Tag: United Kingdom

Letters – Berkoff & Brenda

Actor and producer Steven Berkoff suggests Her Majesty The Queen should open up Buckingham Palace to survivors of last week’s Grenfell Tower tragedy

Sir

In these grim times, when the shadow of death is stalking us with bitter regularity, an opportunity presents itself for our beloved Queen to actually do some real service for her tragically wounded people. I think of the survivors from that ghastly tower block fire in Kensington. As per usual, the nation’s wounds have her trolling about, nodding sympathetically as she listens with a furrowed brow, or stands stoutly at attention for a minute’s silence. Then back in the limo to Buckingham Palace.

Then it is left to the goofs and goons of local councils to get swiftly to work and rehouse the pathetic victims. This they seem to do with such ineptitude that it beggars belief. Sending some unfortunate hundreds of miles to distant Northern cities. What an insult to injury.

Now, dear Queen, who we all love dearly (although sadly that love has been waning somewhat). Rather than just be a lump of royal flesh being carted around the country and do little more than give the usual and slightly over familiar kindly looks and nods along with the odd moue, do something that really helps those wounded people. Offer them the sanctuary of Buckingham Palace!

I know that will be a hard call, a very hard call but the outcome would be worldwide recognition that our Royal Family really has soul and you will redeem The Monarchy and most of all your good self for centuries to come. Buck House has seven hundred and seventy five rooms including one hundred and eighty eight staff bedrooms.

Even if you took in only a hundred that would ease the burden enormously and what a magnificent gesture it would be, in fact it would endear you to us all till kingdom come. You have the space and you certainly are not short of the pennies for such a modest gesture.

Modest financially but colossal spiritually.

So lend an ear though I know full well that this might be I nigh on impossible gesture for you to make, so perhaps your enlightened grandchildren can gently persuade you. I know it’s hard to change the habits of a lifetime. But do try.

A saintly gesture is what our nation desperately needs right now. And you do have the space.

Respectfully

Steven Berkoff

London, E14

June 19, 2017
Three Reasons to Vote…

A financier, a photographer and a doctor explain why they’ll respectively choose the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and Labour today

Financier Zachary Latif on why he’ll vote for the Conservative Party

Brexit is the primary question

Firstly, this election was called on the issue of Brexit and when voters go to the polls, the primary question is whom do they want as their chief negotiator to deal with Europe: Will it be Theresa May or will it be Jeremy Corbyn? It is incontrovertible that Theresa May, a lady with a sensible and steady pair of hands, is the one to captain the ship. When I compare her approach to the untried and untested Jeremy Corbyn, I know without a shadow of doubt that I want Theresa May and her team to be leading Brexit.

Making Britain prosperous

The economy will go through a very shaky time over the next five years and we need a party that has the economic expertise that can guide us through these rocky waters. We all remember the last terrible time under Labour when the treasury was literally left with no money. Britain, now, under the Tories, has low unemployment, a balanced budget and ambitious plans for economic growth. If you want a prosperous Britain then it can only be for the blues.

Multiculturalism and being proud to be British

The cult of multiculturalism, as Angela Merkel touched on a few years ago, has failed. We need a Britain that revolves around the Union, a bicameral Parliament, the Crown and an understanding of the strong role that the Church (Anglicanism South of the Wall and Presbyterianism North of the Wall) plays. We need a government that is able to both manage the world outside but also be able to stand up for Britain and this precious Union of Nation, as Theresa May puts it. Jeremy Corbyn is a revolutionary but has no instinct for British patriotism – as his extensive links with the IRA testify. The Conservative Party is the only major party that makes one feel proud to be British and also able to retain a global outlook.

Cambridge based Zachary Latif is a founder of Raef LLC, a high yield investment firm. He has appeared as a guest host on CNBC several times and is also an actor and playwright.

Photographer James Smith on why he’ll vote for the Liberal Democrats

Corbyn is the tail shaking the Labour dog

I’m a centrist and believe government should work for all rather than guarding the wealth or indulging the politics of envy. By pulling his party to the hard left, Corbyn and his army in the wings have allowed May to become more right wing. How dare he and how dare she abandon the middle. Corbyn has alienated so many of his more reasonable party members that only the dregs will serve with him on the front benches. Corbyn may be a great campaigner but he’s been a lazy politician in opposition and seems bored when he’s not absorbing the energy of an adoring crowd. Remind you of anyone?

The Liberal Democrats punched above their weight in the coalition

I thought the coalition government was a grown-up union born of necessity. Neither party could fall back to their comfort zones, they had to work together to deal with a dire situation. For the most part, both sides did well but the Lib Dems suffered because of lazy accusations of betrayal by their core voters. To me they’ve proven they’re grown-ups. They’re honest that there’s no magic money tree and we’ll all need to pay for the NHS and social care through higher income tax. The idea of a Labour-SNP pact would be the worst of all worlds: Bye bye UK.

The Liberal Democrats could help facilitate a more sensible Brexit

While I won’t be celebrating a Labour or a Conservative victory, Jeremy Corbyn would be significantly worse for the health of the country. His ideological policies may ultimately harm the people he is trying to help. Emily Thornberry is my incumbent MP and she has been totally unaccountable to her staunchly Remain constituents. She refuses to campaign for a second ‘Are you sure?’ EU referendum, something the local Lib Dem candidate, Alain Desmier, has promised to do. If you must take the UK into radical territory, don’t do it when we’re uncoupling from our like minded neighbours and facing a less stable wider world. Lashing out with a vote for Corbyn is a bit like a hand break turn along a cliff edge.

James Smith is an Islington based photographer. He was educated at a public school and an arts institute.

Sally Jackson on why she’ll vote for the Labour Party

For the many, not the few

Labour has pledged to rebalance an economy that just works for the likes of billionaires like Sir Philip Green right now. We need a fairer tax system and the guarantee of no income tax rises for those earning below £80,000 a year is proof that Labour will not “tax the country until the pips squeak” – an accusation so commonly thrown by the right that Jeremy Corbyn has again and again disproven.

Doing right by the NHS

Jeremy Hunt is a symbol of the callous Tories and their assault on humanity. As a healthcare professional I want him and Theresa’s team gone and I believe only Labour will deliver a fairer deal for patients and healthcare workers. We’re under extreme threat right now and cuts to pharmacy funding are one of the worst false economies I’ve come across. As someone wrote on a wall recently: “I’m no gynaecologist but I know a Hunt when I see one”.

It’s not just about Brexit

I’ve heard enough about “Brexit means Brexit” but I’m glad Jeremy Corbyn voted for Article 50 and opposed a second referendum. The country has spoken and it’s time to get on with it. I supported leave myself and I did so because Europe wasn’t giving us a fair, inclusive society. I believe Labour will give us that and now the focus back on to what’s “Best for Britain” – a phrase that the remoaners Gina Miller and Sir Bob Geldoff should never have been allowed to hijack.

Sally Jackson works as a doctor in Manchester. She was born in Devon and is a graduate of Queen Mary, University of London.

June 8, 2017
A Villa In The Sky

Gargantuan Mayfair aprtment goes on sale for £30 million; it has eighteen windows facing Hyde Park and is in a building designed by the architect of Broadcasting House

A vast maisonette, described as a “villa in the sky”, on London’s Park Lane has gone on sale for £30 million ($38.8 million, €34.6 million or درهم142.6 million) in spite of being in need of complete redecoration.

Split over the seventh and eighth floor of a portered building named Fountain House, the apartment offered extends to 6,897 square foot and includes 4 reception rooms, 2 kitchens, 10 double bedrooms, 2 staff bedrooms and 10 bathrooms. Its principle reception room is 38-foot long and its dining room is described as “easily sitting 22 guests”.

Houses on the site of Fountain House on 30th December 1930 (prior to their demolition)

Designed by George Val Myer (1883 – 1959), an architect best known for the BBC’s Broadcasting House, in conjunction with F. J. Watson-Hart and built by Sir Robert McAlpine & Sons between 1935 and 1938 on the site of demolished mansions, Fountain House includes around 60 residential units, offices, a fuel station and a car showroom.

On the market through Wetherell on a lease of 84 years, the service charge for the flat is £81,538 per annum ($105,584, €94,135 or درهم387,836 per annum).

June 8, 2017
A House of Hide

Grade II* listed Kent townhouse for sale for just £166 per square foot; a similarly sized property in Knightsbridge would set you back £2,000 per square foot

A freehold 2,500 square foot detached 15^th century timber framed house just 23 miles south of London has gone on sale for the lowly sum of £166 per square foot ($214, €191 or درهم787 per square foot).

92 High Street in the market town of Edenbridge, Kent – better known locally as both ‘Tanyard House’ and ‘Leather House’ – has been Grade II* listed since 1954 and is known to have been the site of a tannery from the 1660s until the 1960s. It was originally an open hall house, includes accommodation over three floors and comes with a garden to the front and a small courtyard to the rear.

Currently used as three office suites, planning permission was granted in February to convert the building into to semi-detached houses. This attracted much controversy at the time, but a buyer could, equally, look at creating a much grander single-family residence. The catch? The property is adjoined by a vast and rather ugly car park.

Tanyard House will be auctioned by Savills on 19^th June 2017 at the Marriott Hotel in Grosvenor Square, Mayfair, W1. An estimate of just £415,000 ($536,000, €477,000 or درهم1.97 million) has been set.

June 6, 2017
Mucking Up A Manor

“Grand” Grade II* listed Midlands manor for sale for just £350,000; it comes with a 49-seat cinema and several unexpected catches

Where there’s muck, there’s money and a late 18^th century Midlands manor house currently for sale for just £350,000 ($451,000, €402,000 or درهم1.65 million) provides an example of the tale of the progress and decline of industrial wealth in once Great Britain.

Built in 1757 for a family of Black Country industrialists, Wordsley Manor in Wordsley, near Stourbridge has been owned by the Firmstone family and their relatives since around 1850. A red brick built, four floor “small mansion” that extends to 7,464 square foot in total, the building has been Grade II* listed since 1976 and was expanded in the 19^th century with the addition of two service wings.

Comprising of 3 reception rooms, 7 cellar rooms, 4 bedrooms and just 1 bathroom, dilapidated Wordsley Manor is – giving explanation for its extremely low asking price – in need of complete renovation. It comes, however, with an unexpected bonus: Where bedrooms previously existed on its second floor, there is currently an art studio and a quirky 49-seat cinema with a Christie organ, box office and projection and switch rooms.

Architect Christopher Firmstone and wife Joan have been occupants of Wordsley since inheriting it in 1991. They have attempted to maintain the house but in 2011, Mr Firmstone told the Birmingham Mail:

“I took it on and sorted it out as best I could. Most people would have run a mile, but I had a real sense of attachment to it [he spent his childhood there also]”.

“I spent a bit more than I could afford on it, but I was unable to do everything that needed doing”.

In 2013, the couple followed in the footsteps of relatives who had sold off much of the surrounding land for housing in the mid 20^th century and agreed a deal with a firm of developers named David Alexander Homes. In exchange for yet another parcel of the former estate’s grounds – that was subsequently marketed rather cheesily as a residential complex named “To the Manor Bourne” – a £400,000 ($512,000, €460,000 or درهم1.88 million) payment is to be made towards the restoration of Wordsley Manor.

In their sales brochure, agents The Lee, Shaw Partnership state: “Best and final offers must be made for Wordsley Manor by 5.30pm on Tuesday 27^th June”. They add: “Only cash purchasers” need apply.

May 30, 2017
Best in Britain

EXCLUSIVE – “Nationally important” Grade II* listed Berkshire mansion in 130 acres for sale for £26 million; its interior is yet to be renovated

A Grade II* listed building capable of being reinstated as one of Britain’s finest country houses has just been placed on the market for £26 million.

Benham Park – formerly known as Benham Vallence – at Marsh Benham, near Newbury comes with around 130 acres of Grade II listed Capability Brown (1716 – 1783) designed parkland and currently extends to 27,620 square foot. It has planning permission in place to either revert to a truly epic single family mansion or to convert into a 100 bedroom ‘wellness centre’ to rival Champneys in Hertfordshire and Clinique La Prairie in Switzerland. The schemes proposed would provide between 50,000 and 140,000 square foot of accommodation and, already, businessmen Harry Marriott and Michael Fresson, owners since 2011, have restored the exterior of the building along with its gardens and park.

Built at the behest of the nobleman William Craven (1738 – 1791) to designs of the Fulham born architect Henry Holland (1745 – 1806) in 1774 – 1775, this fine neoclassical house was constructed from Bath stone and later altered by the extremely wealthy Sutton baronets during their tenure in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. The estate was sold for £1 million to the innovative computer manufacturers Norsk Data in 1983 and remained in the firm’s ownership until it was dissolved in 1992. It then became the offices of other technology companies until again being placed for sale for £6 million in 2010.

Benham Park in the era when it was used as offices; the modern buildings have now been demolished and the car park landscaped

The main mansion prior to renovation of its exterior

A view from another angle (after external renovation)

From the lake

And from its imposing entrance

One of several entrances to the estate

Another set of impressive gates

Should a buyer use the existing designs for a residential scheme, they would find themselves owning a house that would not only come with 12 reception rooms and 29 bedroom suites, but also one with a sports complex, a sculpture gallery, a 40-seat cinema and garaging for 50 cars. Aside from an existing 5-bedroom mill house on the estate’s 10 acre lake and a gate lodge, the proposals would add a further 8 additional ancillary houses also.

Of Benham Park, Crispin Holborow of selling agent Savills commented:

“[This] is a nationally important stately home so its sale presents a very exciting proposition for a future owner to oversee its transformation. The prospect of restoring a property of such magnificent proportions with excellent access to London has not arisen for many years, and we expect interest from potential buyers for either its reinstatement as a significant country residence or its repurpose into a world leading wellness centre”.

Those looking to extend the compound further have the option to purchase two separately owned properties that were formerly part of the estate. A house known as ‘Greenhouses’, for sale with Savills, is offered for £1.3 million and comes with 1.47 acres of land whilst Mill Bank House, which stands in 2 acres, is on the market through Strutt & Parker.

The Numbers – Benham Park

1771 – 1774

William Craven, 6^th Baron Craven paid Capability Brown £7,150 for works to the house and grounds. This sum is the equivalent of £989,000 today ($1.3 million, €1.1 million or درهم4.7 million).

1982

Sold to Norsk Data for £1 million (the equivalent of £3.2 million, $4.1 million, €3.7 million or درهم15.1 million today) by Sir Richard Sutton (born 1937).

2010

Placed on the market for £6 million ($7.7 million, €6.9 million or درهم28.3 million).

2011

Sold to Harry Marriott and Michael Fresson for £5 million ($6.4 million, €5.7 million or درهم23.6 million).

2017

Benham Park placed on the market for £26 million ($33.4 million, €29.9 million or درهم123 million).

Separately owned estate houses

Mill Bank House – On the market for £1.4 million ($1.8 million, €1.6 million or درهم6.6 million).

Greenhouses – On the market for £1.3 million ($1.7 million, €1.5 million or درهم6.1 million).

May 29, 2017
Wealthy in Wiltshire

Classically proportioned Wiltshire village house for sale; it’ll supposedly appeal to “your typical wealthy Briton” (whatever that might mean)

Primarily built between 1620 and 1760, a classically proportioned four-storey house in the Wiltshire village of Seend has been placed on the market this week for £4.5 million ($5.8 million, €5.2 million or درهم21.2 million).

Of ashlar and rendered stone construction and built for Mary, Dowager Duchess of Somerset in 1760, Seend Park (or ‘Seend Green House’ as it was previously known) was owned by the now retired judge Sir Mathew Thorpe from 1971 and since 1990 by its current owners. It has been Grade II listed since 1962 and was somewhat unkindly described by the architectural scholar Sir Nikolaus Pevsner CBE FBA (1902 – 1983) as: “So absolutely plain… that it looks like an institution”.

The main house, which has been modernised in recent years and extends to 11,357 square foot, includes 4 reception rooms, 11 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms. It has many original features and in addition there is a 4 bedroom, 1,994 square foot lodge and a 3,630 square foot coach house within the property’s 26.4-acre grounds.

Of the pint-sized mini estate, James Mackenzie of selling agents Strutt & Parker told The Times: “Architecturally, the house will attract your typical wealthy Briton”.

May 27, 2017
Robert Adam

With such a name, this suave gent just had to design landmarks. University of Westminster educated and Hampshire based Robert Adam (born 1948) followed his more famous namesake (1728 – 1792) and became a designer of “progressive neo-classical style buildings” in 1975. He won “the richest prize in architecture” in January 2017 and counts the Sackler Library at the University of Oxford, a “miniature Baroque mansion” at Eastwood Farm – complete with a lion on the roof – in Herstmonceux, East Sussex and the “KGB proof” Ingliston House on the Wentworth Estate in Surrey amongst his notable works.

(more…)

May 27, 2017
An Epic Estate

Scottish sporting estate, once home to Sir Walter Scott, for sale; it comes with nearly two miles of fishing on the River Tweed, 863 acres of land and seven houses

The Scottish estate where Sir Walter Scott, Bt. (1771 – 1732) wrote his narrative poems Lay of the Minstrel and The Lady of the Lake and his epic, Marmion, has recently been placed for sale for £5.5 million ($7.1 million, €6.4 million or درهم26.2 million).

Offered by Savills and leased by the novelist, playwright and poet from 1804 to 1812, Ashiestiel House in Selkirkshire stands above in 863 acres above the River Tweed and is 35 miles from the centre of Edinburgh. It comes with six further dwellings, 1¾ miles of salmon and sea trout fishing on the River Tweed, an in-hand stock farm, commercial forestry, a pheasant shooting, duck flighting and equestrian facilities.

Sir Walter Scott, Bt. (1771 – 1732) was the tenant of Ashiestiel for eight years prior to moving to Abbotsford, an estate he eventually expanded to some 1,000 acres

An Epic Estate – Ashiestiel, Clovenfords, Lauderdale, Selkirkshire, Scotland, TD1 3LJ, United Kingdom

Extending to 10,360 square foot and renovated in 2011, the estate’s Grade A listed main residence includes 5 reception rooms, 9 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms. It dates to the 17^th century and amongst its features are a peel tower and space described as suitable for entertaining “on a grand scale”.

Ashiestiel was last placed on the market – with just 24 acres of land and its two gate lodges – for £1.75 million in 2009 (the equivalent of £2.15 million, $2.79 million, €2.48 million or درهم10.26 million today). At the time, then owner and joint master of the Buccleuch hunt, Robert Claydon, told The Telegraph:

“I’ve come back from cubbing and caught a salmon at the end of the garden. It’s very wild countryside – south of us you won’t hit a road for 10 miles. It was the best move we ever made coming here. We escaped the rat race – people understand the countryside up here”.

May 25, 2017
Belgravia in Bloom

Grand Belgravia apartment – complete with a garden that wouldn’t look out of place at the Chelsea Flower Show – for sale

As thousands of garden lovers visit the Chelsea Flower Show this week, an individual with £8.95 million ($11.63 million, €10.39 million or درهم42.71 million) to spare could acquire a more permanent horticultural delight in the form of a ground and basement maisonette in nearby Belgravia.

Flat 1 at 57 Eaton Place provides not only 3,497 square foot – with 3 reception rooms, 3 bedroom suites and staff accommodation – but also a courtyard and terrace garden that selling agent Louise Hewlett describes as giving a “country outlook in an urban Belgravia traditional white stucco building”.

The flat is held on a lease of 108 years and a service charge of £11,689 ($15,187, €13,577 or درهم55,771) is payable annually.

May 23, 2017