Inheritance Battle Over £7.5million Glamping Site: A Modern Day King Lear Tragedy

The battle over a £7.5million glamping site in Cornwall has turned into a modern-day King Lear saga, as a mother and daughter are locked in a high court fight over the family land.

Angela Heyes and her husband Neil moved from Surrey to Cornwall a decade ago with the promise that they would inherit Angela’s parents’ farm. However, following the death of Angela’s father in 2020, a bitter dispute has erupted over the ownership of the 60-plus acre site, which includes a glamping business with an on-site yurt.

The court case, which is expected to cost around £1m in legal fees, has been compared to a Shakespearean tragedy by Judge Paul Matthews. He described the proceedings as splitting a family and pitting a parent and two children against another child, much like the famous play King Lear.

Angela and Neil claim that they were assured by Angela’s father that the farm would be theirs one day and that he wanted it to stay in the family for future generations. They are now suing Angela’s mother under the legal concept of “proprietary estoppel” to enforce these alleged promises.

However, Angela’s mother, Sarah Holt, has refuted these claims, stating that Angela always knew she had not been promised the whole farm and that any future inheritance would have to be shared with her siblings. Holt argues that discussions about the couple’s future at the farm were always provisional and that there was no concrete promise made.

Despite the judge deeming the couple’s case as “weak”, he rejected Holt’s application for a summary judgment and urged the parties to settle their differences outside of court. Judge Matthews warned that the case could “ruin” Angela and Neil if it went to trial and they lost.

The ongoing legal battle over the glamping site highlights the complexities and emotional toll of inheritance disputes within families, leaving a tragic rift between loved ones over a multimillion-pound property.