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Local Man Beats Kate Moss To Withnail Farm
The Quietus , February 17th, 2009 06:17

Monty's retreat goes for quarter million quid

Fans of Withnail & I who were worried that Kate Moss and her boyfriend Jamie Ince were to buy the derelict farm that was used as the setting for Monty's rural hideaway in the film can rest easily in their lumpy beds.

For Sleddale Hall was yesterday sold at auction for £265,000, way above the £145,000 starting price. Auctioneers Savills confirmed that the buyer was a local innkeeper (with military pretentions?) who intended to respect the building and honour its place in cinematic history. A Savills spokesman said, "He is a fan of the film and has said that everyone will be welcome if they want to pass by for a cup of tea," said a spokeswoman for the company. "He plans to restore the building sympathetically and wants it to be for the local community."

Fans of the film, some of whom had tried to buy the farm themselves, were present at the bidding. "One even shouted out before bidding began to ask the buyer to look after the property," the Savilles spokesperson said. "As expected it got a good price and generated a lot of interest because Withnail & I is such a cult film."

However, the farm is going to take a lot of work to make it habitable - a Savills estate agent told the BBC that the buyer would need to have "vast amounts of money, and almost a bottomless pit depending what they want to do to it, and how they want to finish it."