As the maker of hit gangster films such as Snatch and Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, Guy Ritchie knows a thing or two about rancorous disputes.
But the director’s been left bemused by claims made about his brewery by an organisation led by Doc Martin star Martin Clunes.
The British Horse Society, of which Clunes is president, has ridden into the dispute with Ritchie by publicly objecting to his plans to redevelop a derelict building on his farm in Wiltshire.
He wants to ‘create a new brewery store and bottle store’, but Clunes’s society fears that this will stop its members using a popular riding track nearby.
Director Guy Ritchie (right, with wife Jacqui Ainsley) has been left bemused by claims made about his brewery by an organisation led by Doc Martin star Martin Clunes (left)
Speaking for the first time about the row, Ritchie tells me: ‘I don’t quite know what’s going on here.
‘Yes, we’re building an extension to the brewery and no, we’re not moving any bridleways.’
The Gritchie Brewery Company has produced real ale since 2017 on the 1,000-acre estate at Ashcombe House, which he secured as part of his acrimonious divorce settlement from Madonna in 2008.
He is now happily married to former model Jacqui Ainsley and has five children.
A map showing the proposals for an expansion, which the BHS fear would block a riding pathway, filing an objection to Wiltshire Council, with a decision to be given in the summer
Ritchie says: ‘I live in fear of upsetting The British Horse Society, and nothing makes me happier than seeing a pony trot by while I am enjoying a fresh pint of Gritchie’s IPA.’
The film-maker, who is in lockdown with his family at Ashcombe, would be happy to settle the dispute over a drink with Clunes, who made his name in the BBC sitcom Men Behaving Badly.
‘I’d be delighted to donate a couple of cases to Mr Clunes’s beloved organisation, in order to smooth over any misunderstanding,’ he tells me.
Wiltshire Council is expected to give its decision in the summer.
Cate Blanchett’s terrible hair day in Streetcar…
Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett suffers for her art.
The 51-year-old, who is in lockdown at her mansion in East Sussex, reveals she suffered from sudden hair loss while playing tragic Blanche DuBois on stage in A Streetcar Named Desire.
‘My hair fell out,’ she says. ‘We were meant to go to Broadway with it [but] I just had to go home. I think it was the stress.’
Despite her success, the actress lacks confidence.
‘When someone tells me: “I’ve seen you in such and such,” the first thing that comes out of my mouth is: “I’m so sorry.”’
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s children won’t be short of playmates when the lockdown is lifted.
I hear that Prince George’s godmother, Emilia Jardine-Paterson, has given birth to her first daughter, Lucia. Married to renewable energy boss David, with whom she has two sons, Emilia was at Marlborough College with Kate.
Meanwhile, Wills’s close pal Bear Maclean is also celebrating an expanding brood. His wife Daisy Dickson has given birth to their third son, Arlo.
The smart set’s talking about… Lady Margarita’s milestone
With Prince Harry and Meghan having quit royal duties, ‘the Firm’ could do with some bright young recruits.
So how about Princess Margaret’s only granddaughter, Lady Margarita Armstrong-Jones (right) who reached adulthood on Thursday when she turned 18?
The daughter of the Earl of Snowdon and his estranged wife, Serena, Lady Margarita is a sweet-natured and fun-loving teenager who was bridesmaid to Kate Middleton when she married Prince William at Westminster Abbey in 2011.
She’s inherited the creative and enterprising genes of her carpenter father, founder of upmarket furniture company Linley, and mother, who opened a Chelsea shop selling products using lavender from Provence, where they have a French holiday home.
To prove it, the teenager has been showing off online the silver jewellery she makes by hand, as well as her photography skills. ‘Margarita enjoys appearing on the balcony at Buckingham Palace and other state occasions, but has her own ambitions,’ says a friend.
Perhaps she’ll take after her celebrated grandfather, Lord Snowdon, and become a photographer?
(Very) modern manners
With barbers shut, Rory Bremner’s wife, Tessa Campbell Fraser, was alarmed that he was already looking more unkempt than one of their horses.
So she took drastic measures at their home in Oxfordshire and rummaged in the grooming kit that their teenage daughters, Ava and Lila, use for their ponies.
‘Tessa decided that enough was enough and used some pony hair clippers,’ Bremner tells me. ‘Actually, she’s done a good job.’ That’s the mane thing.