Tag: seaside

Maxwell House Open – Chance To Tour £4.7 Million Former Crib Of Ghislaine Maxwell

EXCLUSIVE – As £668,000 is sliced off the price of Ghislaine Maxwell and Scott Borgerson’s former home (and an ‘open house’ is arranged at ‘Maxwell House’), here is a perfect outing for those that want to take a gander at such features as their sick ‘party shower’ this May

Ghislaine Maxwell, if truth be known, ain’t going anywhere. Confined to the clink for 20 years and likely facing action over her non-payment of around £3 million in legal bills owed to date, the mucky madam (and/or her ex-husband Scott Borgerson) has decided to cut the price of her former home in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts.

Slashed in price by a not-so-insignificant £668,000 to ‘just’ £4.7 million from an initial ask of £5.4 million, the desperation of Maxwell and more likely Borgerson to offload ‘The Phippen-Smith House’ is clear not only by that reduction, but by news that their agents Ryan Clunan and Tracy Campion will be holding an ‘open house’ there on 21^st May between 1pm and 3pm.

True crime fans will no doubt flock to the couple’s creepy crib that day and for them, most definitely, the highlight will be the chance to take a gander at a ‘party shower’ installed there. Of this bizarre ‘extra,’ in July 2019, a “pal” and neighbour told The Sun on Sunday: “The house did have one unusual feature – a huge shower. It had Wi-Fi so they could control it from their phones, a steam unit, the whole nine yards. It was like a party shower. You can imagine what they got up to in there.”

Editor’s Note – Unlike as is the case in many publications, this article was NOT sponsored or supported by a third-party. Follow Matthew Steeples on Twitter at @M_Steeples.

One of the 5.3 bathrooms at 301 Summer Street features a shower the size of a studio flat. It is quite the contrast to the bathroom at Miss Maxwell’s former Kinnerton Street home where Virginia Roberts Giuffre claims she was forced into sexual relations with the Duke of York in 2001 – a room which we were able to prove she talked nonsense about when she claimed the bathtub “too small for any activity whatsoever” when we exclusively published photographs of it in January 2022. Of this bathroom, in July 2019, a “pal” and neighbour told ‘The Sun on Sunday’: “The house did have one unusual feature – a huge shower. It had Wi-Fi so they could control it from their phones, a steam unit, the whole nine yards. It was like a party shower. You can imagine what they got up to in there.” It has not been confirmed as to whether Prince Andrew ever got to try this particularly opulent shower area out.

That the sitting room of Ghislaine Maxwell and Scott Borgerson’s one-time ‘together home’ has a gun above the fireplace is somewhat creepy given the former wife Rebecca Borgerson’s allegations that her former husband was “verbally and physically abusive” to her. The furnishings in the room, equally, are somewhat curious – the ‘prison orange’ sofa is especially apt given where Ghislaine Maxwell now finds herself.

The Cape Ann seaside home that was bought by Scott Borgerson and Ghislaine Maxwell in June 2015 through Tidewood LLC, a limited liability company, stands above a rocky outcrop looking out to sea. It has a plaque on it that reads: “The Phippen Smith House, 1660. House originally at 9 Elm Street in Salem, deconstructed here in 1917 and reconstructed on its current site in 1930.”

Incarcerated sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell with her since dead ex-lover and associate Jeffrey Epstein (left). The latter died by apparent ‘suicide’ on 10th August 2019 in prison awaiting trial whilst the latter took up with submarine pilot Scott Borgerson, supposedly married him in 2016, but curiously did not tell her very own siblings of this union until after her 2020 arrest. They are now divorced, but they most likely still have matters still to resolve.

Then & Now – How Maxwell and Borgerson changed ‘The Phippen-Smith House’ – Images from the June 2016 listing and images from the February 2022 listing

Then and now – The entrance elevation of 301 Summer Street from its driveway in 2016 (left) and in the 2022 listing imagery. The building does not look especially well kept or maintained in either image.

Then and now – Supposedly vegan Ghislaine Maxwell and her beefy now ex-husband Scott Borgerson relocated the house’s kitchen into a space that the previous owners had used as a sitting and dining area and moved a window to accommodate a very large Sub Zero Wolf type oven. Their menacing choice of black and white tiling most certainly wouldn’t appear to more ‘homely’ cooks such as condescending cakebaker Dame Mary Berry DBE, cocaine crackpot The Honourable Nigella Lawson and “let’s be havin’ ya” yeller Delia Smith CH CBE.

Then and now – The original kitchen may have been somewhat like that seen in the home of Hyacinth Bucket’s in the 1990s BBC series ‘Keeping Up Appearances,’ but the Borgerson-Maxwell version can only be surmised as having a “clinically cold look.”

Then and now – A dining room with somewhat strange wallpaper in 2016 has been redecorated in a style that looks more like an office where Ricky Gervais might feel at home. The painting on the right-hand wall perhaps might have some kind of connection with Ghislaine Maxwell’s charity Oceana and her supposed number one passion (other than sex trafficking minors), the oceans.

Then and now – Surprisingly, Maxwell and Borgerson did actually brighten up the hallway and staircase area of the home with a fresh white look. Again, however, one is left asking what strange extra-curricular activities the oars on the walls might have been used for.

Then and now – Mr and Mrs Borgerson plainly liked the ‘vomit green’ colour in this room and made few changes here.

Then and now – The previously traditionally styled master bedroom, however, got a full-on makeover and extension and sliding doors that’d look more suited to a residence in the oligarch hideout that is One Hyde Park.

Then and now – What Americans call a ‘deck’ and what Brits might term a ‘terrace’ was subjected to a complete B&Q style makeover by Mr and Mrs Borgerson. The garden beyond now looks like a totally neglected wilderness. Mate of royals and TV gardener Alan Titchmarsh MBE most certainly would be less than impressed.

Then and now – Maxwell and Borgerson tore off the traditionally appropriate colonial-style detailing at the rear of 301 Summer Street and plonked on what looks like a portacabin. Good taste and respect for architectural heritage and this couple most definitely are not in unity.

The Names, Dates & Numbers – Ghislaine Maxwell and Scott Borgerson and ‘The Phippen-Smith House’, 301 Summer Street, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Cape Ann, Essex County, Massachusetts, MA 01944, United States of America

9^th May 2023 – Price of 301 Summer Street, Manchester-by-the-Sea reduced to £4.70 million ($5.85 million, €5.35 million or درهم21.48 million), Mansion Global reported.

Of this, the property publication remarked: “Mr Borgerson, a tech entrepreneur, couldn’t be reached for comment.” They also claimed: “Though the pair lived together at the home for a ‘brief time’ before Ms Maxwell’s arrest in 2020, she has no ownership stake in the home.”

The listing remains with Ryan Clunan and Tracy Campion of Campion & Company Fine Homes Real Estate and an ‘open house’ on 21^st May has been arranged between 1pm and 3pm; a perfect outing for those wishing to take an eyeball at Mr Borgerson and Miss Maxwell’s ‘party shower.’

Late 2022 to early 2023 – Scott Borgerson and Ghislaine Maxwell complete their divorce. How their assets were split is unknown, but it is believed that Mr Borgerson walked away with a substantial stash of anything that remains from money made during their ‘secret’ (until Maxwell’s 2020 arrest) union.

Given that Maxwell remains a wicked woman incapable of accepting that taking at least £16.4 million ($20 million, €18.6 million or درهم73.5 million) from the since croaked paedophile Jeffrey Epstein was a totally unacceptable thing to do, goodness knows what became of the clearly vast funds likely hidden away by her possibly in the Channel Islands, Lichtenstein, Panama and elsewhere.

26^th March 2022 – A beady-eyed reader supplies The Steeple Times with the current listing brochure for 301 Summer Street complete with up-to-date imagery of the house. It shows how Borgerson and Maxwell well and truly have made an utter mess of what was a previously charming residence.

March 2022 – The real estate website Realtor.com suggests the house to currently be worth a significantly lower sum and estimates its value at just £2.45 million ($3.235 million, €2.945 million or درهم11.88 million).

February 2022 – 301 Summer Street, Manchester-by-the-Sea is listed for sale for £5.368 million ($7.295 million, €6.443 million or درهم26.791 million) by Campion And Company. The firm, however, do not include a public listing of the property on its site and they do not include any current photographs of the house.

29^th December 2021 – Ghislaine Maxwell – who has variously shown her decided deviancy by faking photos and using pseudonyms including ‘Jennifer Ellmax,’ ‘Jen Marshall,’ ‘Janet Marshall,’ ‘Mrs Scott Borgerson’ and just plain old ‘G’ – is found guilty on five out of six of the charges she had faced. Her husband was not present for the verdict and left his wife to face being sent down alone and with just her brothers and sisters to support the by now convicted child sex trafficker.

29^th November 2021 – Ghislaine Maxwell goes on trial at the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Her husband did not attend on a single day of that trial.

Mid to late 2020 – Ghislaine Maxwell’s “secret husband” goes off radar, but is seen occasionally “looking glum” and walking their “medium-sized pet dog” in Manchester-by-the-Sea. He had previously been seen walking the pooch in Boston in 2019.

2^nd July 2020 – Ghislaine Maxwell is arrested at Tuckedaway.

In the weeks after her arrest, as she unsurprisingly unsuccessfully sought bail, Maxwell claimed via her lawyers that the “majority of her assets” had been transferred into a “trust controlled by her husband and another unnamed party.”

In documents submitted to the courts, they put her their worth at £17.1 million ($22.5 million, €20.5 million or درهم82.6 million) and suggested: “For Ms Maxwell to flee, she would have to abandon her spouse. She will not isk destroying the lives and financial well-being of those she holds most dear to live as a fugitive during a worldwide pandemic.”

Going further, they added: “In fact, every action Ms Maxwell has taken from the time of Epstein’s arrest up to the time of the first bail hearing was designed to protect her spouse… from harassment, economic harm, and physical danger. If Ms. Maxwell were to violate her bail conditions, which she has no intention of doing… she would be leaving her spouse…with virtually nothing.”

In a letter to Judge Alison J. Nathan, Mr Borgerson added: “The person described in the criminal charges is not the person we know. I have never witnessed anything close to inappropriate with Ghislaine. Quite to the contrary, the Ghislaine I know is a wonderful and loving person… I believe that Ghislaine had nothing to do with Epstein’s crimes.”

13^th December 2019 – Ghislaine Maxwell purchases Tuckedaway, 338 East Washington Road, Bradford, New Hampshire, NH 03221 for £787,953 ($1,070,750, €945,752 or درهم3.93 million) via Jennifer Johnson and Margaret Weathers of Four Seasons Sotheby’s International Realty. The house had been listed at a price of £879,000 ($1.195 million, €1.055 million or درهم4.389 million) in March that year and sold previously for £773,000 ($1.050 million, €927,000 million or درهم3.856 million) on 15^th December 2017.

Mid-late 2019 – Maxwell is said to have “fallen foul” of locals and left Manchester-by-the-Sea. An alleged sighting of her in Los Angeles followed in August 2019 when she was snapped at an In-N-Out Burger restaurant in Los Angeles, California. The photographs were proven to be fake as advertising on hoardings in the background had never been at that location. Her associate Leah Saffian, whose dog appeared in one of the images, has never explained her role in this skulduggery.

10th August 2019 – Jeffrey Epstein dies by supposed suicide in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in New York. He had previously supposedly attempted suicide on 23rd July 2019 whilst sharing a cell with alleged quadruple killer cop Nicholas Tartaglione.

6th July 2019 – Jeffrey Epstein is arrested after his private jet lands at Teterboro Airport, New Jersey.

15^th June 2019 – The Cash & Rocket Rally ends in Monte Carlo. Miss Maxwell was clearly especially keen to avoid being photographed. She was subsequently not seen again in public until her trial commenced on 29^th November 2021.

13^th June 2019 – The mucky madam sets off from London on the car rally in an Alfa Romeo with Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason’s wife Annette (known as ‘Nettie’ to her chums). They travel first to Paris and then go via Geneva to Monte Carlo.

12^th June 2019 – Maxwell and Borgerson are named in court documents concerning a case between Tidewood LLC and John Appel, Katherine Rive and Curtis Hollingsworth regarding a property dispute concerning their shorefront access. In due course, on 11^th March 2020, judgment was found in favour of the plaintiff.

6^th June 2019 – Ghislaine Maxwell is last seen in public in London at an event hosted by Julie Brangstup and her ‘charity’ Cash & Rocket at Bibendum, South Kensington. The Steeple Times’ editor Matthew Steeples dined at the same restaurant on that particular evening, but the media’s focus was primarily on other attendees including the socialites Paris Hilton and Caroline Stanbury and the daughter of the asset stripping disgrace Sir Philip Green, Chloe Green.

During this particular London visit, Miss Maxwell met with her six living siblings Anne, Kevin, Isabel, Christine, Philip and Ian to remember her late pension pot plundering father on 10^th June 2019 on what would have been his 96^th birthday. She also supposedly went to Buckingham Palace for tea with the man who subsequently paid £12 million ($15.8 million, €14.4 million or درهم58.2 million) to a woman he supposedly never met (but emailed Jeffrey Epstein’s ex-lover about), Prince Andrew.

30^th June 2016 – The Phippen-Smith House is sold to Tidewood LLC, a limited liability company controlled by Ghislaine Maxwell’s “secret husband,” for £1.802 million ($2.450 million, €2.164 million or درهم8.998 million). The couple are said to have spent £1.8 million ($2.5 million, €2.2 million or درهم9.2 million) on renovations in the years since that included the installation of many security cameras. During the purchase process, Maxwell is said to have used the pseudonym ‘Jennifer Ellmax.’

April 2016 – Ghislaine Maxwell sells her Upper East Side, New York townhouse for £11 million ($15 million, €13.2 million or درهم55.1 million) and “disappeared.” She had originally bought that property in 2015 for £12.4 million ($16.9 million, €14.9 million or درهم62.1 million).

Date unknown in 2016 – Scott Borgerson marries Ghislaine Maxwell. She eventually revealed she was married to her until then “secret husband” in court in December 2020 to the surprise of the world and her own brothers and sisters even.

20^th June 2015 – Rebecca Borgerson files for divorce from her then husband. She cited “irreconcilable differences.” The couple had married in 2001 and had two children together.

15^th June 2014 – Scott Borgerson is charged with the assault and domestic battery of his then wife Rebecca Borgerson.

2014 – Ghislaine Maxwell meets her future husband at the Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavik, Iceland whilst married to his then first wife.

May 13, 2023
Getting Away Scott Free – Scott Borgerson Sells Up

“Ugly memories” prompt Ghislaine Maxwell’s estranged hubby Scott Borgerson to offload his £5.4 million Manchester-by-the-Sea mansion as he moves on with a sexually saucy “yoga enthusiast” with an “ass that could crack open a walnut”

Illustrating himself as an ultimate cad-about-town and complete cowardy custard Scott Borgerson allegedly dumped his for long totally “secret wife” Ghislaine Maxwell in a telephone call to the Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn where she remains “growling” and “doing monster moves” as she awaits sentencing on 28^th June.

Now after having gotten himself rather into a tizzy when snapped out and about shopping and in his Tesla, 45-year-old Borgerson – who has allegedly also started a new relationship with a sexually saucy “yoga enthusiast” with an “ass that could crack open a walnut” named Kris McGlinn – has put his Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts home on the market.

Twice thus far married Borgerson, who didn’t even bother to turn up once to support his wicked wife whilst she was on trial in December and left her soppy siblings as her lone supporters, is certainly a man of mystery. Described on Google as a “military officer,” born in Festus, Missouri and educated at Tufts University and the United States Coast Guard Academy, this clear fan of dressing in a “casual wear” style is said to be worth £3.7 million ($5 million, €4.4 million or درهم18.4 million) according to Real News – a figure which we believe far below his true worth given his spouse has likely used him as a cash transfer vehicle without doubt.

‘The Bouncing Czech’s’ deviant daughter’s first husband to date served in the US navy for four years. His US Marine officer licence expired in 2006 and in the time since he was co-founder and CEO of CaryoMetric Technologies from 2010 until his resignation in July 2020 due to “intense media interest surrounding his rumoured links with Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell.” Subsequently in October 2020, a spokesman for the company remarked: “[He resigned so as to] ensure his presence would not become a distraction from the work he believes in so deeply.”

Backed by amongst others Google’s former CEO Eric Schmidt, Borgerson is definitely as well-connected as his in-the-pokey estranged wife and of why he is selling up, simply remarked: “[Ghislaine Maxwell] was here years ago, but actually left when this thing started to rear its ugly head – her situation from conduct decades ago.”

In typically predictable style only to be expected of an estate agent, realtor Tracy Campion of Campion and Company claimed the Maxwell connection won’t affect the saleability of the home. She brazenly enthused: “We believe the beauty of the house and the location will surpass or outweigh the connection. You drive down a long driveway, and it’s all trees. Then, it opens up on top of a bluff with mesmerizing [sic] views.”

Asked by Mansion Global about the sale, PR peddler Brian Basham – who previously has described his “close friend” Maxwell as “showing amazing fortitude” and “brave and determined beyond admiration” – was decidedly not on his usual ‘dirty tricks’ form and coyly “confirmed that Ms Maxwell had no ownership stake but declined to comment further.”

Pictured top – Now convicted mucky madam and sex offending trafficker of girls Ghislaine Maxwell (AKA Mrs Scott Borgerson) in happier times with her “secret hubby” (left), their first marital home (centre) and the cad-about-town with his new lover, Kris McGlinn.

Alleged alcoholic Scott Borgerson once reportedly said to his first wife, Rebecca Borgerson (pictured with their children, names unknown): “Don’t make me beat you in front of the children.” He truly will go down in history as “a charming chap.” They had married in Palm Beach, Flordia – where Jeffrey Epstein also kept a home – on 19th May 2001.

Ghislaine Maxwell and her one-time lover, the since croaked paedophile Jeffrey Epstein (left) and her replacement “secret” husband and fellow submarine lover (right).

Ghislaine Maxwell’s shabbily dressed husband between 2016 and now has qualities just like her. Both were interested in submarines and both were frankly a bit geeky. They clearly both had no problems with telling lies about their real names when it came to buying real estate and they equally had no qualms about not telling their respective families about their having gotten married.

Kris McGinn, an Instagram and yoga enthusiast, has now got her claws into ‘Bouncing Bob’s’ deviant daughter’s hubby. No doubt, as she squirms in her cell awaiting sentencing, the mucky madam Maxwell has deep desires to chuck a dart at her rotten replacement.

https://twitter.com/KirbySommers/status/1283281840414097408

Scott Borgerson didn’t come to public attention until crusading author Kirby Sommers – author of the deservedly lauded expose ‘Ghislaine Maxwell: An Unauthorized Biography’ – brought up his name in connection with the mucky madam’s purchase of the Tuckedaway, New Hampshire estate where she ultimately got snared. That Ghislaine Maxwell didn’t even tell her own siblings she was married to Borgerson until after she was arrested is telling of the true character traits of both of these decidedly odd individuals. To purchase a copy of Kirby Sommers’s book, click here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O29R_lI8SY

Here is a man clearly lacking in good taste when it comes to matters sartorial. In a rare interview in June 2011, he spoke about what has been described as “the race for the Arctic” on behalf of the Council on Foreign Relations.

The Names & Numbers – The Phippen-Smith House, 301 Summer Street, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts, MA 01944, United States of America

February 2022 – 301 Summer Street, Manchester-by-the-Sea is listed for sale for £5.368 million ($7.295 million, €6.443 million or درهم26.791 million) by Campion And Company. The firm, however, do not include a public listing of the property on its site and they do not include any current photographs of the house.

29^th December 2021 – Ghislaine Maxwell is found guilty on five out of six of the charges she had faced. Her husband was not present for the verdict and left his wife to face being sent down alone and with just her brothers and sisters to support the by now convicted child sex trafficker.

29^th November 2021 – Ghislaine Maxwell goes on trial at the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Her husband did not attend on a single day of that trial.

Mid to late 2020 – Ghislaine Maxwell’s “secret husband” goes off radar, but is seen occasionally “looking glum” and walking their “medium-sized pet dog” in Manchester-by-the-Sea. He had previously been seen walking the pooch in Boston in 2019.

2^nd July 2020 – Ghislaine Maxwell is arrested at Tuckedaway.

13^th December 2019 – Ghislaine Maxwell purchases Tuckedaway, 338 East Washington Road, Bradford, New Hampshire, NH 03221 for £787,953 ($1,070,750, €945,752 or درهم3.93 million) via Jennifer Johnson and Margaret Weathers of Four Seasons Sotheby’s International Realty. The house had been listed at a price of £879,000 ($1.195 million, €1.055 million or درهم4.389 million) in March that year and sold previously for £773,000 ($1.050 million, €927,000 million or درهم3.856 million) on 15^th December 2017.

June 2016 – The Phippen-Smith House is sold to Tidewood LLC, a limited liability company controlled by Ghislaine Maxwell’s “secret husband,” for £1.802 million ($2.450 million, €2.164 million or درهم8.998 million). The couple are said to have spent £1.8 million ($2.5 million, €2.2 million or درهم9.2 million) on renovations in the years since that included the installation of many security cameras.

April 2016 – Ghislaine Maxwell sells her Upper East Side, New York townhouse for £11 million ($15 million, €13.2 million or درهم55.1 million) and “disappeared.” She had originally bought that property in 2015 for £12.4 million ($16.9 million, €14.9 million or درهم62.1 million).

Date unknown in 2016 – Scott Borgerson marries Ghislaine Maxwell. She eventually revealed she was married to her until then “secret husband” in court in December 2020 to the surprise of the world and her own brothers and sisters even.

20^th June 2015 – Rebecca Borgerson files for divorce from her then husband. She cited “irreconcilable differences.” The couple had married in 2001 and had two children together.

15^th June 2014 – Scott Borgerson is charged with the assault and domestic battery of his then wife Rebecca Borgerson.

2014 – Ghislaine Maxwell meets her future husband at the Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavik, Iceland whilst married to his then first wife.

The house where Ghislaine Maxwell began her “hideout” in 2019 is in a seaside setting that is undoubtedly idyllic.

The rear of the house in June 2016 prior to Scott Borgerson and Ghislaine Maxwell making alterations to it. Amongst the changes they made were to replace the first floor balcony balustrades.

The entrance to the ‘Phippen-Smith House’ at 301 Summer Street, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts, MA 01944, United States of America is quite anonymous. It is the kind of “anonymous” that Ghislaine Maxwell would no doubt have very much liked prior to her arrest.

Miss Maxwell bought Tuckedaway, 338 East Washington Road, Bradford, New Hampshire, NH 03221 for £787,953 ($1,070,750, €945,752 or درهم3.93 million) via Jennifer Johnson and Margaret Weathers of Four Seasons Sotheby’s International Realty on 13th December 2019. To do so, she pretended to be called ‘Janet Marshall’ and ‘Jen Marshall’ and her husband Scott pretended to be British in the process too. He faked an English accent and frankly showed his true colours as a deceiver like her in the very process.

February 19, 2022
Cornish Chaos G7

Nikolay Kalinin slams the disregard of the British government for the poor people of Cornwall as the G7 approaches

As the G7 summit approaches, hotels in Cornwall are cruelly evicting vulnerable homeless people in order to make room for members of the police and government officials attending the summit.

According to a report by the Cornwall council, around 130 homeless people were forced to leave hotels in order to make room for 5,000 policemen in recent days. Some of them were moved to other temporary accommodation, only to be evicted once again.

One of the people evicted, who has schizophrenia, was forced to stay at a surf hostel. Her mother, Claire, who did not want her full name used, described the horrific conditions there: “The hostel is full of drunk surf dudes and holidaymakers. She is terrified – she thinks people are coming to get her. They have not even put in her a safe place. She has been treated abysmally.”

Going further, the distraught mother quite justifiably added: “What gives them the right to force vulnerable adults out of their accommodation?”

Local charity DISC Newquay has also reported that homeless people have been evicted from the luxury Carbis Bay Hotel, which sparked fury back in March for pulling down ancient woodland in order to make wave for redevelopment, despite being supposedly “eco-friendly” accommodation.

What these incidents show is a complete disregard for human wellbeing; what was the reasoning behind throwing homeless people out of hotels where it is safer for them to stay? There are around 1,343 hotels in Cornwall, meaning that there HAS to be enough room for members of police and government.

This is not the only problem currently plaguing the summit, as over the last couple of days, environmental activists have organised a series of protests in Cornwall, with one featuring protesters in Boris Johnson masks pushing a burning boat into the water with “YOUR CHILDREN’S FUTURE” written on it in order to convince the delegates to tackle ocean pollution.

In addition, 80 activists have set off on a 6-day walk from Plymouth Hoe to Carbis Bay in an attempt to convince the delegates to prioritise climate change agenda during the summit, with some of them from the Extinction Rebellion.

I also see very little point in the existence of the Group of Seven, because they seem to meet every year or so and yet achieve very little in terms of global policy. It’s been eons since they pledged to tackle climate change, and yet corporations are still pumping oil and contributing the global warming. The EU has done more to tackle climate change, and its existence in my opinion is more beneficial than the existence of the sockless G7.

Pictured above: The Carbis Bay Hotel – a supposedly ‘eco-friendly’ venue that will host the Group of Seven meeting that has also taken to disgracefully chopping down trees to make way for a parade of pointless politicians.

The Carbis Bay Hotel has quite rightly been targeted by protestors determined to show it as anything but ‘eco friendly’ and anything but supportive of its very own locals. That this business, to suit the short-term visit of a bunch of egomaniac politicians, has shut out locals and destroyed trees for a set of rooms that haven’t even got proper planning permission is utterly disgraceful. The Carbis Bay Hotel deserves nothing but the grief that it is quite deservedly getting.

‘The Convenient Catholic Couple’ Mr and Mrs Boris Johnson will use the G7 summit as the first opportunity of their union to laud it over the world. This shameless puppet mistress and her sidekick will most likely find a way to embarrass Britain only further.

June 8, 2021
A Cottage For A Quid

Crumbling stone-built seaside cottage in Welsh foodie destination and royal town of Caernarfon goes on sale for just £1

The Royal Town of Caernarfon sits on the eastern shore of the Menai Strait in North Wales and as a result of its proximity to Snowdonia and history dating back to Roman times is a “major tourist centre,” according to Wikipedia. It has a marina, award winning arts centre, a maritime museum and numerous popular pubs, bars and restaurants.

Situated down an alleyway behind the now shuttered Morris Bros Gors Bach Bakery shop at 72 Pool Street, a stone-built derelict cottage is currently being marketed by the Doorsteps online estate agency for the seemingly remarkable price of just £1.

Though clearly in need of total renovation, the space offered is just a three minute walk from the seafront and directly adjoins the town’s revamped shopping district where the annual food festival attracts around 30,000 visitors each May.

Of the property offered, the Mirror last week observed: “It now needs a total makeover to become a dream seaside cottage in the heart of the holiday town” and could instead be converted to a studio space even.

In their very brief marketing literature, Doorsteps, however, add: “Terms and conditions apply,” but when contacted for comment were somewhat curiously not able to elaborate further.

Bidding for the cottage to the rear of 72 Pool Street, Caernarfon is scheduled to commence online on 6^th May 2021 at 12 noon and will conclude at 1pm on the same day. Interestingly, a bidding deposit of £500 is required to participate – some £499 or 49,900% more than the property’s guide price.

The interior of the cottage is nothing but an empty shack currently, but there is plenty of character that could be incorporated into its potential reuse as a home.

The space could be used as a holiday cottage, permanent residence or a studio even – subject to any necessary planning consents being granted.

The currently derelict cottage is behind an also currently derelict bakery that had been in business for over 50 years and accessed via a somewhat unappealing alleyway.

The annual Caernarfon Food Festival is not happening in 2021 due to COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, but it is normally a popular event and attended by around 30,000 people.

The festival occurs throughout the town and on the sea wall even.

Previously in February 2017, ‘The Steeple Times’ featured the sale of a far grander residence in Caernarfon, The Old Court House, at a price reduced from £650,000 to just £525,000. The building’s then owner, an English property developer named Aaron Hill, told ‘Wales Online’ he was selling after “vandals had smashed his windows 46 times, daubed graffiti across doors, attacked his car and urinated through his letterbox.” He told the paper “he had reported about 26 incidents to North Wales Police and remarked: ‘They said: ‘You need to f**k off where you belong. We don’t want you here. We’ll burn the place down.’” The building was subsequently converted into a bar, bistro, restaurant and event venue in 2018.

In June 2014, ‘The Steeple Times’ featured another property once sold for £1, the Grade I listed Palladian gem Barlaston Hall in Staffordshire. It was saved from near collapse in 1981 by former ‘Country Life’ editor Marcus Binney and sold on for £300,000in 1992 and offered for sale again in 2014 for £2.3 million after renovations were completed. After its asking price was reduced to £2 million, it subsequently sold for £2 million through agents Fisher German in April 2019.

In the very same article in June 2014 in ‘The Steeple Times,’ we also included another £1 property, Old Whitehall House in Chirnside, Berwickshire, Scotland. Derelict since 2007, this B-listed Georgian mansion required at least £1.2 million spent on its refurbishment, but came complete with an ornate music room decorated in Italian plasterwork and 7 bedrooms.

May 3, 2021
Gone Fishers Gin-ing!

Matthew Steeples visits Aldeburgh in Suffolk to learn the story of a business finding success in lockdown – he discovers Fishers Gin

Aldeburgh in Suffolk is famous for fish and chips. Two of its chippies are supposedly “amongst the best in the UK,” but now this seaside town is producing something just as quintessentially British – gin.

In a building, modestly described by Andrew Heald, the founder of Fishers Gin, as a ‘beach house’ – in the way that the Pritzkers and Vanderbilts referred to their colossal ‘summer mansions’ in the Hamptons as plain old ‘cottages’ – right on the seafront, is now a distillery and boy is it a smart one.

Unlike most distilleries I’ve visited and unsurprisingly to those that know me, I’ve been to many – normally quite unappealing places stuck in the middle of grim industrial estates in places like Warrington, a town sadly known for having Kerry Katona as its “finest export” – the Fisher’s Gin team work in an office that reminded me of the hideout of Pierce Brosnan as fictional Prime Minister Adam Lang in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts in the 2010 film The Ghost Writer.

Though Fishers Gin was originally presented in colourful packaging that featured an anchor, the design now incorporates “a scallop shell in celebration of Maggi Hambling’s sculpture” – a famed 13-foot high landmark in the town. Named to reflect the history of the fishing village where it is produced, the bottle’s bright colours are said to reflect fishing nets whilst the gin itself has a taste dominated by coastal botanicals.

Stronger than your typical 40% ABV gin at 44%, here is a gin with notes of samphire and bog myrtle and one where hints of salt shine through. A slightly unusual taste follows, but it is refreshingly uplifting and with a team behind it who’ve moved over to selling directly on their own website, here is a business that has adapted to doing things differently due to the COVID-19 lockdown.

Fishers Gin is a gin of maritime origins and it’s a gin to be celebrated like one’s first catch; once you’ve tried it, you’ll be hooked.

To purchase a bottle of Fishers Gin for £39.95 direct from its producers, click here. A Fishers Gin Navy coloured enamel mug can also be bought for £7.95.

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The Founder and his Brace of Beagles – Andrew Heald, his hounds (one of which gave its name to the Fishers Gin still, ‘Watson’) and a Fishers Gin Navy enamel mug.

The Botanicals of the Sea – The distinct taste of Fishers Gin comes from the locally sourced plants of the Suffolk coast that it is made with. These include spignel, wood avens, rock samphire flower and bog myrtle. These are sustainably foraged.

We're thrilled to let you know that our new still, Watson, arrived today.#FishersGin pic.twitter.com/tkmsBTpwgE
— Fishers Gin (@FishersGin) December 17, 2019

The Fishers Gin Distillery – Situated next to The Brudenell Hotel, a building used as a home for children evacuated from Belgium during the Second World War, this beachside building is due to open to visitors once lockdown is over. The view out to sea takes in a series of wind turbines – a topic of conversation best not raised with disapproving locals.

‘The Ghost Writer’ – The actual filming location used in the 2010 Franco-German-British political thriller was not in Massachusetts, but in Germany. This was due to Roman Polanski being unable to enter Britain or America due to his evasion of justice since 1978. Pictured are the film’s stars Pierce Brosnan, Ewan McGregor and Kim Cattrall in a setting reminiscent to that where Fishers Gin is produced.

‘Rebel With A Cause’ – Controversial British artist Maggi Hambling CBE (top) and her scallop sculpture at Aldeburgh (below). It was conceived as a celebration of Aldeburgh’s most famous resident, composer Benjamin Britten, and though opposed and covered in graffiti even by some in the locality, Andrew Heald chose to feature it on the label of his gin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ek4hqlWcdd4

June 10, 2020
Back on The Front

Coastal ‘estate’ with its own lighthouse perched on The Front above the White Cliffs of Dover for sale; it was used in scenes featuring Oliver Reed in ‘The Shuttered Room’

In November 2013, The Steeple Times featured the sale of ‘The South Foreland Estate’ for £4 million. Its price bizarrely had been increased by £500,000 from when it was on the market earlier that year and now it is again being promoted – this time for an even more punchy sum of £5 million.

Standing in 11.5 acres of land on the edge of the White Cliffs of Dover in “the most remarkable location on the Kent coast” according to Knight Frank, the freehold property is now known more simply as ‘The Cliff House.’ It is described as having “been renovated by the past two proprietors” and of it, they add: “The current owners have carried out extensive redecoration during their occupation.”

Aside from the main house with 3 reception rooms and 5 bedroom suites, there is a 2 bedroom annexe, a 3 bedroom cottage and a 2 bedroom cottage. Also included is an unused lighthouse, a large garage, a swimming pool, lawned gardens and some “light woodland.”

The agents don’t, however, mention if the owners will be making Dame Vera Lynn available to sing about bluebirds at post lockdown viewings.

The lighthouse, originally known as the Lower South Foreland Lighthouse, itself was built in 1843 on the site of an earlier building. It was decommissioned in 1904 after the sands shifted and is Grade II listed. Agents Knight Frank simply remark of it: “Not use.”

Oliver Reed as ‘Ethan’ at South Foreland Lighthouse in ‘The Shuttered Room’ with Flora Robson as ‘Aunt Agatha’ looking down. The 1967 British horror film was directed by David Greene and starred Gig Young and Carol Lynley.

The Numbers – The Cliff House, The South Foreland Estate, The Front, St Margaret’s Bay, Dover, Kent, CT15 6HP, United Kingdom

June 2020 – For sale for £5 million ($6.3 million, €5.6 million or درهم22.3 million) through Knight Frank.

November 2018 – For sale for £5 million ($6.3 million, €5.6 million or درهم22.3 million) through Knight Frank.

November 2013 – For sale for £4 million ($5.1 million, €4.5 million or درهم18.6 million) through Strutt & Parker.

July 2013 – For sale for £3.5 million ($4.4 million, €3.9 million or درهم16.3 million) through Strutt & Parker.

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Out on The Front – The main entrance to The Cliff House.

The main entertaining space is a large 27-foot by 17-foot drawing room.

There is also a sitting room.

The kitchen has been redecorated by the current owners.

One of five bedroom suites.

The largest of the bathrooms in the house.

Out on The Front – Views out to sea.

A balcony overlooking the Strait of Dover.

Thrree ancillary properties are included in the sale price.

The interior of one of these spaces.

Looking out to sea.

Looking inland.

The property is surrounded by land owned by the National Trust.

The White Cliffs.

Out on The Front – An aerial shot of the property.

June 8, 2020
Breaking For Gold

Thatched seaside cottage in West Sussex for sale; it has a plot laid out in the style of the Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medal winning garden of 1936

A thatched seaside cottage on what has been described as “the Sussex Riviera” has gone on sale for £3.25 million ($4.19 million, €3.67 million or درهم15.39 million) through agents Savills.

Having the look of something you might also find in the Hamptons in America, The Breakers on the Willowhayne Estate at East Preston, near Littlehampton was built in 1936 in the Arts and Crafts style and restored over the last nine years by the current owners.

Providing 6,006 square foot of accommodation over three floors, the house includes 4 reception rooms, 6 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms. It stands on a 0.75-acre beachside plot laid out in the plan of the winning garden at Chelsea Flower Show in 1936 and has an outdoor swimming pool – built in 2010 – also.

A neighbouring house, owned by one of the original question setters for the game Trivial Pursuit, burnt to the ground in January 2014.

July 9, 2017
One family from new

Grade I listed house in Northern Ireland offered for sale for the first time since it was built in 1620 (more…)

May 20, 2016
Far from moderation

American diet guru Jenny Craig’s ocean side residence remains on the market for £25.9 million after one year for sale – it is anything but a symbol of moderation (more…)

May 30, 2015
Olympia by John Stoddart

John Stoddart to exhibit at Whitstable’s The Fishslab Gallery (more…)

April 23, 2015