgcluxuryhomes and on Instagram at @dgc_la

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September 4, 2018
Rule, Britannia!

“Famously haunted” Chelsea townhouse once home to ‘Rule, Britannia!’ and ‘A-Hunting We Will Go’ composer Thomas Arne and later Shakespearean actress Dame Ellen Terry for sale

A Grade II* listed Georgian house on Kings Road in Chelsea, London that has gone on sale comes with links to not only the composer Thomas Arne (1710 – 1778) but also the Shakespearean actress Dame Ellen Terry, GBE (1847 – 1928).

Spread over five floors and extending to 3,179 square foot, the renovated Georgian property provides 3 reception rooms, a vast dining kitchen created out of a former artists’ studio space, 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. It has a garden to the front and a courtyard also.

Dame Ellen Terry and Thomas Arne

Though only briefly home to Thomas Arne – a Roman Catholic and Freemason best known for both Rule, Britannia! and A-Hunting We Will Go – in 1771, actress Dame Ellen Terry lived in 215 Kings Road from 1904 to 1920. It is reported that her possessions there were sold off in 1921 as part of “an attempt to fend off bankruptcy” and of it, a newspaper article titled ‘The Ghosts of Ellen Terry’ reported:

“Surely civilisation was never responsible for the invention of the auction sale. It is such a heartless proceeding. Even a barbarian chief, waving a fierce spear, could not look more relentless than the auctioneer with the dull thud of his cruel little hammer. And surely no barbaric women with palm-leaves and fuzzed hair ever wore harder expressions than the crowd of modern sisters gathered yesterday in Ellen Terry’s old home in Chelsea, as they watched the exquisite china and other mementos of a great artist whisked off by sharp bidders for ridiculously small sums.”

Knight Frank seek £6.45 million ($8.30 million, €7.15 million or درهم30.47 million) for the now “famously haunted” freehold house.

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September 4, 2018
The King of Caravans

One-of-a-kind “big caravan-house” with patio on the roof for sale for £30,000; the current owner bought it for just £1 and spent £70,000 restoring it

Believed to be the last remaining example of 99 originally made, a “revolutionary” hammer finished aluminium caravan named a Berkeley Statesman has gone on sale.

Costing £1,065 when new in 1951 – the same price as a terrace house – and rebuilt at great expense by its current owner Tim Mitchinson after he found it hidden on a farm in Bedfordshire in 2004, the two-floor structure is described as being “a wonderful piece of history lovingly restored to its former glory.”

The 22-foot long by 12-foot high caravan features a living and dining area, a 1950s style kitchen with a range of appliances, two bedrooms capable of sleeping four and a shower room complete with a modern shower and an ingenious sink from an old railway carriage.

An advert for the Berkeley Statesman following its launch at the Earl’s Court Motor Show in 1951

On occasions, Berkeley Statesman caravans have known to take to racetracks

Of it, Mitchinson told the Discovery Channel:

“I thought it so ugly it, it had to be mine… [Restoring it was an] exercise in insanity… But it [is] absolutely unique… She arrived on the back of a lorry and I thought: ‘We’ll have a go.’ … A beautiful silver phoenix… It’s been blood, sweat and tears… A remarkable restoration.”

Speaking to The Yorkshire Post in December 2017, he added:

“I need to sell it so [my] house can be extended but I will miss it terribly. I am really proud of rescuing what is a valuable piece of social history.”

Estate agents RM English are marketing the Berkeley Statesman for just £30,000 ($38,500, €33,200 or درهم141,500) and point out that it is currently located in the centre of York. They add: “It will need to be transported off-site by a low loader trailer.”

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August 24, 2018