Lady Colin Campbell, who was known for her bullying behaviour and caustic put-downs when she competed on I’m A Celebrity, has now fallen out with her neighbours.
The royal biographer allowed a rave to take place in the grounds of her West Sussex stately home, Castle Goring, at the weekend, that kept locals awake until 2am and led to police being called.
‘People were taken by surprise because they were not warned,’ she admits, telling me: ‘It was staged with little notice after being cancelled due to covid the month before. They are not used to noise after 18 months of absolute quiet during the pandemic.’
Lady Colin Campbell, who was known for her bullying behaviour and caustic put-downs when she competed on I’m A Celebrity, has now fallen out with her neighbours
The royal biographer allowed a rave to take place in the grounds of her West Sussex stately home, Castle Goring, at the weekend, that kept locals awake until 2am and led to police being called
Lady Colin bought the castle for £700,000 in 2013 and has since spent several million on renovations. She lets it out for corporate events, weddings and now raves.
She says of the revellers: ‘The only access people had to the castle was to use the loos. In fact, I was popping down regularly to clean them.
‘I wanted to make sure standards were being maintained. I was wearing my rubber gloves and ravers were taking selfies with me.’
Cripes! Boris’s old prep school sold to developer for £5million
When Ashdown House confirmed last year that it would close its doors permanently, figures in the education world desperately tried to save the prep school, whose former pupils include Boris Johnson, the Earl of Snowdon and Homeland star Damian Lewis.
I can disclose that, to their fury, the 180-year-old school has, however, now been sold off to a property developer for about £5 million.
When Ashdown House confirmed last year that it would close its doors permanently, figures in the education world desperately tried to save the prep school, whose former pupils include Boris Johnson (pictured), the Earl of Snowdon and Homeland star Damian Lewis
The Cothill Trust, which owns Ashdown House, has just exchanged contracts with the unnamed developer. The under-bidder was an educational establishment which offered £4.5 million.
‘It’s all terribly sad,’ a former parent tells me. ‘The school was run into the ground and the Cothill Trust refused to invest in its future.’
Former pupils are now alarmed by what the developer might do to the building in East Sussex. The facade and one archway are listed, but the rest, including the chapel and the science block, which was opened by Sir David Attenborough, can be knocked down.
‘The trust has not contacted alumni about having the opportunity of buying the Rolls of Honour, stained glass windows, leavers’ boards, etc,’ claims the parent. ‘A great deal of hostility still exists.’
Ashdown House was one of the best-known prep schools in the country and charged fees of £28,680 a year, but blamed the coronavirus pandemic for its closure.
Some of Ashdown’s alumni, however, will struggle to mourn its passing — particularly those who experienced the headmastership of the late Billy Williamson, who was said to have ‘charmed parents and flogged pupils with equal gusto’.
‘On one occasion our entire class was caned because a boy did something fairly petty and didn’t own up,’ recalled Lord Snowdon, who bore the courtesy title Viscount Linley while at the school.
His parents, Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, removed him after he’d endured
