Compact yet cosy, the main attraction here is a 22-foot length sitting room with an inglenook fireplace and bread oven at one end and a natural stone fireplace at the other. It also includes a kitchen with a Rangemaster oven, a study and would make an ideal Airbnb given its proximity to Glastonbury and its annual festival.
Another ‘chocolate box’ cottage comes in the form of Court Cottage – an 18th century detached property in a “highly regarded south Suffolk village” near Bury St Edmunds where one of Margaret Thatcher’s most trusted political advisers, David Hart, “lived-in-style” prior to his death in 2011.
Offered by Jackson-Stops, this 1,615 square foot thatched building includes 2 reception rooms, 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. It also has a “fabulous” dining kitchen, a garage with a room above, an electric car charging point and a lawned garden.
Curiously, the property has a “flying freehold” since the neighbour’s bathroom overhangs the property’s ground floor utility room and a “creeping freehold” since its cellar lies beneath the adjoining property’s living area.
Llangain, Dorstone, Herefordshire –£695,000 ($873,300, €800,500 or درهم3.2 million)
For the same sum, just 3.5 miles from the market town of Hay-on-Wye – famed as “the town of books” – this 18th century restored cottage on ½ acre is available freehold. It is situated close to the Golden Valley village of Dorstone – a settlement best known for its annual sloe gin competition where each year the winner is crowned the ‘Grand Master of the Sloes.’
Llangain, a farmhouse that was derelict from the First World War until 1995, itself has 4 bedrooms and in addition there is a 1-bedroom barn conversion. Agents Knight Frank laud the property as being in a “picturesque setting” and having “amazing views.”
Willow Cottage, Bethersden, Kent – £1.75 million ($2.20 million, €2.01 million or درهم8.07 million)
Situated in a village best known for producing rather ritzy rocking horses for everyone from the late Queen Elizabeth II to Sir Paul McCartney, Willow Cottage is being marketed by Strutt & Parker as having “evolved from the picturesque period cottage at its heart, and from which it derives its somewhat understated name” into an “elegant 4,800 square foot family house.”
Situated on a plot of 16.5 acres and last sold for £400,000 in July 1998, this 5-bedroomed residence comes with a separate 2-bedroomed ‘guest barn’ and also has a tennis court, a swimming pool, stabling, garaging, gardens and paddocks. A “picturesque pond” currently provides opportunity for Wind in the Willows-esque Messing About in a Boat, as our main photograph suggests.
Matthew Steeples takes a look at a £36 million Kensington mansion formerly owned by disgraced business tycoons Alan Bond and Lord Black; its former chatelaine was known for stating “I have an extravagance that know no bounds”
Sir Winston Churchill’s daughter Mary Soames once described the buccaneering businessman and media tycoon Lord Black of Crossharbour as “London’s biggest bore unhung” whilst his wife, Lady Black – better known as the author and journalist Barbara Amiel – was suggested to be just a “rich bitch” by Sarah Sands in a “case for the defence” article in the Independent in October 2006.
“Poster boy for the 80s” turned fraudster and jailbird Alan Bond (1938 – 2015) was an English-Australian businessman equally Marmite-like in being liked or loathed and now a Kensington mansion owned for a time by both subsequently disgraced businessmen is once again for sale.
14 Cottesmore Gardens, formerly known as 12 – 14 Cottesmore Gardens, was purchased by Alan Bond’s Satellite Group for £7 million in the 1980s and sold by administrators of that business to Conrad Black and his wife for the knockdown sum of just £3.5 million in 1992.
Plain old Mr and Mrs Black (as they then were) lavished further millions – some of which came from the company Hollinger International, Inc., which ultimately resulted in their downfall – on the double fronted 19th century mansion and used it for entertaining on a lavish scale. Guests, including the likes of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, Joan Collins, Margaret Thatcher, Henry Kissinger, Jimmy Goldsmith, James Hanson, Arnold Weinstock, Jacob Rothschild, Peter Mandelson and Tony Blair, were said to flock to the parties they gave there, but in 2005 these gatherings of upto 400 people at a time came to an almighty end.
Forced to sell at a bargain basement price of just £13.1 million on an ask of £17.5 million as the Canadian born billionaire faced jail time in America, Lord and Lady Black’s tenure was over and the residence saw its “arriviste torch” passed to Juan and Adriana Villalonga, a couple described as “a Mexican telecom czar and his beauty-queen wife.” Of what came next, The Globe And Mail’s Paul Waldie pointedly penned in February 2007: “[They] quickly erased many of the features that the Blacks prized.”
Once again for sale as of April 2023, the value of 14 Cottesmore Gardens has again been deemed to have substantially risen. Knight Frank offer the 12,310 square foot, five-storey residence at a punchy price of £36 million and laud it as “imposing” and “presented in good order throughout.” They add that a “pre-planning consultation” has found that further accommodation could be added that would take the internal space to more than 15,000 square feet; business barons with deep pockets only need apply.
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.
Pictured Top – 54-foot wide 14 Cottesmore Gardens is described by selling agents Knight Frank as “offering lateral living so often requested but so hard to find in central London.” They neglect to mention that with its hedges cut back to the minimum, the place actually looks extremely forlorn.
Flamboyant Lord and Lady Black dressed as Cardinal Richelieu and Marie Antoinette for a party at Kensington Palace in 2000. For a time, the couple employed 17 butlers (if Tom Bower is to be believed) and had two private jets and homes – aside from the 19th Cottesmore Gardens mansion – in New York, Palm Beach and Toronto. “Guests packed into their parties at Cottesmore Gardens,” Bower remarked in his 2006 book the couple, adding: “Amiel was a big spender… Under the control of senior butler Andrew Lightwood, second butler Peter Wilson and a succession of third butlers, Amiel’s life in Kensington had become what her constantly changing staff called ‘bizarre.’ Each recruit was taken by Lightwood on an introductory tour of the house, ending on the roof. ‘Make sure the landing lights are on at all times,’ instructed Lightwood solemnly, ‘because Madame takes off from here on her broomstick looking for cats. She needs the lights to guide her return.’ His face would crack into a smile. ‘Most important, take care that she never sees you. She hates seeing any of us.’ Amiel’s eccentricity demanded that her staff hid whenever she approached, diving into cupboards if necessary, and never entered her quarters when she was present. Every day, all the bed linen was changed and subjected to ‘the penny test.’ A coin was dropped onto the sheets. If it failed to bounce they were not drawn sufficiently tight. Every cushion was arranged to a precise pre-ordained position, and each towel placed exactly as Amiel had predetermined. ‘Andrew!’ she screamed down the telephone on one memorable occasion, ‘the towels are in the wrong place!’ Lightwood, as Amiel knew, was in New York, but he was expected to telephone the staff in the house in London to rectify the error. ‘You f**king pillock!’ she yelled at another member of staff for reading her ‘Daily Mail’ before it was delivered to her.”Barbara Amiel Black (or ‘Lady Black’ as she prefers to be known) in her drawing room at Cottesmore Gardens (pictured). Of her, Sarah Sands on Lord and Lady Black in the ‘Independent’ in October 2006 opined: “Conrad and Barbara in their monstrous, glamorous way, knew how to throw parties. The talk was of geo-politics and hemlines. Nowadays, we scorn their extravagance and doubt the source of their wealth with prune-faced hindsight. Meanwhile, everyone is sucking up to Russians…. Barbara would disingenuously begin her midnight calls to me by saying in her low, breathy voice: ‘I hope I am not disturbing you.’ She would then offer little glimpses of her own home life. I remember her mentioning that Conrad Black was upstairs playing with his fleet of toy gun ships in the bath… I remember her examining an exhibition of doll’s houses at the Chelsea Flower Show and sighing how restful it would be to live in this cosy little home. How she envied people in small houses. The burden of wealth was one of her more dangerous fantasies. At one of her Gatsby-style parties in Kensington, she flinched at the elaborate canapés on offer: ‘Really, all I want is a sausage,’ she said, piteously. Then, she ran a hand down her inconceivably expensive dress and whispered: ‘I hate these parties, I am so shy.’ Later, I was invited to her boudoir, where she lay on cushion surrounded by her women friends. She was Kensington’s Cleopatra, surrounded by maidens such as the designer and Forte daughter Olga Polizzi, the political thinker Tessa Keswick and the writer Miriam Gross.”The very same drawing room at 14 Cottesmore Gardens today. The décor is now somewhat more modern and less ‘classical country house-ified.’ It’s certainly more Soho Farmhouse than Alberto Pinto in style; it is currently a space that the former Meghan Markle would feel more at home than say, perhaps, the likes of Lord and Lady Black’s chum Ghislaine Maxwell and her fellow noxious nonce Ponzi scheming paedophile boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein. Mr Pinto was responsible, it should be noted, for the designs of most of Epstein’s residences.The front elevation of 12 – 14 Cottesmore Gardens during the era it was owned by Lord and Lady Black.Multiple entries for Lord and Lady Black during the time they owned 14 Cottesmore Gardens appeared in the ‘Little Black Book’ address book often attributed as being that of the friends and associates of Jeffrey Epstein, but that featured more of the contacts of Ghislaine Maxwell in fact. In October 2020, Barbara Amiel took revenge on the pension pot plunderer’s padeophile sex trafficker daughter by featuring her in her “score-settling” memoir ‘Friends & Enemies: A Life in Vogue, Prison, & Park Avenue.” Maxwell had “dumped” Lady Black when Lord Black was being investigated for fraud. She wrote of their last meeting: “We were friends – so putting on my ‘So good to see you’ face, I headed for her. She bolted. Turned that sharp tight little turn when you really want to get away. And that was it.” Of the clear lover of plastic surgery Lady Black, in October 2020, Sarah Sands remarked in ‘The Mail on Sunday’: “She had a bohemian, almost masculine, view of opportunistic sex. She describes, for instance, accompanying an early love in his white Triumph sports car ‘in which once or twice I had performed fellatio to the fascination of passing truck drivers, all for fun.’”After getting out of the clink in 2012, Lord and Lady Black decided to go back on the ‘razzle-dazzle’ and posed for photographers before heading back to London to party with friends. In May 2019, the rambunctious peer arrogantly announced he’d be returning to the House of Lords after President Donald Trump pardoned and praised him. Commenting, of this pardon, Lord Black declared: “I’m not bitter… Officially in the United States, I’ve never been charged and I won in the end. It was a war and there are casualties in wars. I lost the time, I lost a lot of money, but as you can see my standards of living isn’t bad… The truth is, these, last 15 years, I haven’t been as interested in British politics as I was before – in the Thatcher years. It could be quite interesting again, in fact it is as of right now – it’s very interesting… It’s my good fortune that at a time when it is feasible, it happens – by happy coincidence – that it is a time of great fermentation in British public affairs.” Surprisingly, he doesn’t seem to have turned up on occasions since.The previous owner of 14 Cottesmore Gardens, Alan Bond (1938 – 2015), will forever be remembered as “Australia’s most notorious corporate criminal.” Born in Hammersmith, London, Bond’s first crime occurred when he was charged with theft aged 14 in Fremantle in Australia and whilst he is remembered for bankrolling the successful challenge for the 1983 America’s Cup, it is for causing the then biggest corporate collapse in Australian history that he will be go down in history. Former Miss Mexico Adriana Abascal López-Cisneros (at the time Adriana Villalonga) bought the house in 2005. She divorced the Spanish businessman Juan Villalonga in 2009 and married the French businessman Emmanuel Schreder in Ibiza in June 2013. In August 2014, the magazine ‘Quién’ featured the model and television presenter on its cover and at that time she described her new husband as “the love of my life.”Madrid born Juan Villalonga became the joint owner of 14 Cottesmore Gardens with his then wife Adriana Abascal – the couple were married between 2000 and 2009 – in 2005. He is listed on Companies House as being a director of the now dissolved Medikidz Foundation at the address between August 2009 and November 2013. Married since 2011 to a photographer named Vanessa Von Zitewitz, Mr Villalonga was a partner at McKinsey & Company in the 1980s, CEO for Credit Suisse First Boston and Bankers Trust in Spain in the early 1990s and CEO of Telefónica from 1996 to 2000. He was named as one of the best performing chief executive officers in the world by ‘Harvard Business Review’ in 2010 and is also linked to addresses in Monaco.
The Names & Numbers – 14 Cottesmore Gardens (formerly known as ’12 – 14 Cottesmore Gardens’), Kensington, London, W8 5PR, United Kingdom
April 2023 – Offered for sale for £36 million ($44.4 million, €40.9 million or درهم163.2 million) through Knight Frank. Valued on Homipi at an upper sum of £28.558 million ($35.250 million, €32.440 million or درهم129.456 million).
2009 – Mr and Mrs Villalonga divorce and subsequently Adriana Abascal married Emmanuel Schreder, a French businessman, in Ibiza in June 2013.
2005 – Sold by Lord and Lady Black for £13.1 million ($16.2 million, €14.9 million or درهم59.4 million) to Spanish businessman Juan Villalonga Navarro and Mexican model, Miss Mexico winner and television presenter Adriana Abascal López-Cisneros Villalonga.
October 2004 – Placed for sale for £17.5 million ($21.6 million, €19.9 million or درهم79.3 million) according to NZ Herald.
January 2004 – Valued at £14 million ($17.3 million, €15.9 million or درهم63.5 million) according to The Globe And Mail. At the time, the “mansion” in “the upscale Kensington neighbourhood” was described as having “10 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms and a swimming pool.”
Featured also in The Guardian in an article by Chris Tryhorn. Quoting Lord Black, he shared: “At a certain price, anything is for sale. [It has] been shown to people in the not-too-distant-past.”
Going further, Tryhorn added: “Artwork from the 18th and 19th centuries lines the walls, and there is plenty of storage space for the extensive wardrobe and shoe collection of Lord Black’s wife, Barbara Amiel, who famously declared once that her ‘extravagence knows no bounds.’ … It was originally two homes and one of the two original front doors is now a ‘deliveries’ entrance. He has used it in the past to host dinners with butler and maid service that was part-paid by Hollinger.”
Also in 2004, in a profile in The Spectator, Peter Oborne wrote:
“Every year the Blacks threw two parties, one at Christmas and one summer event, at their double-fronted 11-bedroom mansion in Cottesmore Gardens. Everybody who mattered at the time went: Margaret Thatcher, Henry Kissinger, Jimmy Goldsmith, James Hanson, Arnold Weinstock, Jacob Rothschild, royalty, the playwright Tom Stoppard.”
“Some of these, injudiciously as it turned out, agreed to join the main Hollinger board. The luckier ones – Peter Carrington, Robert Salisbury – got away with being made directors of TheTelegraph. As the Tories faded out, Labour ministers started to arrive, the indefatigable Peter Mandelson, David Blunkett and other ministers eager to ingratiate themselves with the Tory press. Prince and Princess Michael of Kent were assiduous in attendance. In London, the Nineties belonged to the Blacks. They were London’s most glamorous power couple.”
“There had been a time when both Blacks had kept their feet on the ground. This ceased to be the case. One evening Barbara Black rang Charles Moore panic-stricken from her Kensington home. There had been a last-minute drop-out from one of the famous Black dinner parties. ‘I’m short of a woman,’ she told Moore. Moore surveyed the newsroom. His gaze alighted on the journalist Eleanor Mills, by chance the stepdaughter of the Cabinet minister Tessa Jowell.”
“An hour later, hastily groomed, made-up and brushed, Mills was sipping pre-dinner drinks in Cottesmore Gardens. Then disaster struck. A male guest, Max Fisher, dropped out. Mills was approached by Conrad Black. ‘Finish your drink and skedaddle,’ he told her. Barbara Black then told her to go to the kitchen and out through the servants’ door, where the driver would pick her up and take her home.”
2001 – Conrad Black is elevated to a life peerage in the United Kingdom at the suggestion of Tony Blair. He sat on the Conservative benches in the House of Lords until 2007 as The Right Honourable The Lord Black of Crossharbour KCSG, but took a “leave of absence” between 2012 and 2019.
28th May 1996 – The Royal Borough of Kensington And Chelsea ordered that 12 – 14 Cottesmore Gardens “shall be known and described” simply instead as 14 Cottesmore Gardens.
Mid 1990s – The Blacks set about renovating 12 and 14 Cottesmore Gardens with the help of J. E. Evans Associates. Of the work in October 2006, The Sunday Times shared a segment of Tom Bower’s 2006 hatchet job Conrad and Lady Black that read: “Amiel vowed to create a palace that would attract celebrity worshipers of a power couple. Part of the first floor was to be removed to create a huge ground floor reception area.”
1992 – 12 and 14 Cottesmore Gardens sold by the administrators of the affairs of Alan Bond through estate agents Savills to media tycoon Conrad Black and his Watford born journalist wife Barbara Amiel Black for “well under the asking price” for a sum of £3.5 million ($4.3 million, €4 million or درهم15.9 million).
Mr Bond had been granted mortgages valued at £16.2 million ($20 million, €18.4 million or درهم73.5 million) on the property by Bell Satellite Services on the property along with two others at 4 and 16 Belgrave Mews in London, SW1 previously according to a report published by Financial Review in March 1990.
1991 – Rented to an American businessman for £6,000 per week ($7,400, €6,800 or درهم27,200 per week).
1990 – Placed in the hands of administrators of Mr Bond’s and placed for sale through Savills for a bargain basement sum of £3.8 million ($4.7 million, €4.3 million or درهم17.2 million) according to Financial Review.
1980s – Sold to Alan Bond’s Bell Satellite Group for £7 million ($8.6 million, €8 million or درهم31.7 million).
Circa 1905 – Walter Tapper is said to have “designed a library with handsome Arts and Crafts plasterwork (now removed) at the rear of the building.”
1869 – In their current marketing blurb, Knight Frank suggest: “There has been a house on the site of 12 – 14 Cottesmore Gardens since at least 1869. The current house has been altered, extended and most notably joined over the subsequent century and a half. With the local planning department strongly opposed to further amalgamation of homes, opportunities to acquire a house of this width will be rarer still in the future.”
1850s to 1860s – Built “under the direction of David Howell, of Serjeants Inn, Fleet Street.” Mr Howell was described in 1853 as an “articled clerk to a solicitor, lately carrying on business as a solicitor.” The architecture was lauded as: “Designed in a bold classical manner, with rather fleshy consoles and modillions… and bands of Vitruvian scroll between the bases of the ground-floor windows.”
More photographs of the £36 million mansion…
An entrance hall where power and privilege have most certainly mingled previously.The 54-foot wide drawing is lauded by selling realtors Knight Frank as “arguably the best room in the house” and “double aspect.” They add: “[It has] six windows overlooking the street and additional views over the private garden to the rear.”The columns where Barbara Amiel Black once posed for photographs remain, but the subsequent owners eliminated much of the 1990s ‘brash’ that had been installed by a Watford born woman whose excess clearly offended so many.This dining room, where Conrad Black hosted presidents and prime ministers, is now somewhat diminished. The table for eight looks completely out of place and a future owner would do well to install something a little grander.A double height entertaining space was installed at the insistence of the loftier-than-lofty Lady Black in the 1990s and it remains today. However, it is now currently being used for more casual affairs such as Netflix viewing rather than being the scene of something that you’d more likely find in the ‘House of Cards’ in fact.A new owner might reinstate the grandeur of the past; sadly, however, this seems unlikely and the purchaser is more likely to be a footballer or Internet tycoon than a super-connected business tycoon.This currently very dark and very depressing study would most certainly not appeal to the very clearly very, very bright yet very, very pompous The Right Honourable The Lord Black of Crossharbour KCSG – a man who is said to count Julius Caesar and Napoleon Bonaparte as “his military heroes.” Of him in July 1997, Mark Honigsbaum in the ‘Independent’ remarked: “Although Black’s grandfather had briefly been a business partner of Harold Harmsworth, the original Viscount Rothermere, it was from his father, George Montegu Black Jr, that Black learned the art of corporate warfare, the importance of historical perspective and that gambling provides a disappointing rate of return compared to the Dow Jones index… The young Conrad was precocious. At the age of eight he sank his life savings of $60 into a single share of General Motors. He also became obsessed with Napoleon, and would astound his father’s friends by reeling off details of campaigns. Another story has him washing dollar bills and hanging them out to dry on a line outside his father’s home in Toronto. The last is apocryphal – Black says he slipped in the mud and was cleaning his change – but the image of the young capitalist, wise beyond his years, is accurate. His childhood tutor, the historian Laurier LaPierre, once asked Black why he always seemed to have the air of someone waiting for something to happen… A few years ago, for instance, the rumour went round Fleet Street that Black had bought Napoleon’s preserved penis at an auction. Black denied it, but many remain convinced that Bonaparte’s body part sits in Black’s collection of military curios… Black is no philanderer and is devoted to his second wife, the former ‘Sunday Times’ columnist Barbara Amiel. They are said to be intellectual soul mates and the parties at their four-storey mansion in Kensington are famous for bringing together a cross-section of the great and good.”One could not imagine the likes of the late great Baroness Thatcher, for example, liking the idea of sitting in this extremely depressing and dark waiting area. A new owner would do well to obliterate a décor scheme that could have only been favoured by a completely colour blind banker.A room currently described as a ‘cinema room’ measures 28’6” by 21’6” and is situated at the rear of the house. One can imagine Conrad Black having sat here for hour upon hour watching historical dramas about Napoleon with the likes of chums such as the acclaimed historian Andrew Roberts, the gambling tycoon John Aspinall and the politician and diarist Alan Clark, but a new owner will be more likely next showing episodes of ‘Succession’ – based on ‘The Telegraph’ tycoon’s rival Rupert Murdoch – than viewing historical works one most definitely suspects.Dining whilst the staff cook would NEVER have been on the agenda in the era that pomposity reigned whilst Lady Black was chatelaine of 14 Cottesmore Gardens.A 2,000 square foot entire floor fit for a tycoon… The master bedroom suite of the house takes up the entirety of the second floor of the building. It incorporates not only the principal bedroom, but also a “his” dressing room and a “her” dressing room as well as a sitting area, a bathroom, a shower room and storage rooms. It has direct lift access and is bigger than the average Brit’s entire house.A dressing room in the house where Barbara Black opened up to ‘Vogue’ and displayed “closets overflowing with dazzling evening gowns, designer handbags and 100 pairs of Manolo Blahnik shoes. ‘I have an extravagance that knows no bounds,’ she famously declared. Unfortunately for Lady Black, the article was closely perused at investment company Tweedy, Browne, a Hollinger International shareholder.”This playroom certainly did not exist in the era that Lord and Lady Black owned the property. It would be more likely crammed with books or stuffed with Manolo Blahnik shoes than toys from Toys ‘R Us. A new owner may likely reinstate it as an additional bedroom or office or games room perhaps.The pool room measures 43’9” by 26’9” and is no doubt where Lady Black spent many an hour relaxing.The garden to the rear was where Lord and Lady Black hosted their annual summer party (with guests “spilling” into their drawing room also). In surprisingly Tardis-like fashion, the duo were able to supposedly squeeze in upto 400 guests at such occasions. Amongst those said to have enjoyed hospitality there were Joan Collins and of such, magazine publisher Nicholas Coleridge wrote: “If you get a kick out of milling about with present and former prime ministers, cabinet ministers, minor royals, dukes, editors, vastly rich Americans, distinguished historians, gossip columnists, playboys and lots of pretty ‘it’ girls, then this was the place to be.”The existing floor plan of the property illustrates the vast scale of the building offered. A buyer, Knight Frank observe, has additional options and “a pre-planning consultation has been carried out with RBKC by leading architects Studio Indigo.” They add: “[It] would completely reconfigure the house adding an additional basement floor and taking the internal space to more than 15,000 square foot. The resulting house would have a 40-foot by 41-foot south-facing rear garden.”A plan of the site as presented in 1996 when 12 and 14 became known just as 14 Cottesmore Gardens.
In cultivating a new variety of snowdrop Joe Sharman – known to many as ‘Mr Snowdrop’ – has brought joy to ‘galanthophiles’ everywhere and made himself £1,850 from just one bulb also; amusingly there’s even a variety named ‘John’s Y-Fronts’
It’s always great to improve one’s grasp of etymology and this morning I learnt about a word that describes a charmingly endearing collection of people. That word? Galanthophile.
A noun of 19th century origin that takes the snowdropgalanthus’s taxonomic name from the Greek gala, galkt ‘milk’ and antho- ‘flower,’ those that so enthusiastically collect these “magical and really special” bell-shaped flowers are known as galanthophiles.
The official flower for January birthdays and brought to Britain by the Romans, the “milk flower of the snow” – as it is sometimes described – is said to symbolise hope, purity, innocence and sympathy. It is the first flower to bloom at the end of winter and though Victorians associated it with death and bad luck, on Saturday, The Guardian’s Steven Morris charmingly reported on “hordes of galanthophiles” descending on Buckland Monachorum on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon this week to “take in the sight of a beloved flower that this time of year provides a vivid reminder than warmer, cheerier seasons are ahead.”
Grown by Cottenham, Cambridgeshire plantsman Joe Sharman (AKA ‘Mr Snowdrop’) of the Monksilver Nursery, ‘Golden Tears’ received 55 bids and finally hammered down to a buyer “unidentified.” It was listed as:
“A narrow-flowered yellow pterugiform with a very large mark and bright yellow ovary. Very beautiful and distinct. Quite different from Golden Fleece. Exceptionally vigorous. 25cm. The result of a deliberate cross by me using the same parents that created Golden Fleece. First time sold by us on eBay only named 2 weeks ago. Only one for the season.”
In 2015, in an interview with The Guardian – clearly the paper with the most enthusiasm for snowdrops on the planet – Joe Sharman concluded:
“They come up early in the year when nothing else is growing, so if you have the kind of brain that needs lots of things to think about, you focus in.”
“They seem to be almost infinitely variable. You collect the 10 you recognise, then you realise that you can recognise 20 and it just goes from there. I don’t think there is another group of plants quite like it.”
Pictured top – Joe Sharman (right) and the now famous £1,850 flower he has spent years cultivating.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQv7kHDHb5E
Britain’s leading botanist by far Dr Shirley Sherwood OBE – the widow of the late buccaneering businessman and one-time owner of hotels including the Cipriani in Venice and the Venice-Simplon Orient Express train service also James Sherwood – is a noted enthusiast on the subject of snowdrops. In December 2021, this delightful lady took to YouTube to discuss a painting of the flowers by Susan Ogilvy and commented: “I love snowdrops. I have lots in my garden and we have a very particularly version of the snowdrop. Whole groups of people, clubs of people who like snowdrops and grow every single kind they can think of. I think there are many, many varieties and of course there are wild snowdrops too.” Of her painting, she endearingly declared: “This is a lovely painting and it justifiably is one of the favourite ones in my collection.”Speaking to the ‘Daily Mail’ yesterday, gardening writer Val Bourne remarked of the bulb sold of eBay: “[It’ll] go under the knife. They’ll cut it into 20 pieces and start selling individual plants. They’ll get their money back in three or four years. It’s a mad hobby.” Going further previously, Mr Sharman commented: “Security is a big problem. I know people who have opened their gardens and had everything stolen. I don’t open my garden or nursery. But stealing snowdrops is like stealing a Van Gogh. If it’s rare, all the galanthophiles will know who propagated it and where it was stolen from.” In 2019, two men were arrested for stealing 13,000 bulbs from the Walsingham Estate in Norfolk and amongst famous collectors are Lord and Lady Heseltine. The former Deputy Prime Minister under John Major has accumulated over 700 varieties at Thenford House in Northamptoshire in his “garden of major importance.” Whether they have the variety named ‘John’s Y-Fronts’ is unknown.Anyone who picks an endemic variety of the plant in the national park will be fined £5,954 ($8,070, €7,113 or درهم29,600, 110,000 Turkish Lira) according to a report published in the ‘Hurriyet Daily News’ in February 2022. The fine has risen from £4,330 ($5,870, €5,174 or درهم21,600, 110,000 Turkish Lira) last year and of why, Halil Ernalçacı, the head of Mount Spil Nature Park, told the paper: “Our visitors should be cautious when they walk in the park. They should look for where they take their steps.”Artist, botanist and horticulturist Edward Augustus Bowles (1865 – 1954) of Myddleton House, Enfield, London was a well known “snowdrop enthusiast.” In January 2013, the blog ‘Plant Heritage’ delved into his connections to the flower after visiting a snowdrop sale at his former home.
Types of Snowdrops
Snowdrops bloom from September through to March and peak in January and February. Amongst the many types – there are in excess of 1,700 in the collection of Joe Sharman alone – are:
Galanthus ‘Dionysus’
Named after the god of the grape harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit.
Galanthus ‘Elwesii”
Named after H. J. Elwes, an English plant collector who found the original plants in Turkey. Its leaves “neatly fold inside the other” and its “flowers have two green spots on the inner petals, which sometimes fuse together.”
Galanthus ‘Fly Fishing’
Features a “long, slender pedicel (stalk) that looks like a fishing rod.”
Galanthus ‘Golden Fleece’
Joe Sharman spent 18 years developing this and sold a bulb of this variety for £1,390 ($1,884, €1,661 or درهم6,920).
Galanthus ‘Golden Tears’
A new variety and record breaker in terms of the £1,850 ($2,508, €2,210 or درهم9,210) price Joe Sharman sold it for, this variety features a “narrow-flowered yellow pterugiform with a very large mark and bright yellow ovary” and is noted as “very beautiful and distinct” and “exceptionally vigorous.”
Galanthus ‘Ivy Cottage Corporal’
“Features two green Vs resembling a corporal’s stripes.”
Galanthusnivalis ‘Norfolk Blonde’
Rather like a blonde bimbo, this snowdrop features “pale leaves and pale yellow flowers” and has a “long ovary” also.
Galanthus ‘Ophelia’
Named after Shakespeare’s tragic young noblewoman of Denmark who ends up in a state of madness that ultimately leads to her drowning.
Galanthus ‘Nothing Special’
Modestly named though lauded by Joe Sharman as “one of the best forms I have selected,” this “very clean white and wonderfully scented” snowdrop is supposedly “vigorous” also.
Galanthus ‘Primrose Warburg’
Described as a “dainty snowdrop with yellowish leaves” and named after the “legendary galanthophile Primrose Warburg.”
Galanthus ‘Trumps’
Described as having “an elegant flaring pagoda shape” and thankfully has nothing to do with the 45th POTUS of the same name.
Galanthus ‘Wendy’s Gold’
Described as “far more vigorous than [other] yellows.”
Galanthus ‘John’s Y-Fronts’
This variant is described as “small, late, neat, single with a very clearly Y-shaped mark on inner.” It has grey leaves. Could it’s name have been inspired by the former British Prime Minister John Major’s “underpant episode” with Edwina Currie where he allegedly tucked his shirt into his allegedly grey Y-fronts?
Majestic Georgian mansion Marle Hall on 3.6 acres in Wales goes on sale for just £400,000 in spite of having 16,608 square foot of accommodation and “impressive views”
An allegedly haunted 18th century manor house in Llandudno, Wales is for sale for the bargain price of just £400,000 or just £24 per square foot.
Grade II listed Marle Hall – which was firstly built for Sir Hugh Williams, 5th Baronet (1628 – 1686) and which mostly burnt down in the 18th century – was used in the 19th century as a convalescent home and from 1971 by Warwickshire County Council as an outdoors learning centre for residential trips for Warwickshire schoolchildren.
Closed since March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Warwickshire County Council subsequently decided to close down the facility and in spite of a 7,000 strong petition to keep it open, it is now up for auction. The authorities had estimated that it would cost over £850,000 to modernise the facility and had decided “the costs needed to maintain and develop the site to the required standard were prohibitive.”
Situated on a 3.6-acre plot, the Grade II listed hall extends to 16,608 square foot in total and comes with a Grade II listed cottage and something called a “mobile classroom.”
According to the Manchester Evening News: “Arguably the most glorious of the features is the entrance hall and staircase, boasting wood wall paneling, intricate carved newel posts, Jacobean-style balusters and stained glass window panels.”
“Exposed ceiling beams, a stone fireplace and fancy wooden double doors are extra features that instantly impress once you walk through the carved stone archway dating back to Tudor times, from the front door into the main reception hall.
“There’s multi-layered cornicing to reward you if you look up and either tiles, wood floorboards or beautifully sanded parquet flooring if you look down within some of the main ground floor reception rooms.”
The huge, classic Georgian windows in the main rooms ensure each space is bursting with light and the abundance of wood in the primary rooms add visually warmth to the white and pale blue colour palette.”
“There’s a fancy metal and tiled fireplace in one of the reception rooms but the décor is, of course, set up to be operational as an outdoor education centre, so the interior design is minimal and simple to be ideal for its past commercial usage.
“So there’s a large, commercial kitchen, a large dining room with long tables and multiple chairs, carpeted classrooms, offices and lounges.”
“As this property welcomed groups of children who went on treks around the surrounding countryside, the house has a large boot room and changing room, and a space allocated to drying out wet kit.”
“The drying room appears to have its own boiler and an overhead hanging structure of pipes and beams allowing maximum soggy kits to feel the heat.”
“Of course, the remaining two floors above are mainly dedicated to dormitories and washing facilities, as well as a few more classrooms and break-out rooms.”
“The accommodation in the main house is completed by a basement.”
“Outside, as well as woodland to explore and conquer, there are outbuildings to have a rummage around too.”
Savills will offer Marle Hall on 2nd March 2022 and describe what could be either a marvelous home or nothing but a money pit as being “split over four floors” and “having potential for alternative uses.” Like another former institutional mansion, Carbisdale Castle in Sutherland, Scotland – featured last in The Steeple Times in May 2021 – the potential here is for either a boutique hotel or a gargantuan private residence.
The Names & Numbers – Marle Hall (also known as ‘Marl Hall’), Marl Lane, Llandudno Junction, Llandudno, Wales, United Kingdom, LL31 9JA
2nd March 2022 – To be sold at auction by Savills with a guide price of £400,000 ($541,000, €473,000 or درهم2 million).
August 2021 – Warwickshire County Council estimates costs to renovate and modernise Marle Hall to be £850,000 ($1.2 million, €1 million or درهم4.2 million).
Nikolay Kalinin calls out Grant Shapps’ decision to replace ‘GB’ car stickers with ‘UK’ ones as utterly ludicrous
There are so many things that Conservative MPs could focus on right now.
They could work on reviving British business – if they truly care about Brexit – or strengthening links between the different regions in order to prevent them from declaring independence, but instead they decided to instead obsess about car stickers. Yes, you heard it right, car stickers.
Transport secretary Grant Shapps recently announced that production of traditional ‘GB‘ motifs used by British drivers abroad will be discontinued in favour of a legal emblem stating ‘UK.’ Their reasoning? The Daily Mail reports it is being done “as an attempt to win over unionists amid heightened tensions over post-Brexit border checks” and in order to “send a clear message about Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom.” Exactly how the new rule will “win over unionists,” however, was not explained by the minister.
Tory MP Ian Liddell-Grainger responded to the announcement by stating: “I can’t see the point. It seems to me to be a complete waste of money when we don’t need to be wasting money. It also seems to be a slap in the face for people who are proud to be GB.”
However, another Tory MP told the Mail: “The United Kingdom is stronger because it has the link with Northern Ireland because if you say Great Britain you are excluding Northern Ireland. I think it strengthen the ties at a time when we have got a problem.”
If the transport secretary really cared about “including” Northern Ireland within the country, he would by this point get on with the construction of a bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland that Boris Johnson pledged to build a few months ago, which would benefit national trade and establish an easier connection between Northern Ireland and the rest of UK.
Policy like this affirms what many online satirists and journalists have been saying: The Conservatives care about anything but the people they’re supposed to represent. Instead of passing legislation designed to help people, they introduce initiatives that are either pointless, such as One Britain One Nation Day, or do things that make life worse for people, for example by not closing the country in time when the Delta variant began to spread.
COVID has exposed even more how these people absolutely don’t care about the public’s wellbeing, because while Boris Johnson has pledged to remove the rule of compulsory mask-wearing in shops and public transport, a recent poll by YouGov has concluded that 71% of people in England, Wales and Scotland want mask-wearing to be compulsory after July 19th, with 66% saying that the rules should remain in shops and enclosed public spaces.
If you need more evidence, just look at the Conservatives trying to suppress the right to protest with the Policing and Crime Bill, which Labour proposed to amend by introducing a minimum sentence for rape. Unsurprisingly, the Conservatives voted against the amendment. They don’t care about the people who suffered violence in their households during lockdown, because as Labour MP Angela Rayner stated, the Conservatives are “more interested in protecting statues than protecting women.”
The Conservatives need to realise that even though they have a 363-seat majority, that does not grant them immunity from public scrutiny and accountability. They still have a job of representing the people, and it’s about time that they started doing that, instead of passing laws that are unnecessary and pointless.
Pictured top: Aside from being “beguiled” by the e-scooter lobby, as we reported on Sunday, Grant Shapps is now set to inflict his plain personal obsession with ‘UK’ stickers over ‘GB’ stickers on the British public.
Shapps’ decision has been ridiculed on all sides of the political divide. It will not only anger Brexiteers, but also those whose loyalties still are to the European Union.Of the move, Ian Liddell-Grainger MP remarked: “That is a bit bloody rum. I can’t see the point. It seems to me to be a complete waste of money when we don’t need to be wasting money. It also seems to be a slap in the face for people who are proud to be GB. It is a waste of time, a waste of money. I don’t know why we are bothering.” Going further, ‘The Sun’ added: “The AA described the move, which was settled on in May but not announced, leaving them feeling left ‘in the lurch’ as stocks of some 50,000 ‘GB’ motifs are now completely worthless.”
Previous advice, such as shown in this video shared on YouTube in February, is now out of date. Those that don’t follow the new rules, ‘The Sun’ concludes: “It will be a legal requirement to slap the ‘UK’ one on your car, and rule flouters could face fines. These will be down to the individual countries.”
Pointless prattler Lady Victoria Hervey yet again cashes in on her connections with the deceased nonce Jeffrey Epstein and his mucky madam Ghislaine Maxwell
Fresh from having spouted a bag of bollocks about coronavirus and admitting she “had no idea what was really going on” with her ex-lover Prince Andrew and a potential lover who thought her “too old” Jeffrey Epstein, contradictory cretin Lady Victoria Hervey is putting herself about on the interview circuit to bang on about Ghislaine Maxwell.
Going further and plainly after as much as she could ‘cheque in’ for her tacky tales, the ultimate ‘TwIt Girl’ and dimwitted dope Lady Victoria reminisced also about Ghislaine Maxwell’s ‘little black address book’ and claimed her incarcerated chum was “very pally” and “at ease” with Bill Clinton also.
Described by the by contrast lovely, late Tara Palmer-Tomkinson as “unpleasant” and “a right snob” previously, cash craving Lady Victoria cryptically concluded:
“Ghislaine always struck me as someone full of life and was always jetting around somewhere fabulous. She always had this air of mystery. She never gave away too much but she gave away enough you wanted to find out more.”
What must be remembered is this: Ludicrous lush Lady Victoria Hervey hasn’t actually seen Ghislaine Maxwell in years. Of their last meeting, she previously ridiculously and completely incorrectly remarked: “I don’t think anyone is going to find her. She’s gone far away. She’s a bit like a James Bond character. She’s quite a unique person and I don’t believe anyone is going to find her… I don’t think we will ever see her again, it’s going to be like Robert Maxwell continued; she will continue that family mystery.” Nobody will be hiring her as a clairvoyant anytime soon. Next!
Pictured top: Party princess turned pokey inmate Ghislaine Maxwell (left) and her blowjob educated subject Lady Victoria Hervey munching on an ice cream (right).
Classic clangers from former ‘It Girl’ Lady Victoria Hervey
“I am Lady Victoria Hervey – it doesn’t get more British than that.”
“Fuck BLM [Black Lives Matter].”
“Unless it’s champagne, I can’t handle it.”
“I’m an A-list celebrity and this is a C-list party.”
“I do have a day job.”
“My career always goes much better when I haven’t got a man.”
“A baby is easy – you hand them over to a nanny!”
“I’m kind of into star signs and I want my baby to have a sign that’s compatible with mine. It’s to plan though… We’ll just have to see… We’ll do the embryos and then I’ll figure out which month I’d like the baby to be born.”
“I’m not stupid. I’m not a dumb model.”
“[I aim to become] the next Kate Winslet – but with class.”
“I have had four past lives, three of them as a man. I was a composer in 17th-century Paris, I made materials in India and in Ancient Greece I was a famous politician. In Ancient Egypt I was keeper of the oils for the Pharaoh’s wife, and I love oils so it all kind of fits.”
“I feel I’ve aged 100 years in lockdown. I’ve had Botox, of course.”
“What annoys me is when these families have got like 12 children and we’re paying for these kids… They work out that they make more money being on the dole than having a job, they just laze around.”
“The real irony of this is that the poor get poorer and the rich get richer.”
“Travelling is in my blood, and so is liking luxurious things and spending.”
“I haven’t given up on men, there are a few of them around, but I keep leaving every city I meet them in.”
“Everyone from Europe wants to buy houses in LA.”
“I was too old for Jeffrey Epstein… [He seemed] very charming… He was a very well-liked guy.”
“I’m not one of those kind of girls, I don’t like going to dinners with ten models invited… I was very young and impressionable, Jeffrey was a very charismatic man.”
“I haven’t seen [Ghislaine Maxwell] since September [2018] at a friend’s baby shower… I don’t think anyone is going to find her. She’s gone far away. She’s a bit like a James Bond character. She’s quite a unique person and I don’t believe anyone is going to find her… I don’t think we will ever see her again, it’s going to be like Robert Maxwell continued; she will continue that family mystery.”
“I had no idea what was going on [with Jeffrey Epstein]… It’s extraordinary it’s the case, it’s a wild story.”
“I suddenly thought, I’m just Victoria Hervey… Horrible.”
“I don’t want to make enemies.”
Most people wouldn’t brag about being linked to the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, but Lady Victoria has gone as far as to brag that he rejected her.Lady Victoria (or ‘Lady V’ to those who consider this noxious nuisance a mate) has suddenly become an expert on Ghislaine Maxwell. One is simply left wondering how much she’s been paid for what is frankly not so relevant testimony about the mucky madam.
Kings Road, Chelsea, SW3 flat goes on sale for just £40,000 in an area where a house has been offered for £200 million
Whilst most consider Chelsea – the heart of the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea – ritzy, in March 2014, realty firm Beauchamp Estates bizarrely declared it “a place where servants live.”
Now, contrasting with the sale of what potentially could be “Britain’s most expensive home” in the same area – the £200 million plus ($278 million, €233 million or درهم1 billion) The Old Rectory, Old Church Street, featured in The Steeple Times in May 2019 – a comparative bargain basement property has gone on sale in the vicinity.
Set to be offered in an online auction on Wednesday 14th July with an estimate of just £40,000 ($56,000, €47,000 or درهم204,000), Flat 10, Blenheim House at 180 Kings Road most certainly must be the cheapest one bedroom flat currently available in the Royal Borough.
Described as “requiring modernisation,” the third floor flat includes an entrance hall, small kitchenette, sitting room, bedroom and en-suite shower room. It is situated at the corner with Burnsall Street and above the Snappy Snaps shop.
The catch? The property is on a lease that has just five years remaining that expires on 16th September 2026. Unlike with many other properties with such short tenures, however, agents McHugh & Co. state: “If requested by the purchaser prior to completion, the sellers solicitor at the expense of the purchaser will serve notice on the freeholder pursuant to a Section 42 Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 and assign the benefit of that notice to the purchaser.”
Curious Facts About The Kings Road
The 1.9-mile long road was the king’s private road until 1830 and thus some people refer to it as ‘King’s Road’ whilst others simply reference it ‘Kings Road.’
The World’s End estate takes its name from King James II, who considered the area to be the end of the world when he used to ride down Kings Road.
Famous residents have included Sir Arthur and Lady Colefax, Ellen Terry and Peter Ustinov.
Argyll House (213) is undoubtedly the road’s grandest house. It has been home to the 4th Duke of Argyll and the 5th Marquis of Normanby amongst others.
‘The Pheasantry’ (152) is now a Pizza Express, but was originally the site of a business breeding exotic pheasants, cattle and foxes. It later became the residence of Eleanor Thornton – who became the inspiration for the Rolls-Royce mascot, the Spirit of Ecstasy – and as “bohemian apartments” housed Eric Clapton, Anthony Haden-Guest and Germaine Greer.
The Water Rat (383) – now a restaurant named Chicama – was the haunt of the actor and gangster John Bindon in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. A one-time “squeeze” of Princess Margaret, Bindon was known for being able to hang five half-pint beer glasses on his penis.
In 1876, the world’s first artificial ice rink opened just off the road.
Sir Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirt movement had a barracks on the road in the 1930s.
In his 1955 thriller Moonraker, Ian Fleming describes his legendary spy James Bond as residing in “a comfortable flat in a plane tree’d square off the Kings Road.” Another of fiction’s most famous spies, George Smiley (created by John le Carré), lived just off the Kings Road at 9 Bywater Street.
Dame Mary Quant OBE – inventor of the miniskirt – opened her first boutique in the Kings Road in 1955. It was named Bazaar and now features a blue plaque dedicated to her.
In the 1960s, the road was the centre of mod culture and later, in the punk and hippie eras, it was dominated by counterculture.
In 1969, a lion named Christian was purchased from Harrods by John Rendall and Anthony Bourke. He went to live in their furniture store on the Kings Road before later being taken to live in the wild in the Kora National Reserve in Africa.
Led Zeppelin’s record label Swan Song Records was based at 484 Kings Road from its inception in 1974 until the company closed in 1983.
The Pet Shop Boys met in an electronic store on the road in 1981.
The first UK branch of Starbucks opened on the road in 1998.
Nikolay Kalinin contrasts ‘The Gavinator’ Gavin Newsom’s reopening of California with Boris Johnson’s still closed Britain and slams the latter for allowing the Indian variant to spread
Weeks after letting the Indian variant of COVID-19 – now dubbed the Delta variant – to get past the borders despite supposedly cutting off all communications with India, Boris Johnson has been forced to delay ‘Freedom Day’ to 19th July. Once again, ‘Bosie The Clown’ was too late to close the borders in time.
The nation’s finest gammons have responded to the news in a fashion that can only be described as “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing,” with GB News’ fruitcake Dan Wootton stating: “Those who know continued lockdowns are wrong have a duty to speak up,” while washed-up actor Laurence Fox and local weather loony Piers Corbyn predictably participated in yet another anti-lockdown protest.
Elsewhere, the state of California, which for the past 15 months has been battered by the pandemic, has fully reopened its economy, lifting measures such as social distancing, although large events such as sports will still be restricted. In addition to that, vaccinated Californians can go to most places without a face covering. I really hate to say it, but Americans led by ‘The Gavinator,’ Governor Gavin Newsom, have done something incredibly genius in a while.
The UK government meanwhile, aims to offer a vaccine to people over the age of 18 by the end of the week, in order to achieve the target of the entire British adult population receiving a first dose of the vaccine.
What’s surprising is that even though more people have been vaccinated in the UK than in California, yet more and more people in the UK are getting hospitalised. Much of this has to do with the Delta variant, which the government has foolishly allowed in and which has reduced the efficiency of the vaccines; for example, protection of AstraZeneca has fallen from 73% for the Alpha variant to 60% for the Delta variant.
The delay has also resulted in the government once again considering the implementation of vaccine passports for large events such as sports matches. Personally, I don’t think it’s a risk worth taking because of the reduced vaccine efficiency – meaning that once again the safest option is sadly to extend restrictions.
Let’s put this simply: All this comes because of the stupidity of nepotistic Prime Minister Johnson and misinformation spreaders like Fox and Corbyn and it is jolly well time they realised the errors of their ways and saw sense.
On Tuesday, Gavin Newsom shared California’s good news on Twitter. He remarked: “40 million vaccines. One of the lowest COVID rates in the country. California is BACK and fully reopen!” Earlier, he went further in sharing: “It’s reopening day. We’ve administered over 40 million vaccines. Now… No more social distancing. No more capacity limits. No more colors or county tiers. And if you’re vaccinated – no more masks. It’s a good day.” Shouldn’t Britain learn from this?Ludicrously in May, the BBC reported that an Indian couple “chartered a plan and held a mid-air wedding with more than 160 guests in an effort to escape coronavirus restrictions.” Meanwhile in April, ‘The Times of India’ reported: “India’s super-rich paid tens of thousands of pounds to get to Britain by private jets ahead of the Covid-hit country being added to the UK’s travel red list even as some charter flights arranged for others were denied landing permits. The website FlightAware show that eight private jets – which would have cost £70,000 each (around Rs 72 lakh) upwards to charter – arrived from India at London Luton airport in the 24 hours before the travel restrictions kicked in at 8.30am IST on Friday. Four of these arrived from Mumbai, three from Delhi and one from Ahmedabad.”
Yesterday in the House of Commons, Sir Keir Starmer quite rightly slammed Boris Johnson for failing to prevent the Delta variant from reaching the UK from India.
The Indian/Delta Variant Timeline…
– 1st April – Ministers told about the new strain.
– 2nd April – Pakistan and Bangladesh added to the red list, but not India.
– 15th April – Public told of this.
– 16 April – Prime Minister’s India trip still on.
– 19th April – Prime Minister’s trip cancelled and India added to red list.
– 23rd April – Ban finally kicks in.
The 3-week delay brought 20,000 passengers from India into the UK.
In response, Boris Johnson remarked: “We did all we could.”
Tardis-like Grade II listed lodge house currently for sale could be Britain’s smallest detached house; it measures 10-foot by 8-foot and today also we feature some other examples of the nation’s smallest character packed homes
Whilst the Mirror wrote of what they called “Britain’s smallest detached house” in April – measuring 12-foot by 26-foot and priced at £140,000 – we can go one better and today feature a Grade II listed detached house in North Yorkshire measuring just 10-foot by 8-foot.
More practical than the £810,000 2.5-foot by 65-foot Knightsbridge “corridor” mews houseThe Steeple Times included in March 2017, 481 square foot Sunset Lodge forms one of a pair of symmetrical lodges standing either side of decorative wrought iron gates to Grimston Park, near Tadcaster – a Grade II* listed Georgian mansion of the Italianate style that has now been converted into thirteen individual residences.
Sunset Lodge forms one of a pair of symmetrical gate lodges at the entrance to Grimston Park in North Yorkshire.Grimston Park has been occupied as a grand country residence, was used by the RAF in the Second World War and subsequently became an events venue. It was converted into 13 residences more recently.
Tardis-like internally in that it actually extends over 2 floors with a mezzanine sleeping platform also, the majority of the living space is actually underground. Featuring a kitchen with an “orangery style roof” with a sunken patio beyond, there is also a living area, a “barrel ceilinged” shower room and a dressing room also.
Parking is provided outside for two vehicles and lawned gardens extend beyond. The estate beyond includes a stud-livery, parkland and buildings occupied on both a residential and a commercial basis.
Agents Carter Jonas initially marketed the property at £299,950 in March 2020, but have since reduced that sum to £250,000. The present owners, Tom and Rebecca Hallisey, paid just £85,000 for the building 15 years ago and thus stand to return an increase of +194% if they sell at asking price.
Speaking of the property to the Yorkshire Post in March 2020, Rebecca Hallisey remarked: “It was in a poor state of repair but [when we first saw it, but] we fell in love with it and we could see it had potential.”
She continued: “We moved a lot before we came here but we have stayed because we love the building and it is such a beautiful, peaceful place to live. We wish we could stay forever and we are only moving for health reasons as we need a single-storey home.”
The Numbers – Sunset Lodge, Grimston Park, Grimston, Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, LS24 9DB, United Kingdom
May 2021 – Reduced in price to £250,000 ($355,000, €291,000 or درهم1.3 million) or £520 per square foot ($738, €605 or درهم2,700 per square foot) with Carter Jonas.
March 2020 – Placed for sale for £299,950 ($425,700, €349,100 or درهم1.6 million) with Carter Jonas.
June 2006 – Sold for £85,000 ($121,000, €99,000 or درهم443,000).
Some Other Examples of Britain’s Smallest Homes
Starborough Castle, Dormsland, Lingfield, Surrey
Featured in The Steeple Times in April 2017, this Grade II* listed scheduled ancient monument stands in 10 acres and has a 44 million gallon moat. It features a mini great hall and was offered for sale for £1.75 million.
20 Britten Street, London, SW3
Also featured in The Steeple Times when for sale in 2017 for £600,000, this 290 square foot detached house measured 8.5-foot by 14-foot. Estate agents estimated it could be worth £1 million when renovated, but as of May 2021, it remains in unloved condition.
The Round House, Stanton Drew, Somerset
In December 2016, we wrote about this Grade II listed former toll house that extends to just 146 square foot. The 18th century, detached, thatched property was priced at just £110,000 at the time.
24a The Boltons, London, SW10
At the other end of the price scale, but still the cheapest, smallest house on one of London’s smartest streets, The Boltons in London, this £6.5 million terraced residence was home to novelist Jeffrey Archer from 1972 to 1976. Surprisingly due to it widening as it goes back, it actually provides 3,123 square foot of accommodation over 4 floors – so is not as quite as small as it initially seems.
Former church hall on the Isle of Lewis to be sold for just £34,000 in spite of the fact that it could earn the buyer £300 per night
Lionel (Gaelic: ‘Lìonal’) forms part of the Barvas (‘Barabhas’) civil parish on the Isle of Lewis, the largest island of the Outer Hebrides archipelago in Scotland. Like the castle we featured last month, it is extremely isolated but unlike that white elephant, it is situated on an island that has a population of some 20,000 and where the main industries are crofting, fishing, peat cutting and weaving.
Accessed by a daily ferry from Ullapool on the Scottish mainland that takes 2 hours and 30 minutes and served by an airport also, Lewis remains an extremely religious island and though the Sabbath is still observed mostly, the sale of a church hall is indicative that change is perhaps on the way.
Offered by Future Property Auctions this week, the non-listed former church hall at Lionel is described as a “super investment opportunity” with “development potential” as an Airbnb that could rent for “upto £300 per night ($417, €347 or درهم1,500 per night) at peak times.”
Extending to 820 square foot in total currently with a large, double height single room and entrance vestibule, the detached building has been listed with a remarkably low guide price of just £34,000 ($47,300, €39,400 or درهم173,600) and is described as potentially also being capable for use as a permanent home, creche, museum or public library with “super income earning potential.”
Bidding online for the church hall opens at 10am on the 7th May 2021 and closes at 4pm on the same day on the Future Property Auctions website.
The interior of the building is watertight but in need of renovation. Sadly, character features including pews have been removed, but there is clearly potential to create a two-storey single dwelling house with earning options as a holiday home within the space.Viewed from the rear and side, the plot on which the former Lionel Mission Hall is clearly not large, but it is surrounded by farmland.For someone seeking peace and quiet, the location would be ideal. Equally, given tourism is a source of local income, the earning potential of the building once renovated as a holiday let is clear.A view of the former church hall from the road.A site plan shows the limited land that surrounds the building.Clearly, as shown by this map, the property is certainly remote.
