Tuesday 24 July 2012

Real life Poor Widow In Mansion

From The Daily Mail:

A stubborn grandmother has forced a bank to reconsider plans to repossess her son's* enormous stately house - after she staged a three-day sit-in in its library. Feisty pensioner Stella Bond camped out in the panelled room at £2m Halswell House, near Bridgwater, Somerset, to stop security men repossessing 300-year-old Grade I-listed country pile.

Mrs Bond, 78, insisted she would not budge from the stand-off until Citi Private Banking provided written legal evidence that it had the legal right to claim the property...

Despite Mrs Bond's bold sit-in, the future of the sprawling property remains unclear. Her son Graham Bond bought Halswell House for £1.94 million and spent £800,000 restoring it as an upmarket wedding venue. At one time helicopters were almost as frequent arrivals as cars as well-heeled couples flew in wedding guests but the house also hit the headlines when it inadvertently staged a swingers' party.

Mr Bond's company, Dunster Properties Ltd, has run into financial problems and insolvency specialists Moorfields has confirmed that Robert Rick and Simon Thomas have been appointed administrators and are looking to sell the house which has temporarily closed as a venue.


* It's not "her son's" in any way shape or form, it belongs to an insolvent company which is in administration and therefore actually she is trespassing. Or possibly Messrs Rick and Thomas have been appointed adminstrators of the land and buildings (not of the company) in which case they can chuck her out for any old reason they like, it's not even her main residence or anything.

3 comments:

Kj said...

How does one inadvertently stage a swingers' party?

Derek said...

1. Hire a party planner
2. Send them an email requesting singers.
3. Don't bother checking the instruction.
4. Oops!

Mark Wadsworth said...

Kj, the same way as you "forget" to pay the mortgage.

D, ah, that's how you do it.