Helena Bonham Carter’s Four in a Bed star cousin sued after guest breaks back at glamping resort
An aristocratic couple with glampsite appearances on television Four in One Bed A claim for more than £700,000 has been filed after a guest broke his back due to a zip wire in his luxury dormitories.
Guy and Alison Lubbock, a branch of the Bonham-Carter family and relatives of actor Helena, run Adhurst Yurts, a boutique, off-grid glamping operation set on 500 acres of land surrounding the former family headquarters at Grade II-listed stately home Adhurst St Mary, near Petersfield, Hants.
Higher-class dormitories cost £500 for a weekend and feature “hygge” interiors with claw-foot baths, iron beds and sun loungers, while available activities at the resort include zip lining, as well as bespoke bushcraft, fly fishing and wild dining activities.
But the couple are now being targeted with legal action after a father-of-two fractured his spine while playing on a rope rope with his children in Adhurst in October 2022.
London recruitment consultant Jonathan Sharpe, 36, is seeking compensation of more than £700,000 and claims his life and career have been badly affected by the injury, which he says caused him to fall “on his ass” when his rappel rope broke.
But lawyers for the glampsite owners are arguing passionately over the amount of compensation Mr Sharpe is seeking, despite admitting fault in the accident.
Mr Sharpe’s lawyers say in documents filed at London’s High Court that he paid £1,100 to stay at the “glampsite” with his two young children, having pre-booked the holiday for July 2022.
“On October 20, 2022, the plaintiff was at the campground and using the zip line with her children,” the documents state.
“The plaintiff used the zipline, as did her son, who was five years old at the time. The plaintiff then went on the zipline with her two-year-old daughter, and as she was getting off the zipline platform, the zipline broke. The plaintiff fell off the platform onto her hip.
“As a result of the incident, the plaintiff suffered an L1 burst fracture. He has been experiencing psychiatric symptoms and pain since the incident.”
A burst fracture involves the collapse of one of the vertebrae that makes up the spine in more than one direction.
The L1 vertebrae, located in the middle of the back above the kidneys, are one of the most common places for burst fractures due to their location at the transition from the rigid thoracic spine to the more flexible lumbar spine.
Mr Sharpe, of Ashvale Road, Tooting, is now suing the couple for over £700,000 in damages for his personal injuries, with his lawyers saying “the plaintiff submits that the facts surrounding the incident speak for themselves”.
Mr Sharpe is also suing the couple’s commercial insurers, NFU Mutual Insurance Ltd, with his lawyers claiming the insurer made an “admission of liability” via email on March 6, 2023.
Mr. and Mrs. Lubbock and their insurance company confirmed in their joint defense of the case that liability for the accident was accepted.
“It is accepted that the claimant suffered some injury as a result of the accident, the nature, extent and prognosis of which are disputed,” they added, further insisting that it was the wooden handle of the zipline that broke rather than the rope itself as Mr Sharpe claimed.
“The claim that the zipline broke was rejected. The cause of the plaintiff’s fall appears to have been the failure of the wooden handle, which was found to have broken after the accident. The zipline remained intact at all times.”
Mr. and Mrs. Lubbock’s attorneys also vehemently dispute the effects of the injury on Mr. Sharpe and the amount of compensation sought; They say this includes claims for around £10,000 for post-crash first class travel to Australia plus £108,324.85 for “future holidays and entertainment”, based on Mr Sharpe’s claim that due to his injury he must now fly first or business class rather than economy.
“It is expressly denied that the costs of first-class travel to Australia could reasonably be attributed to the accident,” the defense said.
“The claimant is not deemed to have any accident-related need for business class travel.”
Mr and Mrs Lubbock are also contesting several of Mr Sharpe’s other claims, including £171,017.60 for future care and assistance, £92,555 for future childcare, £66,598.20 for future gardening and £69,914.41 for future decorating and DIY.
“Plaintiff has started working full time again… It is unacceptable that Plaintiff was unable to return to all of his previous duties, including entertaining clients, due to the accident,” his lawyers added.
“It is not accepted that the plaintiff was at a disadvantage in the open labor market as a result of the accident.”
Adhurst Yurts management says on its website: “Located within the South Downs National Park, Adhurst is a 500-acre estate owned by the sixth generation of our family. We offer personalized bushcraft instruction, guided bird walks, basketry workshops, advanced fly fishing instruction and catered wild food events.
“Adhurst offers stylish, healthy and environmentally responsible holidays for everyone, from family groups to romantic couples, holidaying pets and nature lovers.
“Adhurst St Mary is the house built by our family in 1858 and occupied continuously by the family until they sold it in 1993. It sits like an island within the site but is separately owned and is accessed via a private drive.
“The Bonham-Carter/Lubbock archives are held both at the Hampshire County Archives and others are held privately at Adhurst Farm.
“Like our grandmother, Helen Bonham-Carter was born and died in this house. Helena Bonham-Carter is our cousin and never lived in this house.
“The property is approximately 500 acres, within which the grade 2 house is 30 acres. Seven families currently live in Adhurst St Mary house. In the First World War it was a military convalescent hospital and in the Second World War it was Portsmouth Girls’ School.”
The Bonham-Carter family has a long history, dating back to Parliamentarian John Bonham-Carter, uncle of Florence Nightingale, in the early 1800s.
Other notable members of the family include actor Helena, with whom she has two children, former film director Tim Burton, as well as Admiral Sir Stuart Sumner Bonham-Carter, who served in both world wars, General Sir Charles Bonham-Carter, former governor of Malta, and actor Crispin Bonham-Carter.
The family’s defense of the claim was recently presented to the court, but the case has not yet been listed for hearing before a judge.
