For roughly 1,000 years, Barton Court Estate has occupied a prominent place in the Berkshire countryside, encompassing a 32-room Georgian mansion, 145 acres and a section of one of England’s most celebrated chalk streams.
When Pippa Middleton, sister of the Princess of Wales, and her husband James Matthews, the billionaire hedge fund manager, assumed responsibility for the historic estate, they pledged to restore its rural character.
“Recognising the importance of preserving its ecological heritage, the estate has embarked on ambitious initiatives to rehabilitate its landscapes and promote biodiversity,” its website states. “By harnessing the power of nature, we are committed to fostering a harmonious balance between human activity and the natural world.”
Yet while the language is reassuring, some residents believe the couple have struggled to achieve that promised balance.
Even historian Sir Max Hastings, who lives locally and is not known for indulging in village gossip, recently wrote: “In country life, it is prudent to rub along reasonably peaceably with the locals. In our corner of West Berkshire, much local gossip focuses on Pippa Middleton and her husband. Other snippets rattle around, alleging stingy tipping, more-royal-than-the-royals behaviour. None of this makes the family entirely beloved.”
In Kintbury, the picturesque village surrounding the estate, a series of planning disagreements has increasingly strained relations between the owners and their neighbours.
To borrow the logic of Oscar Wilde’s famously quotable aristocrat, one dispute might be unfortunate; two begins to look like carelessness.
Locals say Pippa and James Middleton have not been seen much around the village recently
The couple purchased Barton Court for £15.5million in 2022 after the death of former owner Sir Terence Conran
The latest dispute came to light last month, when the couple had to remove a car park constructed on a water meadow beside the River Kennet.
The field was traditionally known to villagers as the summer pasture of Monty and Drummer, two shire horses that once pulled barges along the nearby Kennet and Avon Canal. About the size of a tennis court, the hard-standing area was created without planning consent and was intended to accommodate six cars.
In November last year, the estate applied to West Berkshire Council for retrospective approval.
The application drew objections from residents, who said they were “shocked” to discover that part of the approach to the village had been converted into a private parking area for anglers paying as much as £325 a day to fish the river.
“The hard-standing itself, viewed in isolation without anything on it, is already an eyesore,” one objector wrote to the council. “The water meadows provide a unique beautiful approach to the village with pleasant views on [the] side of the road. The hard-standing is a brutal interruption of the bucolic scene.”
Another resident said the retrospective application demonstrated a “disregard for both the law, and the village and villagers of Kintbury”. A third questioned why the car park had been placed there when other parking was available on the estate.
“Ample parking already exists on the Barton Court estate, including immediately adjacent to the driveway entrance, within 350 metres of the fishing facilities,” they wrote.
“In summary, this application is to move unsightly parking out of the sight of the applicants’ own entry to the Barton Court estate to the detriment of the residents and the heritage of Kintbury.”
Council officials rejected the proposal, describing the car park as an “urbanising” and “visually intrusive feature” within a “highly sensitive rural landscape”.
The estate appealed, arguing that angling — and the parking required to support it — was vital to the “running of and upkeep of the estate”. A government planning inspector has now dismissed that appeal, concluding that the development harmed the surrounding landscape.
The inspector also questioned how significantly removing the facility would affect the estate’s finances, noting that no supporting financial evidence had been submitted.
Mr Matthews founded Eden Rock Capital Management in 2001 and is heir to Scotland’s 10,000-acre Glen Affric estate. His fortune is estimated at £2billion. He and Pippa bought Barton Court for £15.5million in 2022, following the death of its previous owner, British designer Sir Terence Conran.
Some villagers remain unsympathetic. One 78-year-old local man told The Mail on Sunday: “They have an attitude that they can do what they want because she is the sister of the future Queen of England but they want all the perks with none of the sense of duty.”
Locals in Kintbury are divided over how welcome the Matthews are in the village
The car park built by Mr Matthews has caused friction among locals
“They say they need it to help with the costs of running the estate but that’s just rubbish when he is worth £2billion. And I walk here regularly and never see anyone fishing.”
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Laura Says Brand ‘Brainwashed’ Her Into Believing He Was Innocent
An employee at a local pub, who asked not to be identified, added: “She doesn’t think she needs permission to do anything but she came unstuck with that one.”
The same parishioner also raised another longstanding disagreement: the dispute over public access close to the couple’s home. Referring to Sir Terence Conran, who died in 2020, he said: “Conran was OK. He didn’t have any problems with people using the footpaths or setting foot on his estate. It’s a big enough place so you should be generous.”
That argument began soon after Pippa and James arrived in Kintbury, when they installed electric gates operated by a keypad. Signs stating “private” and “no entry” were placed across a section of surfaced track that the couple said formed part of the private driveway to their house.
However, residents — including 35 members of the West Berkshire Ramblers — insisted the route had long been a public right of way and had been used regularly since at least the 1960s.
They argued that the track was an important connection to another public footpath crossing the estate, linking outlying parts of the village with its 12th-century church.
The closure, they said, forced walkers to use Station Road, a route heavily used by HGVs and delivery vehicles and lacking a pavement.
Amid claims that 43-year-old Pippa Middleton’s royal connections were being cited to support security restrictions, the ramblers applied in January 2023 for the route to be formally recognised as a public footpath.
The car park was laid on the field where Drummer the shire horse would be kept in summer
Mr Matthews, 51, opposed the application, arguing that the route had not been used openly and without permission for the 20 years required under the law. During a public inquiry in May, the father of three told the hearing: “There are implications for my family, due to their high public profile, which means there is a need for a higher level of security than would otherwise be the case.”
Ken Taylor, the government-appointed planning inspector, initially told the couple that privacy and security concerns could not be used to justify blocking the track.
But in September he found there was not enough evidence to establish that walkers had used the route freely and overturned its proposed designation. Some villagers, however, remain unwilling to put the dispute behind them, referring to continuing “ill-will and residual anger”.
One resident told the MoS: “I didn’t like the way they closed off the gate, which people had been using for years. That was an aggressive move, in my opinion. It wasn’t hurting anyone and it was necessary because you can’t walk down Station Road itself because it’s far too dangerous.”
“The car park may not look like much but if you have spent your life here then it’s something you notice straight away,” she added. “It’s completely out of keeping with the area.”
Since James and Pippa took over Barton Court, the estate’s fishing operation has also been revamped. In January, it promoted the venue on a fly-fishing forum, inviting trout anglers to see “significant improvements”. The post added: “This year we’ve also added a brand-new shepherd’s hut, purpose-built for fishermen, along with a new car park.”
That car park has now been removed. The couple themselves also appear to have become less visible locally, with residents saying they have not seen them in the village recently.
That may be understandable given their young children and demanding schedules. They are reportedly frequent visitors to Pippa’s parents, Carole and Michael, who live about 30 minutes away. The family also has links to St Barts, where James’s parents, David and Jane, live.
Not everyone in Kintbury takes a negative view of the couple. A 72-year-old pensioner walking her dachshund said: “Honestly, people will say anything to have a go at them. It is extremely unfair. They have massively improved the land that they own, they have trimmed the trees and hedges and made it all a lot safer for walkers.
“They employ a lot of people to manage the land, all of whom are extremely polite to walkers like me. I honestly can’t fault them. And to say they don’t get involved in village life is an outright lie.
“My husband and I sat next to them in the church last Christmas. Ms Middleton does the Kintbury 5k run every year. I’ve seen her swimming in the river. You see the children, who are beautifully mannered and always say ‘Hello’ by the way, out on their bicycles…”
“People compare them to Terence Conran but it’s not a proper comparison. He was never here, for one thing, he didn’t have a young family and he didn’t have the same security concerns. I’m afraid it is down to jealousy.”
Beryl, an 85-year-old resident, was equally baffled by the reaction to the car park. “It’s a tiny little patch of a watercress meadow right next to the road and opposite two other car parks so what’s the fuss about? All they did was to put some gravel down – it wasn’t even concrete.
“I don’t understand why people have to be so nasty. They are a lovely family. I hear people say it was better when Terence Conran was there but I remember summer parties going on until 3am with the [music] keeping us all awake.”
If Sir Terence himself, despite spending almost five decades at the estate, could fall out with local residents, the prospects of immediate harmony for its new owners may be limited — royal connections notwithstanding.
Additional reporting: Ross Slater
