They never learn

The sacred public footpath

The public footpath is sacred in the United Kingdom. Sometimes that is annoying. This is especially so for people with a lot of money. They think that the footpath running near their house shouldn’t be there. Usually, they are proven wrong.

Take Pippa Middleton, Kate’s sister, William’s wife, Charles’s son. Yes, that one. She and her husband James Matthews, a fabulously wealthy hedge fund manager, own a substantial country house in Berkshire, just east of Reading. According to a glossy magazine the estate (purchased in 2022 for fifteen million pounds) is ‘more private’ than many a royal residence, which, given Pippa’s almost royal status, is quite appropriate.

However, it is not private enough, at least not in the eyes of the Pippa & Co. family. Therefore, after moving into the house in 2023, they closed off a public footpath. This was necessary for Pippa’s safety, the statement read.

The villagers took up in arms. You can take a lot away from the English – for example, something like the convenience of EU membership – but you shouldn’t touch their rights. Then they resist.

This applies to the residents of Kintbury, the village to which the Barton Court estate belongs. ‘What do these people think,’ they complain, ‘Come to live in our village and then start telling us how to behave.’

There are countless stories of celebrities annoying their fellow townspeople. When they were together for a short time, Guy Ritchie and Madonna wanted to keep prying eyes off their estate in Wiltshire. Without success.

Supermodel Claudia Schiffer wanted a ban on the footpath next to their house when she married film producer Matthew Vaughn – are they still together? – and had more success. The judge granted her a blockade for exactly twelve hours.

The list is almost endless. Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jeremy Clarkson, Peter Gabriel, you name it. They all bit the dust. The only one for whom I have any sympathy is Keith Richards. He has owned a house in West Wittering in West Sussex for hundreds of years. A public footpath ran past his house. That was still acceptable. Then they wanted to turn it into a bike path. The Rolling Stones guitarist was not pleased with that. I haven’t been able to find out how that matter ended.

As far as Pippa and her husband are concerned, there are some complications. The path, called Mill Lane by locals, is not described as a ‘public footpath’ on the excellent digital Ordnance Survey map. It looks like an ordinary road.

That seems to be part of the problem. Former residents of Barton Court kept the path closed. However, Terence Conran, the designer and founder of Habitat from whom Pippa & Co bought the house, never objected to the use of the path – you certainly can’t call it a road.

The crucial question now is whether the path was used sufficiently in the years prior to the closure to classify it as a public footpath. As a Public Footpath fan, I naturally hope this succeeds. The verdict is still a few days away.

If the light turns green, I will definitely go for a walk there. I will even wave to Pippa. I wonder if she will see it. Their country house is a few hundred meters from the footpath. By the way, I see now that there is a public footpath that comes much closer to the house. If the light turns red, I will go for a walk there.