Today, the widow of the late Sir Terence Conran found herself unexpectedly entangled in a dispute involving Pippa Middleton and the ongoing battle over footpath access on her £15 million estate.
Pippa Middleton, sister to the Princess of Wales, along with her husband, hedge fund manager James Matthews, are currently embroiled in a conflict with The Ramblers, a leading British walking charity. The controversy revolves around the right to use a path on their historic Barton Court property in Berkshire.
The decision by the couple to install a gate on Mill Lane, effectively blocking access for walkers, has sparked allegations of ‘dividing the community’ in the charming village of Kintbury. They argue that the closure addresses concerns over security and privacy.
Local residents, however, express frustration, noting that they’ve used the path for generations to access the village center safely, avoiding the hazardous Station Road, known for its blind turns and lack of pavements, where cars speed by at 60 mph.
Villagers recall that the estate’s previous owner, the late Sir Terence, allowed the path to remain open, treating it as a public thoroughfare. Some accuse Middleton of leveraging her sister’s royal connections to justify restricting access for ramblers.
Ms Middleton, 42, and Mr Matthews, 50, who live with their three children, bought the sprawling 145-acre estate for £15m in 2022, and soon installed electric gates and signs reading ‘Private: No Public Access’ and ‘No Trespassing’ at both ends of the path.
They argue Mill Lane has never existed as a public footpath and there has always been signage pointing out it was private property.
And Sir Terence’s wife Lady Victoria Conran, who lived in the estate from 1992 until 2022, came out in support of the royal-related couple on the second day of a Planning Inspectorate hearing held in the village.
Lady Victoria Conran was seen speaking to Mr Matthews today before coming out in support of the couple
Pippa Middleton and her husband James Matthews are at war with a group of local ramblers over access to a path on their estate
Mill Lane sits on the couple’s Barton Court estate – linking a public footpath with a busy main road
She claimed she only saw a single person, a woman with a pram, walking the route in her decades residing at the property and told her estate manager to warn her she was on private land.
She told the inquiry: ‘I was not aware of anyone regularly walking on the drive between Station Road and the footpath.
‘In the 30 years that I lived at Barton Court, I only ever saw one person using the driveway who should not have been there. She had a pram. I saw her on a few occasions and asked David Hill for it to be made clear that she was not permitted to use that route.
‘This occurred towards the end of my time at Barton Court. Suffice to say, I never observed any organised groups of ramblers using the driveway.’
Lady Victoria was earlier seen mingling with Mr Matthews, who sat with his legal team and was not accompanied by his wife for the hearing at Kintbury Coronation Hall, which was packed out with more than 40 villagers.
During a tense examination, she claimed she had ‘never heard anything referred to, until today, as Mill Lane.
‘The public footpath was the obvious and preferred route for the public to use.’
Lady Victoria clashed with Emma Rowland, representing the ramblers, who questioned if she was certain her estate manager had warned walkers against using the route.
Mr Matthews attended the opening of the Planning Inspectorate inquiry held at Kintbury’s village hall – unaccompanied by his wife (pictured on Wednesday)
The first day of the inquiry was well attended: 35 locals have opposed Ms Middleton and Mr Matthews’ plans to close off Mill Lane
Asked if her memory of it was clear, Lady Victoria replied: ‘I’m more than 70 years old… it’s not 100 per cent all the time. This is a weaselly question.’
She also conceded that she may not have been able to see people using the pathway when she was inside her home.
But some villagers claim they have used the path for generations and fear the only alternative route is the dangerous Station Road.
Neil Pike, 72, the local ‘footpath secretary’ for ramblers, told the inquiry Mill Lane was ‘intrinsic’ to life in Kintbury.
‘Until recently, I have never known Mill Lane to be closed for any reason,’ he said.
‘In all the time I have been footpath secretary, no one has reported to me that they’ve been stopped or turned back while walking along Mill Lane.
‘If Mill Lane is removed from public use, then Station Road is the only alternative and does not bear thinking about.
‘I do not understand why the present owners are trying to close it when it has been used by the walking public for decades.’
Barton Court estate in Berkshire is the £15million home of Pippa Middleton, sister of the Princess of Wales, and her ex-racing driver husband
Catherine Graham Walker told the inquiry she has walked the route for years and ‘never spoke to anyone’ who suggested she could not use the road or that she needed permission.
‘If they clearly signalled it, I would have respected it.’
Resident Charles Robins said: ‘At no time have I ever been told not to use the route. It has always been an intrinsic and vitally safe connection to the existing footpath
He said it is ‘only a matter of time before a fatal or serious accident with pedestrians on Station Road’.
‘I don’t quite understand how restricting use of the road would improve privacy or security,’ Mr Robins said.
Meanwhile, Tony Vickers, a local Liberal Democrat councillor, said he had never used Mill Lane as it was not a designated public path, but said he understood locals preferred it to walking on the main road.
He told the Daily Mail: ‘The path has been used for generations but money talks.
‘The Middletons are not well-connected with the community. There’s a sense they’re splitting the community.
Pippa with sister Kate at Wimbledon in 2019. Locals have appeared to suggest that she is using her older sibling’s royal connections to justify cutting off access to Mill Lane
‘There are a number of very wealthy anti-ramblers but ordinary people and people who like walking would like to see it open.’
Another resident of 20 years said: ‘We have so many famous people living around here – footballers, other celebrities, they don’t make a fuss.
‘They come here to live in peace, like we all do. Apart from the Middletons.
‘I understand they think they’re important but Conran was important too and he didn’t make a fuss and impose himself on us.’
Paul Wilmshurst, the barrister representing Mr Matthews, said in a written submission that declaring the path a public right of way would ’cause very real practical [and] privacy difficulties and security issues’.
He said: ‘The route is over land, which, at all material times, has formed and has had the local reputation as being the private drive to the house at Barton Court.’
The Matthews were supported by life-long Kintbury resident Anthony Stansfield, who said in his own written submission: ‘I have never met the new owners. But I can quite understand their concerns about this.’
Another former resident told the Mail: ‘No one has ever walked there’. They claimed it is ‘nonsense’ that it has been used for generations.
The couple rejects any notion that the estate’s previous owner allowed locals to pass (pictured: a ‘Private Property’ sign on the estate
Ken Taylor, the Government-appointed planning inspector, said questions of privacy and security were outside of the scope of the inquiry – suggesting Ms Middleton’s royal connections will hold no sway.
Instead, the decision will be made based upon the law as it stands on public rights of passage.
Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, a private path can be claimed as a public right of way if the public has had 20 years of ‘unfettered access’ prior.
But Mr Wilmshurst said this was not the case, as the rail bridge on the Avenue was closed for six months in 2016 so it could be replaced, and that the estate’s gates were locked around eight years ago after being damaged by a lorry.
A spokesperson for Ms Middleton and Mr Matthews disputed claims that Sir Terence allowed locals to use Mill Lane as a right of way.
‘For as long as records exist, there has never been a footpath or public right of way on the land currently under discussion,’ the spokesperson told the Mail.
‘For decades past there has always been signage pointing out this is the driveway to a private property, with no public access. There are other clearly marked footpaths nearby.
‘Contrary to media reports the previous owners at the property from as far back as the 1970s, did not allow public access to the land under discussion. It has always been private property.’
