A widow’s fight to preserve her clifftop residence, which could have fetched up to £1.7 million if not for the threat of coastal erosion, has come to a sorrowful end.
Jean Flick, aged 88, faces devastation as the local council in the picturesque holiday village of Thorpeness, Suffolk, has ordered the demolition of her four-bedroom detached home. The perilous situation arose after her house was left precariously perched on a 25-foot-high sandy cliff, following a bout of severe weather.
Mrs. Flick had clung to the hope of remaining in her cherished home through another winter, but relentless waves have continued to erode the cliff, dashing those hopes.
Ultimately, she had no choice but to evacuate her belongings when East Suffolk Council officials deemed the situation had reached ‘critical safety levels.’
Last week, demolition crews commenced their work as the cliff’s edge had encroached to just three feet from her patio and was a mere 15 feet from the house itself.
Demolition workers moved on to the site last week when the edge of the cliff was left just three feet away from the edge of her patio and around 15 feet from her house.
The demolition was initially delayed by high winds and the presence of a bat which was spotted flying out of a roof space, leading to an environmental assessment.
But a tracked digger moved on to Mrs Flick’s driveway yesterday and began smashing down the corner of her beloved home, which was built in 1928.
88-year-old Jean Flick (pictured) in the garden at her home in North End Avenue, Thorpeness, Suffolk, as demolition begins on her clifftop home at risk of falling into the sea
The local council have sent a demolition squad to tear down her beloved four bedroom detached house
The house teeters on the edge of a 25 foot high sandy cliff made worse by recent stormy weather
One of the workers on the site said: ‘It is understandably quite upsetting for her. She has gone away somewhere with her daughter so she does not have to see it.’
Mrs Flick had bought her home with her second husband in 1999 for a fresh start after the death of her first husband from cancer.
The couple lived happily in their idyllic home called The Warren, enjoying spectacular views over the North Sea until her second husband also tragically died of cancer.
The house in North End Avenue which was bought for £395,000 could today be worth between £1.15m and £1.72m if it were not in danger of falling off the cliff, according to a valuation by property website Zoopla.
Mrs Flick has now moved in with her daughter Frances Paul, a retired retail worker, who lives in a bungalow opposite her doomed house.
She said coastal erosion had worsened in recent years, causing a six bedroom house two doors down to be demolished in 2022.
The property called The Red House which was built in the 1920s was owned by former Ipswich Town director Richard Moore who rented it out for holiday accommodation for thousands of pounds a week.
Mrs Flick’s immediate neighbours spent ‘hundreds of thousands of pounds’ in 2021 on shipping in more than 500 giant rocks weighing three tonnes each and placing them at the bottom of the cliff to protect their home.
Pictured: Jean Flick (right) with her late husband on the beach below their home in 2013. The couple had bought the home in 1999 for a fresh start following the death of Jean’s first husband from cancer
Pictured: Jean Flick with her daughter Frances (right), 60, in the garden of her home. Jean was told that once the cliff edge was within five metres of her home, the 100-year-old building would have to be demolished
An aerial view shows the receding cliff edge, which is now around 15 feet from her house and three feet away from her patio
One of the workers on the site said: ‘It is understandably quite upsetting for her. She has gone away somewhere with her daughter so she does not have to see it’
The DIY sea defences has so far saved the house next door, although waves are now eating away at the exposed area of cliff behind the rocks.
Mrs Flick’s fears that she could lose her home mounted when her stretch of coastline was ‘really ravaged’ ravaged by Storm Babet in October 2023, and a section of her garden wall crashed down on to the beach below earlier this year.
In a desperate bid to save her property, she tried to secure planning consent for rock-filled cages called gabions to be placed at the foot of the cliff to slow the erosion.
But Mrs Flick and her daughter were told that heavy machinery to build the self-funded sea defences would not be able to access the base of the cliff.
A member of her family said she did not wish to make any comment about the demise of her home following the decision to demolish it.
But speaking last month when there was still some hope that her house would remain until next year, she said: ‘We were more or less told nothing will be done and we can’t do anything.
‘We’ve had the chap round to look at the demolition, and… he says we’re more or less at the end. It’s a case of wait and see, hope the tides are not high and they’ll review it again in the new year.’
She added: ‘If nothing is done, if it comes within five metres of the house it will be pulled down. No compensation, we have to pay for it to be pulled down and my heart will just break because it’s my home.
Jean said coastal erosion had worsened in recent years, causing a six bedroom house two doors down to be demolished in 2022
Jean (pictured flicking through family photo albums) has been left ‘heartbroken’ by the demolition of her home, where she had hoped to stay for at least one more winter
Pictured: signs warning of unstable cliffs along the picturesque Suffolk beach. Jean’s neighbours spent ‘hundreds of thousands of pounds’ in 2021 on shipping in more than 500 giant rocks weighing three tonnes each and placing them at the bottom of the cliff to protect their home
‘I know a lot of people have this problem (on) the coast and I sympathise with them because until it happens to you, you don’t realise the emotion that goes into the fact you’re going to lose your home.
‘Without any compensation, where do you buy a house with nothing? Your home is gone and it’s just devastating really.’
Mrs Flick’s house originally had five bedrooms, before one was turned into a sitting room for the sea view.
Thorpeness has a Shoreline Management Plan which rules that its coastline is suitable for ‘managed realignment’, meaning measures might be permitted to slow erosion down, but not stop it.
Mark Packard, cabinet member for planning and coastal management on East Suffolk Council, described the loss of Mrs Flick’s home as ‘extremely depressing’ and extended sympathy to her and her family.
He added: ‘There is an impending issue with erosion in Thorpeness. It’s terribly sad for the family and really difficult to deal with. But there is a sort of inevitability with the sea because this piece of land sticks out.
‘Our main attitude, in the end, is to let the sea do its business and make sure people are taken care of instead. It’s very difficult to train the sea to do anything it doesn’t want to do.’
A spokesperson for East Suffolk Council added: ‘There has recently been significant erosion at the northern end of Thorpeness and [we are] working closely with residents so that they are aware of and understand their erosion risk.’
The village of Thorpeness was developed as a fantasy holiday resort by Scottish playwright and barrister Glencairn Stuart Ogilvie who inherited the surrounding estate in 1908 and was a wealthy friend of Peter Pan author JM Barrie.
The seaside village with a large artificial boating lake, complete with Peter Pan-inspired islands, was officially opened in 1913.
