Airline tycoon snaps up Encombe estate (From Bournemouth Echo)
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Airline tycoon snaps up Encombe estate
7:52am Tuesday 30th June 2009 in
AN AIRLINE tycoon is believed to have snapped up a vast country estate.
The Encombe Estate in the Purbeck countryside was put on the market in September last year for £25 million by American merchant banker Charles McVeigh, who paid £11m for it in 2002 and spent millions restoring it.
Now it is reported that James Gaggero, a 49-year-old former officer in the Irish Guards, has paid £20m to become only the sixth owner of the plush pile in its 1,100-year history.
The Gaggeros built their fortune operating an airline and ferries to the Moroccan port of Tangier.
The airline, Gibraltar Airways, eventually moved to Britain as GB Airways and was bought for £103m by easyJet two years ago. Gaggero’s Bland Group of companies now encompasses travel and hotel firms.
Mr Gaggero is the second airline boss linked to the estate, with Sir Richard Branson thought to have toured it earlier this year.
The 2,000-acre estate includes 60 acres of formal gardens, a swimming pool, three lakes and a Grecian-style temple. The house itself has 13 bedrooms, a galleried hall, dining room with a double-height ceiling and Victorian library with marble fireplaces.
Mark McAndrew, head of country homes at Strutt and Parker, the estate agent which had been instructed to sell the property, said: “It is exceptional – one of the biggest estates that have come to the market in the past few years.”
Encombe is considered one of the best pheasant shooting estates in the country. It has carp in ornamental lakes and also offers fly fishing for sea bass off its rocky coast.
Another agent who is familiar with the property confirmed that Gaggero was the buyer, adding: “I imagine he is buying it for the shoot.”
Pop star Kylie Minogue is also thought to have been interested in the estate.
There was no one available for comment at the Bland Group’s offices.
Comments(11)
cantique
says...
10:24am Tue 30 Jun 09
Upkeep
says...
10:28am Tue 30 Jun 09
Laurie H Marsh
says...
12:06pm Tue 30 Jun 09
How many pheasants will he have to kill to break even?
If one pheasant is worth 20 quid ..........
Now, if he was to shoot the peasants.....!
rebelred
says...
12:40pm Tue 30 Jun 09
Localsfirst
says...
1:20pm Tue 30 Jun 09
cooperman
says...
2:27pm Tue 30 Jun 09
Localsfirst wrote:sorry but thats NOT the real south coast ....Turlin Moor - thats just for skanks who dont have the balls to get out and have a go,this guy has never sat back and waited for it to come to him. you can be certain of that. so put your green eyed monster back in its cage - the world needs 'doers'.
Put him in a one-bed council flat on Turlin Moor - that would show him the real south coast.
Chris...
says...
2:41pm Tue 30 Jun 09
Trig
says...
6:36pm Tue 30 Jun 09
cooperman
says...
5:51am Wed 1 Jul 09
Trig wrote:he's a tycoon .... not a dim-wit. why would he waste his hard earned on that shower.
invite to Dean court to invest!!!
why does everyone on here think that everyone with a few quid would want to invest it in a dead-end football club.???
safety first
says...
8:52am Thu 2 Jul 09
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BOUGHT: Encombe House fetched a reported £20 million
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beachhut says...
8:08am Tue 30 Jun 09
Is the intention to turn it over social housing or community accommodation for local workers, maybe transfer all the drug rehab centres to this location to reduce the temptation by being housed next door to dealers in Boscombe.