A family this week arrived with their three caravans on development land in Liskeard and declared they want to buy part of the 'Bubble' site where they are parked, and the nearby derelict Grade 11 Listed Old Toll House. Pensioners David and Diana Winter, with 35-year- old son Carl, left almost 10 acres they own near St Keyne on April 15 after receiving a judicial notice telling them they must remove their residential caravans from the land by that date. They headed for the now disused road to Plymouth in Liskeard which unknown to them at the time, is on land owned by Concise Construction of Surrey. Mr Winter junior wrote to the company on April 13 inquiring about a purchase and adding: 'It is a shame to leave such an attractive area to the rats and pigeons.' Legal advice However, the head of Concise Construction, Tony Lawson, has already taken legal advice and the bailiffs visited the family yesterday. Mr Lawson also says that outline planning permission was recently granted for a new development on the 'Bubble' site and he has no intention of selling land to the Winter family, or anyone else. He has replied to the family telling them this. Carl Winter has written to owners of the Old Toll House itself, Michael and Gillian Griffiths, at a London address, which he says was given to him by the Land Registry Office. In his letter he says that as they appear to have held the title for more than 12 years, and done nothing with it, would they be prepared to dispose of it? His letter concludes: 'We would not be able to offer a great deal for the property, due to the large amount to be spent on restoration and our limited budget, but it is a shame to leave such a historic property to decay.' The chances of Mr and Mrs Griffiths ever receiving his letter are, however, slim because they have lived in the United States for some time. They have been in correspondence with Caradon District Council over the question of raising funds to restore the 1850s property, which must be done by law. Mr Lawson also confirms that his company is prepared to make a donation towards the preservation of the historic building, although he confesses: 'I can think of better ways of spending the money.' So, in a story full of misunderstandings and mix-ups, the Winters have no chance at all of buying even a little bit of the 'Bubble' site. The Winter family decided to live in Cornwall after selling their home in Kent two years ago, mainly because of Mrs Winter's poor health. They bought the gently sloping land at St Keyne because they felt it was the ideal place to establish an arboretum tree garden. Some of the exotic trees would have come from Africa, Australia, and Asia, with poly-tunnels needed to propagate them. Caradon District Council refused to give them permission to do this and other things, and they eventually had to leave their land, named Syke Grove, where they say they had been living happily. Mr Winter junior says if they could buy, say, ten acres at the 'Bubble' site this, combined with their St Keyne land, would put them in a different agricultural category and it might be possible to revive the tree garden plan. Mr Winter, who keeps impressive files recording the family dealings, says they chose to go to the old Plymouth road in Liskeard because it is unused and reaches a dead end a few yards beyond where the caravans are parked. His father, a former Kent taxi driver and security firm employee, says: 'If you want to call us travellers I suppose it is all right, because we have already been told to move on by the police, but where will we go?' Yesterday lunchtime five police officers accompanied a bailiff who served an eviction notice on the family ordering them to quit the site with their three caravans and a portable loo within 24 hours. A police spokesman said that had not been 'heavy-handed' and advised the family of other sites in the area where they could legally park.
