The Steeple Times

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  • Runners & Riders – The Classic Chase 2021 at Warwick

    Runners & Riders – The Classic Chase 2021 at Warwick

    ‘The Steeple Times’ examines the tipsters’ selections and offers 4 options for The Classic Chase 2021 at Warwick – as well as a 15/1 at Market Rasen

    Today, after a second day this week finishing 99% up for our racing followers on email with a 1st for Majaam at 4/1 (£5 to £17), a 4th for International Law at 8/1, a 3rd for Socru at 11/2 and a 1st for Crazy Spin at 12/1 (£5 to £41) yesterday, we are looking at EACH WAY BETS in The Classic Chase 2021 at Warwick.

     

    3pm Warwick – The Classic Chase 2021 (13 runners, 4 places with Ladbrokes ‘The Grid’)

     

    The Classic Chase 2021 is a Grade 3 National Hunt steeplechase that is open to horses aged 5 years or older. It runs over a distance of 3 miles and 5 furlongs and features 22 fences.

     

    Last year’s winner was Kimberlite Candy for Tom Lacey and in 2017, it was won by another favourite horse of ours, the Lucinda Russell trained One For Arthur.

     

    Today in The Classic Chase 2021, we are favouring a punt on another old favourite, Twiston-Davies double The Hollow Ginge at 13/1 from 20/1 earlier (Racing Post ‘Ace Tipster’, At The Races ’Top Tip’)

    Callum Jamieson for The Sun says: “We return to an old friend, The Hollow Ginge, who I actually fancied to go well in the Welsh National at Chepstow last weekend.”

     

    “He was kept in the rear much of the way before unseating jockey Jamie Bargary at the 13th fence. That race shouldn’t have taken too much out of him and he’s now been found a much easier spot.”

     

    “On top of that, he’s trading around a 16-1 poke at the time of writing –a similar price to the one he has chalked up at originally last week. He’s been dropped another pound, but the booking of Sam Twiston-Davies catches the eye more than the minimal lenience offered by the handicapper.”

     

    “Twiston-Davies has partnered the horse to three of his four wins and this has to signal some form of intent He gets in off a perfect racing weight of 10’9, largely thanks to stablemate Ballyoptic heading the weights at a whopping 11’12. All the same positives apply from last week. Plenty of rain is forecast and conditions should suit. His fourth in the Ladbrokes Trophy remains a rock-solid piece of form and showed a step up in trip and further emphasis will be right up his street.”

     

    “The bet has to be The Hollow Ginge at big odds. He looks a cracking each-way poke in an open race.”

     

    At The Races adds: “A chance is taken with THE HOLLOW GINGE in the Classic Chase 2021. He was creeping into contention when unseating his rider in the Welsh National last Saturday and he is able to race off a 1lb lower mark on this occasion.”

     

    Racing Post says: “Fourth in major handicap at Newbury in November, his sole completion this season.”

     

    Keith Rose for Racing Post adds: “A marathon trip and deep ground look right up his street. Can improve on his Ladbrokes Trophy fourth.”

     

    Also in The Classic Chase 2021, Tom Cannon – Alan King combo Notachance at 18/5 from 7/2 earlier (The Sun NB, Daily Mail ‘Robin Goodfellow’)

    The Sun says: “Impressive at Bangor on comeback and should stay this far… He has every chance after taking a big step forward at Bangor last time. He relished the heavy ground at the Welsh track and had plenty left in the tank at the end of three miles. The handicapper hasn’t gone mad with a 7lb rise and he looks a real marathon runner in the Classic Chase 2021.”

     

    Racing Post adds: “Progressive sort; won useful handicap at Bangor in November; should have more to offer.”

     

    Also in The Classic Chase 2021, Skelton double Captain Chaos at 11/2 from 7/1 earlier (Telegraph)

    Racing Post says: “Should revive with blinkers refitted (good record in the blinds); second in this last year.”

     

    Also in The Classic Chase 2021, Kielan Woods on Le Breuil at 19/4 from 6/1 earlier (Racing Post ‘Spotlight NAP’, Radio 4, At The Races ‘Watch Out For’)

    Racing Post says: “The 2019 NH Chase winner LE BREUIL (nap) is taken to beat the improving Notachance… Had wind surgery since his third in the Becher Chase; this may well be his time to shine.”

     

    At The Races adds: “Le Breuil shaped well for a long way when third in the Becher Chase at Aintree and a wind operation is likely to aid his cause with connections needing a victory to ensure him every chance of making the Grand National line-up.”

     

    Richard Austen for Racing Post adds: “Bravely won the 2019 National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham and remains the type to win a big staying handicap, for all that he’s 0-6 since. Had wind surgery since finishing third in the Becher Chase six weeks ago and runs off a handy mark, so this may well be his time to shine.”

     

    Elsewhere today in other races, we’re keen looking at:

     

    1.50pm Warwick (3 runners, WIN only)

     

    Old favourite producer for us, Jonjo O’Neill – Colin Tizzard combo Fiddlerontheroof at 21/10 from 2/1 earlier (Sporting Life, At The Races ‘Watch Out For’)

    Ben Linfoot for Sporting Life says: “FIDDLERONTHEROOF can get the better of Next Destination and Golan Fortune in the Grade 2 Hampton Novices’ Chase at Warwick on Saturday.”

     

    “The Colin Tizzard stable is down in the doldrums a bit at present but Fiddlerontheroof has the fencing experience to get the better of his two rivals on Saturday.”

     

    “Second to a good horse in Allart at Ascot last time, he just lacked the winner’s extra gear that day but it was another good run over an intermediate trip and he can improve going up to three miles at this track.”

     

    “Jonjo O’Neill Jr should be able to dominate on the front end and make the most of the 5lb he receives from Next Destination, as well as his extra experience (has had four chasing starts already) which could prove vital.”

     

    Racing Post adds: “FIDDLERONTHEROOF who, strictly speaking, has the best chance at the weights… Solid chase record, albeit over shorter trips; has a good chance on ratings.”

     

    At The Races less enthusiastic: “Fiddlerontheroof is best treated at these weights but looks second best.”

     

    Moving on to two other races, we suggest EACH WAY bets at 2.40pm and 3.15pm Market Rasen:

     

    2.40pm Market Rasen (8 runners, 3 places)

     

    Old favourite producer for us, Bryony Frost – Neil King combo Lil Rockefeller at 13/5 from 5/2 earlier (Daily Mail ‘Gimcrack’)

    Racing Post says: “Runner-up in a 3m handicap on return from a year out; these terms are favourable.”

     

    Also in the same race, Nico de Boinville – Nicky Henderson combo On The Blind Side at 7/5 from 11/8 earlier (GG.co.uk, The Sun TREBLE)

    Racing Post says: “Hard to fault back over hurdles this season and solid claims, even with his penalty. “

     

    The Sun adds: “Cracking second in Grade 2 last time and one to beat… He has been in great form this season and followed two top efforts at Cheltenham with a gutsy Grade 2 second at Kempton last weekend. Trip and ground are ideal so only coming back quickly can stop him.”

     

    3.15pm Market Rasen (7 runners, 2 places)

     

    Nico de Boinville – Willie Mullins combo Grangee at 33/20 from 13/8 earlier (Radio 4, The Sun NAP, Racing Post, Telegraph NB)

    The Sun says: “Impressive at Galway and comes from bumper king Mullins.”

     

    Racing Post says: “With the emphasis on stamina, GRANGEE, representing last year’s winning trainer Willie Mullins, is preferred to Eileendover… Won in a big field at Galway and seems sure to go well for last year’s winning trainer.”

     

    Also in the same race at bigger odds, Olly Murphy trained Chosen Port at 15/1 from 18/1 earlier

    Racing Post says: “Well-bred point winner; second at Wetherby on rules debut; could well outrun her odds.”

     

    Happy racing and may we wish you huge success with whoever you choose for The Classic Chase 2021 at Warwick today.

     

    Pictured top: Our favoured pick of the day for The Classic Chase 2021 at Warwick has to be The Hollow Ginge.

     

    The Classic Chase 2021, Warwick – Though an analysis of the tipsters’ choices across the board in the Classic Chase 2021 at Warwick generally favour Notachance, The Hollow Ginge, Captain Chaos and Le Breuil are all worth a look in our view.
  • Lavish Living and Little Owls at Lilford Hall

    Lavish Living and Little Owls at Lilford Hall

    Crumbling Northamptonshire estate Lilford Hall – where the little owl was introduced to Britain – for sale for £10 million, a sum £35 million lower than in 2014

    • Grade I listed Jacobean mansion with 13 chimney stacks for sale for £10 million; it was for sale last for £44.9 million in 2014 in spite of being listed on English Heritage’s ‘At Risk Register.’
    • Lilford Hall – parts of which have not been occupied since 1947 – is currently owned by a businessman who tried to sell burial plots in the grounds for £1,250 a pop and shares in a yacht loosely associated with Frank Sinatra for £23 each.
    • The 321-acre estate includes not only overgrown parkland, but also a zoo with cages that formerly housed bears and a lake for flamingos.
    • From 1711 until 1990, Lilford House was the seat of the Powys family – the 4th baron is credited with introducing the little owl to the UK.
    • More recently, in 1969, the “sexual mystic” artist Penny Slinger used the at-the-time derelict mansion in one of her best-known works.

    A 32,406 square foot Grade I listed Jacobean mansion 82 miles from Central London has gone on sale for £10 million – or the equivalent of just £308 per square foot.

     

    On this basis, Lilford Hall – set in 321 acres near Oundle – seems a comparative bargain when considered against the £4,786 per square foot sought for a Lennox Gardens, Knightsbridge triplex flat The Steeple Times featured in May, but buyers need to remember this – parts of this crumbling building, most notably the major state rooms, have not been used since 1947.

     

    Marketed last in 2014 for the even more punchy sum of £45 million, the “exceptional residential and amenity estate located on the River Nene,” is now offered by agents Savills. The “wonderfully proportioned” U-shaped mansion itself  is constructed of grey limestone and includes over 100 rooms and amongst them are 7 “impressive” reception rooms, a ballroom, a ‘great chamber’ and 9 bedrooms. In addition, there are two Georgian pavilions that were formerly coach houses and stabling, three cottages, a former zoo, the oldest private softball court in the world, a former flamingo enclosure and a deer park.

     

    “Impressiveness in the chief attribute of Lilford Hall as a specimen of architecture” claimed County Life in 1990 and as the seat of the Powys family from 1711 until 1990, it became not only a Downton Abbey-esque entertaining pad, but also housed nurses in the Second World War. Here, indeed, is an English country house that has seen lavishness and decline and thankfully here is an example that thankfully escaped the wrecking ball wrought so disgracefully on such houses in the 1950s and 1960s.

     

    Fascinatingly in the 1880s, Thomas Powys, 4th Baron Lilford filled his aviaries on the estate with rheas, kiwis, pink-headed ducks, free-flying lammergeiers and it was from here that he also introduced the little owl into the UK. There are said to be around 5,700 breeding pairs today, but sadly, according to the RSPB, their numbers are now in decline.

     

    More recently, in 1969, “sexually erotic” performance artist Penny Slinger took over the by then “derelict” mansion in conjunction with the filmmaker Peter Whitehead. Their resulting work, titled An Exorcism, was exhibited internationally and in 2004, after the current owners, Charles and Aziza Micklewright, acquired the house, they did something equally avant-garde; they attempted to sell burial plots in the grounds to Americans by citing the estate’s connections to the founder of the Brownists, Robert Browne – a man better known as ‘The Father of the Pilgrims’ and ‘The Grandfather of the Nation’ (of the United States of America).

     

    Whilst Mr and Mrs Micklewright were lauded for their considerable efforts towards the “huge task” of restoring Lilford Hall, they came to the attention of Historic England in May 2019 when the building was listed on the At Risk Register. At that time, the Oundle Chronicle reported: “The roof covering is in poor condition leading to water ingress and distress to the upper storeys. The front bays require structural attention. A schedule of urgent repairs has been identified but not implemented, and no long-term solution has been agreed.”

     

    Now, someone with very, very deep pockets is required to restore this gem. It would be helpful if they liked erotic art, bears, squash and owls also.

     

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cii3VlgfVy0
    Lavish Living and Little Owls at Lilford Hall, Northants – £10 million ($12.5 million, €11.1 million or درهم46 million) for The Lilford Hall Estate, Lilford, Oundle, Peterborough, Northamptonshire, PE8 5SG, United Kingdom through estate agents Savills – Crumbling Northamptonshire estate Lilford Hall – where the little owl was introduced to Britain – for sale for £10 million, a sum £35 million lower than in 2014.
    The artwork created by Penny Slinger and Peter Whitehead at the house has been exhibited internationally.

    The Names & Numbers – The Lilford Hall Estate, Lilford, Oundle, Peterborough, Northamptonshire, PE8 5SG, United Kingdom

     

    June 2020 – The estate is listed sale for £10 million ($12.5 million, €11.1 million or درهم46 million) through Savills. It includes 321.31 acres, of which 148.17 acres are pasture land whilst 157.48 acres are woodland. The majority of the estate is held on a freehold title, whilst the remaining 127.6 acres – known as ‘The Linches’ and ‘Lilford Woods’ – are held on a lease with 91 years remaining.

     

    2015 – Promoted as ‘The National Memorial Gardens,’ burial plots in the gardens of the hall were offered “available to any UK resident or national for an outstanding price of only £1,250 ($1,568, €1,393 or درهم5,758)” by Mark Bailey of Harley Investments. Around the same time, a website dedicated to Lilford Hall marketed “a piece of the formal gardens” for sale for £299 ($375, €333 or درهم1,377) to include “an officially certified ‘Squire of Lilford’ [title] … with this little piece of history.”

     

    March 2014 – The Irish Times reported that the asking price for the estate had been increased to £44.9 million ($56.3 million, €50 million or 206.8درهم million). They claimed the agents Coldwell Banker blamed “confusion over currency conversion rates and new instructions from the owner.”

     

    April 2014 – The Lilford Hall Estate is listed for sale through Coldwell Banker on MyHome.ie for £33.7 million ($44.2 million, €37.5 million or درهم155 million) on behalf of “an English gentleman.”

     

    2004 – The estate is acquired by the Micklewright family. Little information is available online about the Old Framlingham Charles Micklewright (born July 1958), but he is described as a “patent attorney” on Companies Houses pages. The businessman is mentioned also as a publisher and trustee of the Marsh Christian Trust elsewhere, whilst his Singaporean born wife, Aziza (born 1964), was a director of Lilford Properties Limited from 2013 to 2018.

     

    A website operated by Sign of the Times Limited, a Hong Kong company of Lilford Hall, Lilford, Oundle, Northamptonshire, PE8 5SG, currently offers shares in a yacht named ‘Sinatra the Voice’ for £23.91 ($29.99, €26.64 or درهم110.14) per share. The boat was built in 1956 and is tenuously linked to Frank Sinatra by the fact that a one-time owner, Beale Poste, loaned it occasionally to the crooner between 1968 and 1974 in West Palm Beach, Florida.

     

    1990 – The estate is closed to the public.

     

    1980s – The house is used as a location in the BBC English Civil War inspired historical drama series By the Sword Divided.

     

    1970s – Aviaries on the estate restocked by George Powys, 7th Baron Lilford (1931 – 2005). He “opened [the estate] to the public as a leisure park” and housed more than 350 birds of 110 species there. It remained thus for around 20 years and included a restaurant and shop. The aviaries and the 1,896 square foot restaurant building remain present still today.

     

    1969 – 1970 – American British “sexual mystic” artist Penny Slinger (born 1947) and Liverpudlian filmmaker Peter Whitehead used the “derelict mansion” as the setting for their works An Exorcism and Lilford Hall. They are lauded as a “photo romance” and exhibited at the Blum and Poe Gallery in Los Angeles in 2014, at the Haywood Gallery in London in 2015 and at the Fortnight Institute in New York in 2019.

     

    1949 – Stephen Powys, 6th Baron Lilford (1869 – 1949) died without having married or having had children. His properties aside from Lilford – a house in Mayfair, Bank Hall in Lancashire and the Bewsey Estate in Cheshire – passed to his second cousin twice removed.

     

    1947 – The estate is sold to a company named Merchant Ventures by the Powys family (though they remain present on the estate until 1990).

     

    1939 – 1945 – During the Second World War, the parkland of the estate was used as a military hospital for nearby airfields. From 1949 to 1954, some of the buildings constructed during this period were then used as a Polish school.

     

    1923 – First-class Northamptonshire cricketer Major John Powys, 5th Baron Lilford (1863 – 1945) built the first private softball court in the world in the grounds of the hall. It is now in disrepair and the roof has fallen into the inner court.

     

    1909 – 1910 – The hall was extended in the Edwardian manner including the provision of a new master bedroom with dressing room and bathroom by William Dunn and Robert Watson of Dunn & Watson.

     

    1901 – The estate surrounding the hall reaches its largest size and totals a vast 8,000 acres of land. Around this time, Queen Mary, wife of King George V, is said to have visited the gardens.

     

    1880s – Ornithologist and expert on the fauna of the Balearics Thomas Littleton Powys, 4th Baron Lilford (1833 – 1896) introduces the little owl into England on the estate. His aviaries were said to “feature exotic birds from all around the world” and a species of European lizard, the Lilford’s wall lizard (Podarcis lilfordi), is named in his honour. The 4th baron is repeatedly mentioned in the works of Charles Darwin for his contribution to the study of the science of evolution.

     

    1840s – Further changes to the building are orchestrated by the architect William Gilbee Habershon (circa 1818 – 1891). The Campaign to Protect Rural England described these Victorian extensions as “sensitive” in 2006 – a rare accolade given most additions to English country houses during this period were simply brash and vulgar.

     

    1740s – The Palladian architect Henry Flitcroft (1697 – 1769) adds “outstanding” Georgian interiors whilst “respecting the hall’s Jacobean exterior.” He “softened and brightened” the building as a result and also “constructed the Georgian pavilions and additional storeys to the east end of the two wings.” Other works by Flitcroft can be seen at Bower House in Essex, Wentworth Woodhouse in Yorkshire and Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire.

     

    1711 – Lilford Hall is sold to the judge and Tory politician Sir Thomas Powys (1649 – 1719), Attorney General to King James II. Powys is best remembered for conducting the prosecution of the Seven Bishops in 1699. He is buried at Lilford.

     

    1630s – Construction of the main exterior of what to this day remains Lilford Hall as a “Jacobean-style gentry house” by William Elmes (the younger).

     

    1473 – The land that forms the estate is acquired by William Browne (1410 – 1489), a wealthy wool merchant and landowner from Stamford, from the estate of Baron Welles (who was beheaded by King Edward IV for treason). In 1495, “in a Tudor style,” he built a hall on the site and it passed to Robert Browne (1550 – 1633), the founder of the Brownists, ‘The Father of the Pilgrims’ and ‘The Grandfather of the Nation’ (of the United States of America).

     

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  • A roofless repo

    A roofless repo

    £3 million sought for a repossessed, roofless shell set in 1,530 acres of Cumbrian countryside (more…)

  • Opening up The Open

    Opening up The Open

    The Tout’s tips for The Open 2014

     

    It’s that time of year again when the world’s best professional and amateur golfers turn up for the toughest tournament in golf. The crucial word is links play which is so different from every other top course that they play on. (more…)

  • A Devonshire pub with a Scottish twist

    A Devonshire pub with a Scottish twist

    A review of The New Inn at Roborough, North Devon

     

    The New Inn at Roborough in North Devon isn’t the easiest place to find. It’s hidden away in a rural backwater, so be sure not to rely on your Sat-Nav to get you to this traditional Devonshire pub. If you do, you’ll be taken on a wild goose chase up hill and down dale but when you eventually arrive you’ll find a warm welcome and a menu that’s a little out of the ordinary.

      (more…)

  • Five of the best: Treehouses

    Five of the best: Treehouses

    Five of the best palaces in the trees

     

    When one thinks of treehouses, one generally imagines pretty rudimentary creations built out of old boards and bits of rope. Now, though, treehouses are becoming more and more extravagant. As individuals such as J. K. Rowling and the Duchess of Northumberland construct vast palaces in the trees in their gardens, The Steeple Times examines five of the best:

      (more…)

  • Ecstasy and Babycham

    Ecstasy and Babycham

    A marine residence with a history tied to the Rolls-Royce Spirit of Ecstasy, the Special Operations Executive and Babycham

     

    The House on the Shore on Thorns Beach at Beaulieu in Hampshire is a home that wouldn’t look out of place in the Hamptons or Rhode Island. Dramatically situated next to the Solent waters to the north of the Isle of Wight, this suitably named building wouldn’t have been out of place in the 1980s BBC series Howards’ Way. It could. Indeed, have been an ideal home for Gerald and Polly Urquhart. (more…)

  • Liz Jones

    Liz Jones

    This mouthpiece was born in Rettendon, Essex in 1958 and vents bile on all manner of subjects. Articles such as: “Why don’t more women moan like me?” and “Liz Jones’ baby craving drove her to steal husband’s sperm in ultimate deception” are frankly illustrative of why she’s so unpopular. After she got banned from the majority of fashion shows and her husband left her, she quit London for Somerset in 2007 to feed organic muesli to the rats in the barns of a 47-acre farm she purchased as her “rural idyll.” That misadventure came to a sticky end in November 2012 after she’d alienated the whole county by calling them, amongst other things, “smelly” and “faintly Amish.” Goodness knows whom she’ll choose to offend next. Phillip Schofield sums her up best: “She is inconsistent, bitter, nasty and unhinged.” Our advice: Just steer well clear of this acid tongued poison pen.

  • The battleaxe in the Beemer

    The battleaxe in the Beemer

    Matthew Steeples examines the truth behind Liz Jones giving up on her “rural idyll”

     

    The Mail’s Liz Jones is a waspish woman who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. Those who’ve paid even a moment’s attention to her bleating, will be familiar with lines such as: “Last week, my brand new £1,300 MacBook Pro broke” and “Phil Spencer wanted his £46,000 and he wanted it now!” She never stops talking about money and the size of what she both owns and owes.

     

    Liz Jones

    In today’s Femail, Jones bores on about about how she feels “like a cross-dresser” trying out the Kardashian Kollection of clothing in a pointed attack on Kim Kardashian, but it was for her diatribe yesterday that she truly got the goat of the nation in “[bidding] a ferocious farewell” to life in the country in an article entitled “Goodbye… and good riddance!” 2,151 people have commented so far and most of them have been far from sympathetic.

     

    When Upcott Farm at Brushford, near Dulverton in Somerset came up for sale in 2007 at a price of £1.6 million, it featured in an article by The Telegraph’s Caroline McGhie. The 5-bedroomed farmhouse came with a 2-bedroom annexe, a courtyard of barns and stables and 47 acres of land. McGhie waxed lyrical about the merits of moving to this location: “People come here for the peace and quiet, the night skies, the dramatic coastline, and they work from home,” she stated before adding: “You can find everything here, including butchers, bakers, afternoon tea and cake, fish and chips, an art gallery and a shop selling fishing tackle.” Of Upcott Farm itself, she concluded:

     

    “This would suit a member of the new wave of buyers dubbed Droppies (Disillusioned Relatively Ordinary Professionals Preferring Independent Employment Situations).”

     

    McGhie got it half right: Upcott Farm sold to someone who considers herself far from “relatively ordinary” and someone who is far from “professional.” The purchaser, however, was certainly someone who’d become “disillusioned” with what she’d bought and someone whose desire to be “independent” and create a “situation” just alienated all she encountered. The buyer, you’ve guessed it, was none other than Elizabeth Ann Jones.

     

    Jones was born in Brentwood, Essex in 1958 and studied journalism at the London College of Printing. She became editor of Marie Claire in 1999 but was sacked, she herself suggests, for “listing in the magazine the freebies she had been offered in the previous month.” Here, it seems, began Jones’s obsession with all things material and here she also met an Indian BBC radio journalist named Nirpal Dhaliwal in 2000.

     

    Jones married Dhaliwal but the union was to prove an “utter disaster” as he had affairs with women she terms “younger, dimmer [and] slimmer.” “I’m no racist” Jones was divorced in 2007 and said goodbye to her “3,000 square foot of Islington real estate” and “easy, if super-busy, London life” in favour of the green, green grass of Somerset.

     

    Upcott Farm, Brushford, Dulverton, Somerset, TA22 9RS

    Whoever’s side you see it from, five years of hell followed. Jones baited the locals and they grew to loathe her. She wrote columns and a book, The Exmoor Files, where she attacked them as “faintly Amish… feral, old and smelly” and another hack and neighbour, Jane Alexander of The Telegraph, responded: “Dulverton [was] positively fizzing with fury” after each and every publication.

     

    Of the local restaurants, Jones stated:

     

    “I have given up trying to eat out in restaurants here on Exmoor… It is still stuck in the Seventies, with only things in baskets and rum babas on the menu… If you tell the waiter you are vegetarian, you are stared at, incredulously, as if you are black.”

     

    She whinged about her inability to find love:

     

    ”I will never, ever meet a man here in the middle of a moor, where even to be in possession of your own teeth is a bonus.”

     

    And whined about fieldsports:

     

    “I didn’t increase my popularity by being unable to pass a party of men and often children with guns, shooting rabbits and deer, without getting out of my BMW and saying: ‘Do you really have nothing better to do with your Saturday morning?’ The look of shock on their faces that I had the cheek to challenge them was priceless. I would stop, too, and shout at huntsmen on horses, galloping on tarmaced roads, one hand on the reins, the other clamping a mobile phone to their heads. ‘You will ruin your horses’ tendons!’ I would wail.”

     

    Whilst Jones found little to like in her new community, they found nothing positive in her arrival either. Her dog was blamed for worrying lambs, and Jones’s inability to control it, locals say, was an indicator of the chasm between her life and theirs. In 2009, one neighbour went as far as to tell Danny Brierley of The Independent:

     

    “We have got nothing in common with her, really. I think she may find it difficult to make any kind of life here now. She is not a very friendly person and we are all sick to death of talking about Liz Jones. A hatred has been building up for months. She is actually having a go at people and they are not going to tolerate that. She has feelings like all people, of course she has. But everyone wants her to leave and leave now. No one can make her, but we think she will go. I don’t see how you can live in such a small community with people who think that way about you.”

     

    Matters came to a head when Jones’s precious black BMW convertible, “bought in 2005 for £26,000,” was pelted with eggs and teenagers fired shots at her letterbox with an air rifle. A local councilor even dressed up as her in the local carnival and yesterday Jones took revenge on those she blames for her “five-year prison sentence” and deprivation from Space NK, Cath Kidston and Illy coffee.

     

    Instead, the article just shows the true reality of this bombastic harpy. The lines Jones penned speak for themselves. Country people don’t welcome someone who planned to “hack for miles across the open moorland in my Prada jodhpurs” anymore than the folk of Knightsbridge welcome Arabs treating their roads like racetracks. The gardener who had to endure Jones yelling “walk faster!” at him didn’t deserve such anymore than a bus driver in SW11 deserves abuse from his passengers. Jones concludes:

     

    “I’m now a different person. I became so lonely. I would often get in my car, not just for the warmth, but for the kind voice of the satnav lady. I’ve learned that an amazing view and a pair of nesting grey herons are not enough to make me happy.”

     

    27 acres of land including paddocks and a fishing lake remain on the market through Savills and Strutt & Parker at a price of £200,000 at Upcott Farm

    Miss Jones bleats that she’s taken a £500,000 loss on Upcott Farm, which languished on the market at first at £1,900,000 and then £1,750,000 for three years. The “unexpected” sale of the property has given her the ability to “flee back to the city” but the locals and even the “Droopies” should be warned: there’s still 27 acres of the farm unsold and on the market at a price of £200,000. Halloween may have passed but the battleaxe in the Beemer could still call again.

     

    Read yesterday’s “Goodbye… and good riddance!” article by Liz Jones for the Mail on Sunday at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2231033/Goodbye–good-riddance-During-catastrophic-years-country-Liz-Jones-greeted-gun-attack-relentless-abuse-Now-flees-city-bids-ferocious-farewell.html

     

    To purchase Liz Jones’s book, The Exmoor Diaries, go to: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Exmoor-Files-Husband-Found-Rural/dp/0297854437

     

    For more information about the remaining 27 acres at Upcott Farm, contact Strutt & Parker on +44 (0) 1392 976005 or go to: http://www.primelocation.com/for-sale/details/18314693?search_identifier=71cbb8a2fb43a12182bfa7b79b5de0a3

  • Picture of the Week: Autumnal steam

    Picture of the Week: Autumnal steam

    The glorious colours of autumn

     

    At The Steeple Times we love steam trains and, courtesy of Rex Leyland, we featured a video of one in August on Kew Bridge.

     

    Today, with thanks to our television personality and animal advocate campaigner friend Lorenzo Borghese, we feature a superb image of a locomotive in the forests of America. We’re yet to find out where this was taken so if readers know or indeed have travelled on this service, please do let us know.

     

    The image, we feel, captures all that is stunning about this time of year and for this reason we make it The Steeple Times picture of the week.