“First the housing allowance provided does not match the cost of housing in Oxford so you are forced to share too small of a space with too many people. This is even worse for those who have families as it is hard to share.”
“From the family point of view, you know no one else at the school, so unlike living on a military base there is no support community.”
“You are looked down upon by the socialists which dominate the colleges. You can handle that, but what you can’t handle is the difficulty you have in arranging for tutors because of this bias. There is also the cost of the tutors when you factor in the housing costs.”
“Not as critical but it would be nice to have a place where you could meet as a group and study or have a beer together.”
They all agreed those were the high points of the problems faced.
“My job is to relay these findings to each of your services and they will try to come up with solutions. From what I can see, you will all have graduated by then. I will be looking for other solutions.”
We finished up, I paid off my two young ladies who appeared to be having a good time with all the young men at their disposal. I asked if either of them typed. One, Susan, did, while the other girl was only interested in having a good time. Susan and I exchanged contact information and she agreed to type up all the information collected.
There would be a long list, individual cards on each person. Later it would be broken out by rank, nationality, school, etc. I asked her how much she wanted and she thought it would be worth a twenty quid. I had no problem with that. I hoped she did a good job as I would need services like this in the future.
The eight men agreed to meet here again on Saturday afternoon so I could update them on progress.
The next morning I stopped at a realtor’s office. This one specialized in commercial projects. I described what I was looking for.
“It looks like you need to buy a college!”
“Are any for sale?”
“As a matter of fact yes, there is Farmington Hall, it was going to be a for-fee college, one of those that people would pay a bomb for their children to attend so they could say that they went to Oxford. The scheme went bankrupt and now the Bank of Scotland is stuck with the property.”
“What size is it, and what shape is it in?”
“It was built to house three hundred students, two to a room. It has a kitchen, bar, study hall, and library with the usual Porter’s office setup. There is a nice yard in front and several outbuildings with a maze in the back garden.”
“It sounds good, how long has it been empty.”
“It was never occupied but has been sitting for two years. The bank has a caretaker living on the property so it should be in decent shape.”
“May I inquire as to the asking price?”
At that point, a door opened from the inner office.
“Price, must I tell you once more not to waste time on people who can’t afford properties.”
“Sir he isn’t wasting time.”
“Just who are you?”
“Sir Richard Jackson on a project for the Ministry of Defence.”
“Oh that’s different, how may I help you?”
“Price here is doing a good job I will stay with him.”
“All right but if there are problems I can step in.”
Price spoke up, “Yes Dad.”
Price, which was his first name, and I got back to business.
“The bank is asking five million for the entire property but would probably take less. They thought one of the real schools would snap it up, but they don’t seem to be in the market this year or they think the longer they wait the price will come down.”
“Let's go take a look.”
It wasn’t far so we walked over. The place was huge. I could see why it failed; someone had tried too hard and spent a fortune to make it fit in with the five-hundred-year-old buildings surrounding it. Both inside and out were fantastic.
Even with this ancient look, all the modern hookups were there, unlike the true older buildings electric lines and water pipes were built in behind the walls rather than attached to the exterior with iron brackets.
All the dorm rooms were set up for two students each. They were large comfortable rooms that would be easy to live in. The common areas were furnished. This place was move-in ready. I met the caretaker and he came across as solid and competent. I asked him if he was planning on staying on.
“If the new owners will have me, I would like. My wife and I live in a little cottage out back which suits us just fine. She was going to be working in the Porter’s Lodge when they opened. I don’t know what will happen now.”
“I’m going to make an offer on this place, if it is accepted I would like both of you to stay.”
He looked at me like I was crazy, a kid of my age, buying a place like this? No way. He didn’t say anything but his face showed it.
I asked Price if we could return to his office so I could make several phone calls. This was where being in the UK worked to my advantage. I was able to get through to Jackson Enterprises. Speaking to Jim Williamson I told him to have whoever did our real estate deals to buy the property known as Farmington Hall.
I gave him Price’s
