Madonna and Compton Abbas
 

Apologies if this is old news but Stephen Fry (on QI) was asking questions about Madonna buying and closing Compton Abbas. Although she only moved in a few years back she finds the noise intrusive...well maybe not as noisy as her traditional mode of transport.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertain...ic/4157736.stm

Oops..it is very very old news..just found the previous posts..2002!!

Foreknowledge
 

Have some strong views on this one - if people don't like the noise from pre-existing airfields then why buy a house near one??

From the 2002 posts, it is pretty obvious it was a made-up story then, based on objections from the classical musician Julian Bream - not Madonna.

Bream was attempting to sell his house last year, according to a puff-piece in one of the Sundays, so may not be there any longer.

Still a shock to hear it on the telly, though. It took me a while to realise it was old news.

And there I was thinking that Stephen Fry was the fount of all knowledge, brain the size of a planet etc etc

After I saw a Pilatus PC12 (and gold braided crew) at Compton in August, I was speaking to someone who said they'd been talking to the Compton operator. Apparently, Madonna and Guy Ritchie were invited up to the airfield and Mr Ritchie liked it so much, he was learning to fly there!

I don't know if that story is any more correct than the buy-out rumour but may be true. Anyone from Compton here?!

Well it was a repeat of an episode first broadcast on 6th November 2003...

...must have missed that bit of info.

"And there I was thinking that Stephen Fry was the fount of all knowledge, brain the size of a planet etc etc"

I met John Lloyd, who devised and (I think) still produces QI (as well as co-writing the sublime "Meaning of Liff" with Douglas Adams). I remarked that the erudite Mr Fry seemed ideal to chair QI, with his apparent facility for trivia...

JL: "Well, it's very carefully scripted, you know..."

Obviously not THAT carefully in this instance... :hmm:

And the award for the most belated post of 2008 goes to........!

Flew by the house recently and was wondering whatever happened to the plan to buy the airport and shut it down?

Great airport by the way, and aging much better than you know who.

Like Germaine Greere you mean?
She's trying to get Duxford closed to sell her house.
Then there was Roger Moore; always moaning about the noise from Denham having bought a house nearby. Did you know he hated the sound of guns? Apparently every time he shot one during filming, he would shut his eyes and turn his head away when squeezing the trigger!

Perhaps they like the house or the area in which it is situated........?? Does not seem too unreasonable.

I think the 'unreasonable' bit is referring to then trying to have the airfield closed!

There's a guy near Oxford airport who complains ALL the time about planes - but presumably didn't complain about the fact that his house cost less to buy (because of proximity to the airport)…

they got divorced LOL - I think Guy lives there alone hunting shooting and fishing - not sure if he flies from CA

I fly from CA on with a local Dorset pal now and again - there was a no-fly zone i was told over the grounds and the Big house - i think that no-fly zone is still in place?
Jammed Stab may know he just flew nearby - yes I agree lovely place and great breakfast (CA not the big house lol)

saw a biz jet land there one summer evening last year, we held for them to land - an N reg - doing a couple of trail runs into CA for clients over to Jersey at the weekend - very impressed to see a jet and gold braid land there

OK Rog I'll bite :rolleyes:

A Biz Jet on the grass at Compton Abbas?

yes i will dig out the photos. or have a look on their twitter - they called it compton abbas international day !

https://forums.flyer.co.uk/viewtopic...91600&start=15

my pics wont upload to PPrune but try this link

That's pretty brave - I took my Kingair 200 (on hi-float gear) into both Doncaster and Goodwood but was very unhappy at the banging the gear and avionics got.
Might be allowable but is it sensible?

Used to be a Citation which visited Redhill frequently.

Don't see any "no-fly zone" on the VFR chart. Maybe the locals avoid as a courtesy. Pretty busy airport when I was there.

the Big House:
18th century Ashcombe House, notable residents were cecil beaton, Beaton entertained lavishly at Ashcombe House, and his houseguests included many notable people of the time,
and peter gabriel
When the house came up for sale in 2001, the first time it had been on the open market since just after World War I, there was a great deal of interest.Madonna and Guy Ritchie were the successful purchasers, c£9m
they sought the house after they were told by Hugo Vickers, Beaton's biographer, of its being up for sale. Like Beaton, the couple were struck by their first encounter with the house:

On 3 March 2009, planning permission was granted to Ritchie (who obtained the house in the divorce settlement) by Salisbury District Council for the creation of a sporting lake and shoot on the estate,
The grounds of the house are noted for their re-established wildlife, including fallow deer. The grounds are also noted as one of the top game bird shooting venues in the country: The Field magazine voted it one of the UK's ten top venues for pheasant shooting.

Public rights of way run through the grounds, and are open to the public all year round. The grounds contain a 17th-century Quaker burial ground which was still in use in 2004

Of note for Ppruners:
Guy has made a foray into the beer industry after launching his very own brewery and transformed an old converted barn on his farm on the Dorset/ Wiltshire border into the Gritchie Brewing Company, and his first beer is already available to buy.

Tght Circuit
 

When we took the Turbs in for a 'pitts stop' it was a 20ft break around the wind sock (heading west) and land off the turn (took about 15 secs !!!.