Nestled within the picturesque panorama of England’s countryside, this charming rustic cottage gives a tranquil escape. Surrounded by seven acres of vibrant wildflower meadows and plush woodland, the world is alive with the flutter of butterflies and the swish flight of swifts, swallows, and bats.
This spacious retreat can comfortably accommodate as much as six company and is listed on Airbnb beginning at £250 per night time. The house owners reside in a separate dwelling on the premises, prepared to help if any points come up throughout your keep.
Nonetheless, potential guests would possibly discover it intriguing that the itemizing omits a major element concerning the property proprietor: Chris Langham, a former BBC character and convicted intercourse offender, is behind this rental. Langham gained fame on the comedy sketch present “Not The 9 O’Clock Information” and later by means of his position within the political satire “The Thick Of It.”
In 2006, shortly after receiving a Bafta for his portrayal of the hapless Labour minister Hugh Abbot, Langham confronted authorized troubles because of expenses of sexual offenses.
He was convicted on 15 counts of downloading indecent photographs, together with disturbing content material involving the rape of an adolescent and the abuse of an eight-year-old youngster, and was sentenced to 10 months in jail.
Simply days after profitable a Bafta in 2006 for his position in The Thick Of It as bumbling Labour minister Hugh Abbot, Chris Langham was in court docket on intercourse offences
The yy-year-old former BBC star’s house in Kent, which is now accessible on Airbnb from £250 an evening
Though launched after serving simply three months at Elmley Jail in Kent in 2007, Langham’s once-promising appearing profession successfully got here to an finish.
He made a number of abortive makes an attempt to work once more, starring in two low-budget movies, however they each bombed, and former associates and colleagues, together with casting administrators, shunned him. Rejected by the showbiz world and out of labor, Langham went to floor, retreating from the general public eye to his massive household house in Cranbrook, Kent.
And, because the Every day Mail can reveal, he’s nonetheless there. Maybe extra remarkably, he’s nonetheless with Chrissie, his theatre director second spouse whom he had so publicly humiliated.
In addition to standing by him throughout the court docket case, she later supported him financially when his appearing work dried up. Now the couple have grow to be Airbnb landlords.
The cottage they let was beforehand a house for Langham’s mother and father, Helen and Michael, in order that they may very well be near him of their outdated age. However Michael, additionally an actor and director, died in 2011, whereas Helen died in 2018, leaving the property empty.
So Langham and Chrissie – finest identified for her work on the West Finish present Cats – determined to let it out on the favored app. The cottage is described as: ‘A comfy, gentle and spacious conventional oak-framed constructing with a minstrels’ gallery and a full peak residing space. Standing in seven acres of personal grounds, on the trail of an historic however now forgotten travellers’ means [it] is surrounded by meadows, orchards and woodland walks.’
Footage of its rustic inside have been posted together with transient biographic particulars of Langham, who’s described as a filmmaker, sailor and a ‘superhost’ (a extremely rated Airbnb property proprietor).
An image of a smiling Langham sporting a cap is accompanied by the outline: ‘Born: within the 40s; I’m obsessive about: My boat.’
The cottage has a ranking of 4.98 out of 5 and has generated 256 critiques, nearly all constructive, whereas Langham’s response fee to enquiries is listed as ‘100 per cent’.
The couple dwell in the principle home, which Airbnb company are warned is ‘out of bounds’.
Langham’s working life is now stated to revolve round managing the property. When he’s not targeted on the cottage or grounds, he’s identified to frequent a neighborhood gastropub and a store from the place he picks up most of his provides. A brief drive away is a marina the place he retains a ship which he takes out on the English Channel.
One native informed the Every day Mail: ‘He’s a stunning man, at all times smiling and really humorous. I don’t know a lot about his previous, solely that he was an actor and was as soon as very well-known. Most of his time now’s spent operating the cottage. It’s extremely popular with loads of company and it’s busy all yr spherical.’
One other resident stated: ‘He’s a genuinely good man. I believe he’s paid the value for what he did. You possibly can’t proceed to punish somebody for his or her errors. And given what went on, he’s in all probability higher off being an Airbnb host than returning to showbiz.’
Certainly, even earlier than the scandal that ended his profession, Langham by no means discovered fame simple.
After being picked as a joke author for Spike Milligan and The Muppet Present, Langham made his break on Not The 9 O’Clock Information in 1979 – earlier than he was dropped due to his extreme ingesting.
He was changed by Griff Rhys Jones for the second sequence, a blow which noticed him spiral right into a cycle of drug and alcohol habit. After checking into rehab and attending Alcoholics Nameless, Langham landed his main position in The Thick Of It – for which he was hailed a ‘genius’.
However then the whole lot got here crashing down. Weeks after season two had aired, Langham was arrested by Kent Police on November 29, 2005, accused of downloading youngster sex-abuse photographs – together with ‘stage 5’ materials, probably the most excessive class.
Langham argued in court docket that he’d downloaded the graphic materials as a part of analysis for a task as a intercourse offender within the BBC sequence Assist, which he wrote and starred in alongside Paul Whitehouse.
He additionally informed the jury he wished to observe photographs of kid abuse as a result of he’d been raped by a household buddy as a teenager, and wished to know extra absolutely what he’d gone by means of.
Throughout the police investigation, allegations emerged that he had groomed and repeatedly abused a 14-year-old woman who’d come to see him within the musical Les Misérables a decade earlier – however he was acquitted of those expenses.
The choose had insisted: ‘Paedophilia isn’t a problem on this case – you aren’t a sexual predator.’ However a senior policeman who’d investigated Langham insisted to reporters exterior court docket that he nonetheless thought the actor was a paedophile – an impression which has lengthy caught within the public thoughts.
Langham has two youngsters with Chrissie and three together with his first spouse, actress Sue Jones-Davies. All are understood to have stood by him regardless of the scandal, as did his mother and father, and Langham’s youngsters nonetheless often go to him.
A buddy stated: ‘In a wierd means, it introduced the household collectively as a result of all of them went by means of a horrible time. They’re nonetheless very protecting over Chris and have gone by means of so much, nevertheless it’s made them very shut and loving in direction of one another. It’s been a tricky few years for Chris however he’s acquired loads of peace of thoughts, and I believe he now enjoys the quiet, nation life and operating his Airbnb.’
When approached by the Every day Mail, Chrissie stated that Langham didn’t want to discuss his previous and his life at this time as an Airbnb host.
