Couple demand refund on £3m country home after travellers move in next door

A couple are demanding a refund on their £3m rural home after travellers set up a caravan site next door. Jamie and Eda Pierce claim the sellers lied to them when they bought the five-bedroom property – which has a tennis court, stables and a helipad – in 2022, and have asked for their money back. Three years after the Pierces moved to Pootings, a hamlet near Crockham Hill, Kent, a group of travellers arrived with trucks and excavators to set up camp next to the property. Mr and Mrs Pierce, aged 50 and 51, claim they were victims of 'fraudulent misrepresentation and deceit' when they purchased the property. They claim that Paul and Elizabeth Nott, who sold them the home for a discounted price of £3.15m – less than the original asking price of £3.395m – knew that travellers were planning to set up camp on the site. The Pierces say they specifically asked during the sale whether the Notts knew of 'any plans to alter, develop or change the use of any neighbouring land within a quarter of a mile' of the property. They say they were told that the Notts had no knowledge of any plans. But the Pierces have allegedly uncovered a series of emails that indicate Mr Nott was involved in a campaign to head off travellers trying to buy the land in the summer of 2021, according to reports. The Pierces have now filed a High Court claim against the Notts. They are seeking the return of the £3.15m, along with damages for deceit, interest, and expenses including legal fees and stamp duty. The Notts were emailed by a neighbour about 'suspicious' people coming to see the land in 2021, according to legal documents seen by The Telegraph. Mr Nott allegedly offered to buy the farm with another local 'to protect the plot from unwanted development', but the offer was rejected. He was said to be a founder member of the Pootings Residents' Association, which was set up to fight the development after the land was bought by Patrick Delaney, who was said to have links to the traveller community. Jonathan Seitler KC, representing the Pierces, wrote: 'Had the defendants not made the false representation and had instead confirmed that the owner of Seasons Farm [the adjacent land bought by Mr Delaney] was likely to have and to make development proposals, the claimants would not have purchased the property. 'They had no intention of purchasing property which was adjacent to land used by the travellers' community.' In July last year, Mr Delaney sold the land to four traveller families, who converted the area into a caravan site during the August bank holiday. The travellers were served a High Court injunction, but the majority of the works were already completed and families were in the new homes. In May this year, the group was found to be in contempt of court for defying court orders, by continuing to work on the site. The case follows an apparent increase in unauthorised traveller developments, which are often set up in a similar manner during bank holiday weekends, when councils are slower to respond to unauthorised construction. According to government figures, there were 4,950 unauthorised caravans reported in the January 2026 count, an increase of 934 (23 per cent) since January 2025. Of these, 4,335 were reported on unauthorised developments on land owned by travellers. Lawyers representing the Pierces and the Notts have declined to comment.