Hers was the voice from An Angel – one that reportedly propelled her to a fortune of £6 million before she turned 14. But Charlotte Church could now be forgiven for screaming an aria of terror.
I can reveal that her dream of transforming a 16th-century three-story mansion into a wellness eco retreat—with guests cold-water swimming, foraging, and yoga—is in danger of turning into a bitter nightmare after she gets into trouble by environmental and planning gangs.
In particular, they have expressed concern about its plans to process and dispose of waste from four proposed log cabins, with the council’s ecology department warning of the shortcomings of many “private sewage treatment systems.”
Charlotte Church planned to turn her mansion into a wellness eco-retreat
Perhaps the next series will now be called ‘Dream On’. . .
Told by Natural Resources Wales that she has provided ‘inadequate information’, the 36-year-old singer has now withdrawn planning application to build the cabins and a woodland ‘bathhouse’ on the 47-acre estate, Rhydoldog House, in Powys, mid-Wales.
It’s the latest development in the 16 months since she bought Rhydoldog – once Laura Ashley’s home – for £1.5 million. Since then she has spared ‘almost’ her whole life in setting up a retreat that would be in harmony with the environment.
At least some of it, she hoped, would be open and ready for guests by June — otherwise she’d be “broken.” But that deadline came and went — all captured by a fly-on-the-wall documentary series, Dream Build.
Church, who is married to musician Jonathan Powell, warned fans in July that a second series of Dream Build was coming. “We’re so close to finishing,” she announced.
Perhaps the series will now be retitled ‘Dream On’. . .
Brad aging secret lost in translation
Brad Pitt has launched a skincare line using grapes from his vineyards in Provence, with wine and skin experts brought in to determine the most anti-aging.
Brad Pitt has launched a skincare line that uses grapes from his vineyards in Provence, with wine and skin experts hired to determine the most anti-aging.
But they don’t seem to do much for your English. The website claims the products contain “no conservatives.”
Presumably it was a bad translation: ‘Preservatif’ means condom in French.
Blunt’s keen memory of his royal duty
Former Life Guards officer James Blunt, who stood guard at the Queen Mother’s coffin while lying in state in 2002, is deeply moved by her daughter’s death.
“I was on guard at the Queen Mother’s funeral, so the Queen’s funeral definitely brought it all back,” the You’re Beautiful singer tells me at the 21st birthday party for e&o restaurant in Notting Hill, London.
‘I stood guard at the Queen Mother’s funeral, so the Queen’s funeral brought it all back’
Blunt, 48, who has two sons with wife Sofia Wellesley, 39, granddaughter of the 8th Duke of Wellington, added: “It was so emotional and moving to see it all happen.”
Unlike some, the couple queued for hours to see the queen lying in state.
Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain says she would understand food being stolen as the cost of living rises. “When people steal, I’m sure it’s not because they’re greedy or selfish… but because they’re desperate, incomprehensible.”
The plunge of the pound brightens Petra
The pound has fallen to a 37-year low against the dollar, but Formula 1 heiress Petra Ecclestone’s husband, Sam Palmer, sees a silver lining – for them at least.
Petra Ecclestone (left) pictured with husband Sam Palmer (right)
“A great time to buy in the UK for Americans,” the broker (linked to Petra) chirps online.
Former classic car salesman Palmer, 38, who married Petra, 33, in July, is trying to sell their 14-bedroom house in London for £175 million.
The Queen’s bridesmaid, Lady Pamela Hicks, 93, was pushed into a wheelchair by her daughter, India Hicks, during the funeral on Monday.
And now she’s determined to attend King Charles’ coronation. “She may be the only living person to have attended three coronations,” says India.
Lady Pamela was eight when she was taken in 1937 to see George VI being crowned.
Flogging used service orders from the Queen’s funeral is bad enough, but now an eBay seller is asking £2,500 for a ‘new’ one. Strange, because Alasdair Abrines, director of printers Barnard & Westwood, assures me that ‘every [surplus] copies are either shredded or stored in our vault’.
And Duncan Jeffery, head of communications at Westminster Abbey, tells me his own unused copies are “under lock and key in our security room.”
Caveat?