In the field of electronics auctions we’ve seen them all… all or almost all. Today it remains to be seen whether a countess will lose part of her country house in Corfu.
The said one may not literally be “Countess of Corfu”, to recall the popular film of the old classical Greek cinema, but it is Countess of Normandon and the property is associated with the also popular British-produced TV series, “The Durrells“, the action of which takes place on the enchanting island of Phaeacians.
The case of the auction revealed newmoney on 13 November 2023 and the proceedings are directed against two “named” debtors, namely Chadwick Timothy and Victoria Susan Beard, Countess of Normanton, both residents of London, the former on Padnor Walk and the second on Clifton House Hollywood Road.
Initial hammer was to strike on November 22, 2023, prompting Intrum and starting price 223,503 euros, but was suspended due to the abstention of the notaries. But then it was rescheduled for today, Wednesday, April 24, 2024, unless there is some twist at the last minute, which is not out of the question…
What comes out of the hammer
The property, which goes out with her starting price of 223,503 euros, is a plot of land with an area of 4,152.14 sq.m. which is located in the location “Linamnia” or “Trypa”, in the general area “Pelekito” of Perithia, in the municipal unit of Thinalia, in the Municipality of North Corfu.
According to the report, the parcel of land “has access to and from the provincial road Acharavis – Kassiopis, through a right-of-way that leads to the parcel of land, where there is a metal exterior entrance door and then a road construction for access both to this parcel of land and to neighboring plots of land co-owned by the debtors”.
Within the estate, based on a building permit of 2004, a single-storey building with a tiled roof (traditional type) has been erected, of which:
a) the basement has an area of 86 sq.m. and includes storage areas and which is open (i.e. ground floor) from the southeast side of the building where it has three entrance doors and
b) the ground floor has an area of 86 sq.m. and includes a house with a terrace on the southeast side of the building (where there is a height difference, as a floor).
“The construction quality of the building is good and its level of maintenance is also good”, as reported
The grounds, the mansion and the Countess
However, the parcel in question is part of a larger area 65,617 sq.m. located on a slope with intense bushy vegetation in an undeveloped area. The entire estate is located in the first row from the sea, but due to the morphology of the area, access to it is not possible, as the end of the plot is strongly rocky with steep edges.
As it is noted, “within the total area there is a large, luxuriously constructed mansion with auxiliary areas and a swimming pool”, while the house that goes under the hammer is located on the 4,152.14 sq.m. piece, which is functionally integrated with the rest of the area.
This property belongs to the two debtors indivisible, by percentage 75% to Victoria Susan Beard (Countess of Normandon) and 25% to her second husband, Timothy Chadwick, while it was acquired around 2003, initially through their company and then directly transferred to them. Beard, however, had married in 1970 James Sean Christian Welbor Ellis Agar, 6th Earl of Normandon, hence she acquired the peerage of the Countess of Normandon. Which he formally lost after their divorce, but essentially, he still keeps for life…
However, some debts were not settled and so on September 23, 2022 an order was given for compulsory seizure (in favor of “Sunrise I NPL Finance DAC” managed by Intrum) for an amount of 56,000 euros, which is part of the total claim. It is noted that the property has a pre-notification of 750,000 euros in favor of Piraeus Bank registered on August 22, 2006.
Leslie Caron and ‘The Durrells’
It is recalled that, as has been highlighted newmoneythe mansion and estate in Linamnia had become the subject of the British newspaper Daily Telegraphwhich in February 2020 had chosen them as “Property of the Week”.
According to the relevant report, this is the house in Corfu where the popular actress was hosted Leslie Caron during the filming of “The Durrells”, the well-known British period series that was filmed on the island and has also been shown on Greek television.
In the series, the American-French evergreen actress and former dancer played the role of Countess Mavrodaki. “She stayed at the Linamia estate in north-east Corfu, which is owned by publisher Tim Chadwick and his wife, Victoria Chadwick, a former countess,” according to the report, which referred to a property with an endless array of terraces, an impressive swimming pool, but also 650 feet of frontage on the Ionian Sea.
In fact, according to Sotheby’s International Realty, its value at that time reached 6.95 million euros. In any case, as it is understood, the hammer concerns only one small property, “monitoring” of the mansion and the estate of almost 66 acres, which belongs to the pair of “named” debtors…
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