Dorset Estaste Snapped Up

Description:

Airline Tycoon Snaps Up Encombe Estate

The Encombe Estate in the Purbeck countryside was put on the market in September last year for £25 million by the American merchant banker Charles McVeigh, who paid £11 million for it in 2002 and spent millions restoring it.

It is now reported that James Gaggero, a 49 year-old former officer in the Irish Guards, has paid £20 million to become only the sixth owner in it's 1,100-year history.

The Graggero's built their fortune operating an airline and ferries to the Moroccon port of Tangier. The airline, Gibraltar Airways, eventually moved to Britain as GB Airways and was bought for £103 million by easyjet two years ago. Gaggero's Bland Group of companies encompasses travel and hotel firms.

The 2,000 acre estate includes 60 acres of formal gardens, a swimming pool, three lakes and a Grecian-style temple. The house itself has thirteen bedrooms, a galleried hall, dining room with a double height ceiling and Victorian library with marble fireplaces.

Enscombe is considered one of the best pheasant shooting estates in the country. It has carp in ornamental lakes and also offers fishing for bass off its rocky coast.