View Before You Buy The Story Of Ridgemont House Torquay

[Dave]

View Before You Buy The Story Of Ridgemont House Torquay

This a very sad tale and a good lesson for anyone looking to buy any property that has been put up for auction. Let’s be honest who would not want to buy a six bedroom house high on a cliff top in Torquay with the most wonderful sea views. In February 2010 Sue Diamond, who is disabled, made a telephone bid of £154,500 for such a house in Torquay without viewing it or having a survey done. But just eight days after the auction, a landslide left the 1930s house just 50 yards from a drop into the sea that signalled the start of a lengthy legal battle with the property's seller after refusing to pay up after the auction. The auction particulars had warned buyers that the house was severely structurally damaged and might be beyond economic repair

A judge in 2010 ordered Miss Diamond to pay Mr Taylor what she owed.Mr Taylor has a legal charge for the money, plus 8 per cent interest annually, over Miss Diamond’s home in Chiswick, West London, which s is worth over £1million. In March 2011 a judge gave Mr Taylor permission to market the property at £650,000 but that brought protests from Miss Diamond. Miss Diamond was evicted from her home so it could be sold. Later another judge gave Miss Diamond the chance to get a better price for her home after she produced letters from estate agents saying £1.1million was ‘easily achievable’ The legal dispute is still on going and just three years after buying the house, what is left of it won’t be there for much longer.

More recent cliff falls this year high above Oddicombe Beach has now taken half the house with it and this afternoon I decided to go and take a look and do a photo shoot. While the house or whats left of it can be seen from Babbacombe Downs, I wanted to try and get some shots much closer to the house and decided the best chance I had of doing that was from Petitor.

I walked halfway down the steep grassed slope and took a narrow pathway to my right that had been fenced off, only the fence had been pushed to one side. As I walked further down the path I started to get some great views of the house and all the parts of it that had gone down over the cliff.

After talking all the pictures I wanted, I went back to my car and drove up to the front of the house. It is all fenced off and I had to laugh as it has a for sale sign on it. I understand the house next door is for sale, but the owner claims he only wants to move to down size, yes I can believe that I then went and took a few shots from Babbacombe Downs.

How the house looked in 2010

Pictures I took this afternoon

[Dave]

Its not unusual in the Bay for derelict hotels etc being torched, I have lost count of all the hotels that were set alight, some more than once before they were finally knocked down. Some of those fires might have been started by squatters , some could well have been insurance jobs, or someone trying to force the hands of the planning department.

But that was not the case in today’s latest fire in Torbay and whoever started it must not only be a fool, but not care to much about how much danger they put themselves in. at 1.45 pm today firelighters rushed to Ridgemount House after reports it was on fire. When they got there an oak staircase was burning and it was clear to them it was not safe for them to try and put the fire out so the aerial ladder was called. It must be
bad enough for the people living next door to this house as they wonder when their own houses might also go over the cliff, fools setting what’s left of the house alight can only add to their concerns.

It is maybe time for someone to take the decision to knock the rest of the house down, I’m sure there must be a safe way to do that, maybe then trees and vegetation can be planted on the cliff face in the hope he will help stabilise it

[Dave]

As we know, very little now remains of Ridgemont House and now a neighbouring house has had to be evacuated and the garden of a third has been undermined. The problem is the area has now become a tourist attraction and there are real fears that thieves, sightseers or daredevil teenagers may fall to their deaths by ignoring 'keep out' and 'road closed'

A 'road closed' sign has been put up at the entrance to Redcliffe Road and residents have now had a letter from Torbay Council's highways department which is going to totally close off the turning point at the end of the cul-de-sac, work is due to start next month to create a permanent railing and three-metre gate to block access at the end of Redcliffe Road.

The Oddicombe beach café has been doing very well as so many people are going down to the beach to take photos etc. Many locals feel the best thing would be to demolish what is left of Ridgemont hose, but that might just be too dangerous and if the house next door ends up the same way, the problem will be back again.

Not sure what the long term solution is to the problem, maybe my fears will come true one day and the whole beach ends up being closed and lost forever.

[Dave]

There are plenty of people who do not feel very sorry for Sue Diamond who bought Ridgemont House knowing full well the house had many problems. But I do feel very sorry for the people who lived next door in Tor Cottage.

A most wonderful house that had been Superbly refurbished, only now it has a prohibition order on the property preventing permanent occupancy. The house would have been worth more than £400.000 but now is being auctioned off with a guide price of just £25.000.

No one really knows if this house will also fall over the cliff, but even if the order placed on it could be overturned, would you want to sleep in it at night? Someone might just get lucky and buy this house for next to nothing and live in it happy ever after, or buy it as an investment that was a very big gamble that might just pay of one day.

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4 bedroom detached house for sale
Guide Price
£25,000
Tor Cottage, Redcliffe Road, St. Marychurch ,Torquay



Key features:
• Superbly refurbished four bedroomed detached home
• Cul-de-sac cliff top position with sea views
• Good sized plot, garage and parking
• Neighbouring property has suffered severe subsidence
• Currently there is a prohibition order on the property preventing permanent occupancy
• Energy Efficiency Rating - C
Full description:
DRAFT DETAILS ONLY.
An interesting opportunity to acquire a superb four bedroomed
detached fully refurbished house with balcony enjoying fine sea views in a
cliff top cul-de-sac position. The
property appears to be in good order although we have not carried a survey, but
we understand that a neighbouring property has suffered severe subsidence.
The accommodation comprises
Reception Hall
Open Plan Living
Room
Dining Room
Fully Fitted
Kitchen 27'11" x 20'
Hallway
Cloakroom
First Floor
Landing
Bedroom One
13'9" x 9'10"
Bedroom Two
12'6" x 9'10"
Bedroom Three
13'9" x 9'10"
Bedroom Four
9'8" x 10'2"
Study 6'7" x 5'7"
Bathroom
With quality suite.
Outside
The property is situated on a particularly good sized widening
plot with gardens, garage and parking.

[Dave]

The Council are now going to knock down Ridgemont house after the owner has not had the work carried out herself. She will end up having to pay all the costs once the work is completed as the council will be sending her the bill.

A sad end to a very sad story and yet one that might well be repeated. The house next door Tor Cottage was once worth over £400.000 and was put up for sale in November 2011 for £335.000. it did not sell as you might expect for that price, but it has been sold now.

It was bought at auction for £33.500, but Torquay Council's prohibition order means it will not allow occupation until structural work is carried out to make it safe. The buyer is unknown as is what plans he or she might have for the property, will it turn out to be the buy of the century? Or will it one day follow Ridgemont House over the cliff and onto the beach below.

[Dave]

What a welcome change to see the sun out in Torbay today, far too good an afternoon to stay in and so we decided to go over to Babbacombe downs and have our lunch at the Coach House. I also wanted to get any last shots of what still might be left of Ridgemont House as the council stated they were knocking down what was left.

Since the last photo shoot I done there I have bought a new camera that has a 42x optical zoom lens that can be changed to 84x digital, my old camera only had a 30x optical lens.

I’m not sure if more of the house has fallen over the edge or if the work to knock down what has left has started taking place. Using the naked eye it does look as if its all gone, but zooming in with the lens you can see one part of one wall remaining.

After I took the shots I wanted we set off for the Coach House and bumped into Phil (chelstongull) who stopped for a chat. We both looked over to Exmouth and both agreed just how much we love living here.

Yesterday over at the Heath I bumped into Brian( keyberrygull) and his brother Paul. We had a great old natter and I hope they both enjoyed their time at the Heath.

We enjoyed our Sunday roast and pudding and them strolled back across the downs to our car and headed home. A thoroughly enjoyable few hours in one of the best locations in the UK.

[Dave]

After doing a small amount of research I have now learned a demolition team knocked down the house at the end of November. I believe it took just two days but the pictures I took yesterday, clearly show part of the house is still standing. Maybe it was considered far to dangerous to try and remove the bottom half of the wall that is right over the cliff edge? With all the recent rain and wind we have had in the Bay( very wet and windy as I write) I would expect it won’t be too long before that final remaining part falls over the edge.

[Dave]

Torbay Council has issued fresh warnings to stay away from the end of Oddicombe beach where the landslides have occurred. Over the Christmas period many people including children were seen playing in the area right in front of the landside. As the council has stated it’s all being left to nature now, maybe it would be better to permanently fence of that end of the beach. It will only take one death to see the whole beach permanently closed too the public and it would be sad to lose this beach.

As we know Sue Diamond bought the house in February 2010 for £154.000 after making a telephone bid without ever viewing the house or having a survey done. What I did not know was that the house was sold at an auction just five months before Sue Diamond bought it. At that auction Ridgemont House was sold for £123.000, so somebody made a nice quick profit on the house.

I read a story recently were it was stated that the builder that built the houses in Redcliffe Road, did not built on the land that Ridgemont house was built on. This was because that land had a known fault line running through it. If that really was the case it makes one wonder why that fact was ignored many years later when both Ridgemont House and Tor Cottage were built.

One wonders if the building of Ridgemont house has played some part in the landslides themselves. While I know the house was built in the 30’s and stood there for a very long time, just how many years did that cliff face exist without any landslides. I have found some old pictures that I will add to this post showing the area before any landslides ever took place.

The man who made the video that I put up on this thread earlier, has said the area can be stabilised if vegetation etc were planted on it. Looking at old photos of Oddicombe Beach it does look that at one time there was plenty of vegetation on the cliff face. That man has upset a number of the people who own houses in Redcliffe Road as he has claimed other houses are greatly at risk.

We know that Tor Cottage is for sure, but it seems all the other houses are built on geologically different plates, and have been surveyed to show that they are not at risk. Well that is what the owners of those house claim and I’m sure the original builder was well aware what plates were suitable to be built on.

Over the last few years so many people have come to the Bay to take photos etc of Ridgemont house, those who live here have been able to see the whole story unfold right from the start. When the story first broke the house looked perfectly fine viewing it from Babbacombe Downs, it then started slowly to buckle before eventually braking in half.

I wonder what the area will look like if fifty years time, will more of the cliff fall into the sea? Or will it all once again be covered with vegetation and then have a more natural look about it. Or will it have by then become a forgotten beach that had been closed to the public many years before. How many other beaches and coves in the Bay are at risk? How many could be closed off for good and just left to nature?

We lost many years ago one very popular beach that had a café due to large rock falls, it’s a beach I remember using myself and was very well used by those who knew it. Redgate Beach was a small beach and I have fond memories of walking alone the bridge that was built against the cliff face that took you from Redgate Beach to Ansteys Cove.

One of the best rock formations in the Bay can be viewed from Ansteys Cove and it is sad to see Redgate Beach just abandoned. Mind you the last time I went to Ansteys Cove I could see a number of people using Redgate Beach, it is possible to climb over the fence on Walls Hill and use the footpath that is still there.

Talking of rock formations we should not forget London Bridge. I wonder how many people come to the Bay and never see London Bridge? But then I’m sure there are lots of people living in the Bay who have never noticed it or know how to get a close up view of it.

If you walk through the car park of the Imperial Hotel you get onto a coastal footpath that will take you to London Bridge, the path goes to Daddyhole Plain and is a bit of a steep climb in places. In one old photo I found it looks as if once you could walk over London Bridge as you can clearly see some sort of fence along the top of it.

Can it still be reached now? I have no idea myself and did not notice anyway of getting onto London Bridge when I did that walk a number of years ago. Maybe something to check out this summer. Strangely I never wrote a thread about that walk but will have the pictures taken that day so maybe will put them up soon.

[Dave]

Video footage taken by a drone shows the site of the former Ridgemont House as you have never seen it before.