With his (alleged) ill gotten gains gained through fiery speculation on the Kent coast he bought a celebrated Robert Adam mansion near Ashford after its owner Baron, Lord Brabourne chucked an incumbent leasing childrens home out of it. The illustrious lord refused a further lease to the childrens home when it came up for renewal. The noble lord, presumably, wanted to make extra dosh pronto with its fabulous sale. Jimmy Godden snapped the aristocratic pile up for a cool 3million+. The childrens home was forced to up-sticks c.2002. They trundled into a woebegone annex nearby where they thrive, unfortunately, without the grand inspiring surroundings of a Capability Brown that they used to enjoy. Nevertheless, one understands they are reasonably enthused with a more modern, ethical disparate housing structure designed, not unlike an old peoples home for the young.
This is part of my site The 'Gerald that I built in a fever of excitement when we first moved here sometime in '04. I'd been a regular visitor for a while before that but I am technically one of those Down From Londons you get now. This site was a lot more dynamic with a calendar of events and voting for favourite venues and things, and I hear it was a handy resource for others who were moving here. Now I've moved out of Folkestone again (though just a couple of miles) it doesn't get as much attention as it used to. Ironic really as Folkestone itself is now becoming the exciting place we knew it was just about to. I am not Gerald BTW, this comes from the name of a pretend paper in an episode of The Day Today or something, the Portsmouth Gerald, and how there is a local newspaper here called the Folkestone Herald. Puns like this are GRATE aren't they? Do contact me if you have anything to offer, email anythign @ this domain, or try @folkestone or @pauly on Twitter.