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An elderly spinster has turned down the opportunity to make £2 million ($5.4 million) in her personal battle to keep celebrities and owners of second homes out of her picturesque village.
Isobel Waterhouse, 71, donated four cottages in East Portlemouth, Devon, to the newly formed Waterhouse Trust to provide affordable rented housing for young families in the village recently listed as the sixth most expensive place to buy a home in Britain.
Miss Waterhouse, whose grandparents bought the cottages after World War I, said: "I was born here and I should hate to see this village die. If we are not careful and we don't do something, I believe it will die. Local people cannot afford to buy in the village so we lose our local people and our young families growing up. I'm doing it because I hope that other people will enjoy the places that I have and for young families to grow up in this magical place."
The pensioner has been feted by villagers who have grown increasingly weary of wealthy Londoners snapping up all their best properties.
The village on the Salcombe Estuary has become a haven for rich yachtsmen, media personalities and celebrities. Jonathan and David Dimbleby both have homes there as do pop stars Kate Bush and Damon Albarn, royal correspondent Jennie Bond, comedian Rik Mayall and BBC sports presenter Steve Ryder, and Michael Parkinson is a regular visitor.
The school and shop have closed and Miss Waterhouse is determined to save what little is left of village life, instead of pocketing as much as £500,000 for each of her four cottages.
- Independent
