The farm shop charging £950 for a basket made of TWIGS: How the owners of Daylesford Organic are causing fury in the Cotswolds… and not just for the extortionate prices in their boutique

Oct 15, 2024

By Nic North and Arthur Parashar 11:42 13 Oct 2024, updated 11:48 13 Oct 2024

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The wife of billionaire digger boss and Tory 'super-donor' Lord Bamford has been accused of 'ruining' a picturesque Cotswolds village by buying up properties for holiday lets.

Lady Carole Bamford, who famously let close friend Boris Johnson move into her £20million London pad after he stepped down as Prime Minister, has built up an impressive homewares and hospitality empire.

But Lady B's jewel in the crown is her flagship Daylesford Organic store, which is situated on 3,500 acres of organic farmland and is a firm favourite of the 'Chipping Norton' set.

Her company also owns four pubs and 32 holiday cottages in the area and in August this year she won planning permission to develop a 38-bedroom hotel with a restaurant, alehouse, bakehouse and demonstration barn at disused Mill House in Kingham, Oxfordshire.

The site is just a mile from Daylesford Organic, where MailOnline found items for sale that included a £950 wicker-style blanket basket, Swedish side tables - one of which had a wonky leg - priced at £3,500 each, and a £6,950 burnt cedar wood 'kindled' bowl.

The store was also selling 80cm diameter oak planters for £2,085 and one-litre bottles of biodynamic rose wine from the company vineyard in France for £220.

But it is Lady Bamford's property collection that is currently expanding at pace, with fed-up locals now dubbing their once quaint village as 'Bamfordshire'.

The businesswoman, who married billionaire JCB chairman Lord Anthony Bamford in 1974, is so keen to grow her holiday lets empire in the area.

Lauren, a woman in her 20s, expressed the frustrations young people in the village feel about being priced out of the housing market by multi home owners like the Bamfords.

She said many in Kingham thought Lady Bamford's ever-growing business empire is 'spoiling the village'.

Lauren, who works as a cleaner, said: 'Any property that comes onto the market in Kingham now is snapped up very quickly, often by Lady Bamford and others with the money to buy second homes.

'The effect of this is that young people like me are being pushed out of the village. Many people here have spent their whole lives here and want to remain here, but all they are able to do now is find somewhere to rent, if they can. It is a waste.

'It is spoiling the village. '

Nearby, we find teaching assistant Madeline Smith, who, despite being 77 years old, continues to work part time at the local primary school.

She has lived in Kingham since 1987 and spent many years giving up her free time to help run an events committee, laying on community celebrations such as fetes and bonfire and Christmas parties for locals.

She said that since the Bamfords and other millionaires began snapping up properties in the village, the number of people willing to help run the events committee has dwindled so significantly that she decided to give up her voluntary role.

She said: 'There were only a couple of us left and it was becoming more and more demanding on our time to keep things going, so I stopped. It is a shame because as a result the village now holds far fewer community events and the village loses something special that binds us together. '

'I also heard that some people are now approaching her to sell their homes. It saves them having to put their properties on the market with an estate agent and financially it is worthwhile for them, but it is having such a negative impact on village life and the community.

'There aren't so many locals here now and it is pushing young people away from the area because they can no longer afford to buy so they have to leave for the big cities to find work and cheaper property.'

Mrs Smith, who has three grandchildren and a newborn great grandchild said the flight of the young from Kingham 'saddens' her.

'We are losing a generation of young people.'

The expanding property empire comes in addition to the Bamfords' primary residence, which is Daylesford House, a Grade I-listed Georgian country house found on an estate next to their beloved farm shop.

It's here that Lord Bamford, one of the purported Tory 'super-donors', and his wife host lavish parties.

Lord Bamford has gifted tens of millions to the Tories over the last decade, with both him and his wife being particularly generous to close friend Boris Johnson.

The former Prime Minister was sent daily deliveries of Daylesford Organic ready meals, heated up and served to him by a personal Daylesford chef during the pandemic.

He came under fire as it emerged he and Carrie had £27,000 of luxury food delivered to No 10. The Daylesford dishes, rich in iron, protein and vitamins, were designed to revive Mr Johnson's energy levels after his brush with death after contracting Covid.

Codenames were used for the then PM and Lady B who organised daily deliveries to the No 10 back door.

The food was smuggled in after being dropped off by a butler on one of London's rented 'Boris bikes'.

The Bamfords also paid for Johnson and Carrie Symonds' wedding and hosted it on the Daylesford estate before giving the married couple access to Lady B's £20million mansion in Knightsbridge, on top of another of the cottages.

Despite the staggering generosity, The Observer reported that Lady B was due to receive a damehood on Johnson's honours list, but it appears the outgoing PM was stopped at the 11th hour.

One of four local pubs Lady Bamford has bought in recent years, The Wild Rabbit, is now an upmarket gastro pub selling food, wine and beers many locals can no longer afford.

One local, who asked not to be named, said: 'Before they bought this pub I used to come every night and enjoy a few pints which cost no more than £4 each.

'Now it's too expensive and I use The Plough, which is the only pub around here they haven't bought yet. No doubt they'll be buying that soon too , and then I'll have nowhere to drink.'

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