Couple's bargain £9k 20-bed mansion fails to sell despite £1.2m price tag
Charles and Patricia Lester were hoping to enjoy their retirement by selling their grand six-acre property – but there is just one problem
A fashion designer couple who purchased a 20-bedroom historic mansion for merely £9,000 have witnessed its value soar to £1.2m. However, they face one significant obstacle: they cannot sell due to catastrophic landslides.
Charles and Patricia Lester, who have designed outfits for A-list celebrities such as Barbra Streisand and Adele, initially acquired Llanfoist House, Wales, in September 1971. The Grade II-listed country residence is thought to date from roughly 1690 and was converted into flats during the 1920s.
Yet despite boasting a considerable £1.2m price tag, the couple say they have been "stuck in limbo for decades" due to repeated landslides and water damage from a canal that runs alongside their property.
The Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal, situated just south of Abergavenny, passes roughly 70ft above the house at the top of a steep slope and has caused serious flooding problems repeatedly over the years. Among the most devastating were a life-threatening landslide in 1975 and another disastrous incident in 2014.
Charles and Patricia, aged 83 and 82 respectively, maintain that years of living in fear of the waterway have not only damaged their mental and physical health but also made their property virtually impossible to sell. They even went so far as to say it "ruined their retirement".
"We have been trying to sell the house for the last 10 to 12 years. It has ruined our retirement," Charles admitted. "We were going to retire to a home that we had built ourselves in west Wales. It was by the sea and it was built for old people.
"An old couple could have lived in and run it, while still staying in a stunning location. We had been working on it since the 1990s – completely rebuilding it. If you give two designers a blank sheet of paper, you get carried away. Sadly, we eventually had to sell it. It was heartbreaking."
The pair's estate, situated across six acres of breathtaking rural landscape, had once housed Crawshay Bailey, the Conservative MP who earned recognition as a prominent ironmaster, coal mining pioneer and passionate railway advocate during the 1800s. Nevertheless, the Lesters revealed they both struggled with heart issues and suffered years of "sleepless nights" while trapped in a residence far too elaborate for an ageing couple to upkeep.
They found themselves forced to consider a discounted bid of £850,000 for the estate – almost half a million beneath the property's £1.2m assessment – to secure any realistic prospect of finalising a transaction. Yet even that arrangement collapsed when the couple couldn't locate a company willing to verify the building's structural integrity, reports the Mirror.
Then there is their prolonged dispute with the Canal and River Trust (CRT), which assumed control from the government-operated British Waterways in 2012. Charles and Patricia argued the organisation has fallen short in its duty to care for the waterway and maintain their worries "haven't been taken seriously over the decades".
Charles, from Banbury in Oxfordshire, remembered the devastating landslide in 1975, during which he and his wife barely cheated death. He said: "We heard a noise and came out of the house to see great jets of water coming out of the bank.
"A mass of 20,000 tonnes or so of water headed straight for us, bringing a tremendous amount of rocks and trees streaming towards where we were standing. I remember my body just froze. Luckily, the biggest trees came down first and their roots hit a wall and formed a sort of dam and stopped us from getting washed away."
He added: "The canal was closed in 1960. Back then, it was an extraordinary piece of engineering and there had never been a collapse in its 200-year history. That is how it was when we bought it. But then they dredged it for boats with modern propellers and they lined the canal with clay. British Waterways kept working their way down – dredging it deeper. We have had all our problems since then."
The pair raised their concerns with the CRT following that terrifying episode five decades ago, although Charles maintained that substandard maintenance work persisted. He stated: "In the major landslide, the canal's safety gates hadn't worked because they had rotted away.
"Afterwards, they continued to do all sorts of things which any competent engineer would tell you are terrible ideas. They put thick concrete at the bottom of the bank, with concrete slabs on the sides. They didn't even put any seals on the joints."
In 2014, the embankments situated above their home started showing alarming cracks. Charles disclosed: "One of our engineers said that if the canal came down, it could sweep us away."
Patricia, from Buckinghamshire, explained: "I still suffer from sleepless nights. Can you imagine what would happen if it went in the middle of the night? When something as big as the collapse happens and you know it could happen again, it makes you relive the whole thing again and again.
"I think about it every night when I go to bed. It's a nightmare. You become really really stressed, not knowing if you're going to be bankrupt or even killed. It takes your life up completely."
The Lesters have previously sought to take the CRT to court, drawing on their household insurance policy, which offered legal costs coverage of up to £100,000.
A spokesperson for the CRT said: "The canal is an engineering marvel from the industrial age that attracts visitors from around the world. Our charity works hard to keep it open and navigable for people to enjoy and for the benefit of wildlife.
"We will continue our programme of maintenance and repairs, monitoring for leaks or movement in the canal's embankments and acting to remedy them as necessary, along the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal, including at Llanfoist."
Charles and Patricia have been creating, designing and producing bespoke ladies' gowns and interior design fabrics for more than half a century. Their creations are showcased in numerous museums worldwide, including the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Ohio State University – Wexner Centre, Phoenix Art Museum and the Houston Museum of Fine Arts.