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THE DAMBUSTERS HERO WHO REFUSES TO SELL HIS HOME...FOR £10MILLION

Jack Holsgrove likes his view in Poole and refuses to move

Tuesday January 15,2008

By John Chapman

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AS you would expect, veterans of the Dambusters raid are not easily swayed once they make up their minds.

So widower Jack Holsgrove hardly gave it a second thought when he was offered £10million for his home.

He likes the view, thank you very much, and is perfectly content to stay put.

For Mr Holsgrove, 86, has a five-bedroom property at Sandbanks in Poole, Dorset, the fourth most expensive place in the world to live.

His neighbours include celebrities, sports stars and tycoons. The seafront view looks out over the world’s second largest natural harbour after Sydney.

The people next door recently sold their property for £12million, the most expensive so far in Sandbanks, where a quarter-acre plot of land alone can fetch £5million.

But Mr Holsgrove says no amount of money would persuade him to sell up. “Why would I ever want to sell and live somewhere else?” he said yesterday.

“No amount of money could buy that view again. I’ve had agents promising millions and millions, but I’m just not interested. What would I do with £10million?

“They could offer me £50million but I won’t change my mind. My granddaughters love coming on holiday here, they’d kill me if I sold up.”

Mr Holsgrove was based with the RAF’s 57 Squadron in Scampton, Lincs, in the Second World War.

He worked with Barnes Wallis on developing the release mechanism for the bouncing bombs which severely damaged Germany’s industrial heartland in the Dam-busters raid.

After a career as a property developer, he bought his two-storey 1930s house on a quarter-acre beachfront plot, one of the best locations on the peninsula, in 1972 for £60,000 – a substantial sum back then.

It has four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a dining room, a kitchen, two sun rooms, an office and a one-bedroom penthouse on the roof.

There is space to park 10 cars, plus a double garage and the sandy beach is literally a stone’s throw from the back door. Mr Holsgrove, who lives alone after his wife Pauline died 10 years ago, has a son Stephen, 48, a software engineer, and three granddaughters – Rachel, 19, Rebekah, 17, and Alice, 14.

He said: “This is one the most wonderfully relaxing parts of the world. We were still swimming in the sea just before Christmas the weather was so nice. I’m sure the prices will calm down one day. Either way, I’m more than happy where I am.”

Robert Dunford, partner in local estate agents Tailor Made, estimated that Mr Holsgrove’s plot of land alone could fetch nearly £5million.

He said: “Getting a true value on these properties is extremely difficult as there are perhaps only 30 or so that actually sit on the beach.

“This is probably the only place in Britain where you can have your own exclusive stretch of coastline right outside your back door.

“Because of that, most of the owners are very similar to Jack – even if I was to offer them £15million they would still turn me down.

“Sometimes when viewing a property I’ll be with the owner on the beach, looking at that glorious view, and you know they would be mad to move. They could never replace it.”