By Mal Butler
“It was the stupidest thing I have ever done. It was mad. It was wilful.” Quite a statement from a man approaching 90.
Broadcaster, author and journalist, Hunter Davies, is sitting on board his 1898 Dutch Barge, which is moored in the Duver Marina. He has lived on it with partner, Miranda, for a year and explains why he decided to buy it in the first place.
Hunter said: “I had a house in Ryde for four years but it was two streets from the front. A couple of years ago, I thought I would like a sea view. Miranda and I had been to the Ventnor Fringe and, on the way home, we saw three houses for sale, but there was too much noise from the road.
“The estate agent had another one around the corner and this was also for sale. So, within three weeks I had paid cash and bought it without a survey!”
The following 12 months have been a series of ups and downs and will form a new book, ‘Argy Bargy’, which he is currently writing and will be published next year.
The 110ft barge weighs 100 tons, but is spacious and has two double bedrooms, living room, kitchen and an office which Hunter can work from. But it came with problems and he said: “We moved in last September and along came winter with a series of setbacks. First of all, the heating packed up and it was freezing. I started to regret it immediately and we had to get a new boiler.
“I also wanted to get the Lamborghini engine working and we had a mechanic come to get it going, but £1,000 later, it still wouldn’t work. Having said that, it would have caused all sorts of problems getting it out of the marina and we would need a pilot to sail it!”
However, once April came, things started to look up. Hunter said: “We’ve had an amazing summer; every day here is different.
“We are surrounded by wildlife and boats come and go all the time; it’s amazing how many people we meet living on a barge. And the views are magnificent; when we look across, we can see Bembridge Fort and Culver Monument.”
Artist, Miranda, who is also a published author, having written her own memoirs ‘My Name is not Matilda’ and, in the distant past, helped build a trimaran and sailed across the Atlantic in it.
She adds: “Hunter mistakenly thought that as I had sailed the Atlantic, I would know everything about an 1898 barge!”
As well as telling Hunter and Miranda’s story of the last 12 months, the book will also include a series of interviews he has done with both the locals and visitors to the harbour.
It is one of two books he is currently working on. He is a close friend of Sir Paul McCartney, and is the only person who has written an authorised biography of The Beatles. His new book, entitled ‘Get Back: John, Paul, George, Ringo and Me’, will feature the lives of the young Beatles growing up in council homes in post-War Britain and is a social history of the time.
So Hunter has plenty of work on as we move into another winter, when the landscape around him will change again.
I ask him if he is looking forward to the coming months, and he replies: “I still have a house in London; I think I will stay there for the winter!”
Isle of Wight Observer