Casa Nueva
Resident: William Grundy.

This tied cottage belonging to Home Farm, Casa Nueva was christened by newlyweds William and Emma Grundy. Newly appointed (head) gamekeeper to the joint Home Farm, Berrow Estate and Grey Gables shoot, William was offered the place for residency back in 2004 just before his wedding. His [soon-to-be] wife, Emma, was not keen at first because the previous occupancy of the cottage ended traumatically.

Greg Turner, the former gamekeeper, took his life with a shotgun in one of the sheds on the Estate after his live-in girlfriend, Helen Archer, walked out on him.

The late George Barford (also a gamekeeper) presented the newlyweds with a hand-carved “Casa Nueva” sign upon their return from a hurricane-free honeymoon in Cancun, Mexico.

Prior to Greg’s occupation in 1998, the cottage had been the home of shepherd Sammy Whipple and his wife, Joan, who only departed after a court case and Brian’s ‘bribe’ of £15,000.

The ‘curse’ of the cottage continued when, in 2005, Emma left William to live in a caravan with brother-in-law, Ed.