Will making millions be child’s play for Pippa?
THE Duchess of Cambridge’s parents famously made millions from a mail-order business selling hats, balloons and decorations for children’s parties.
Now Kate’s sister Pippa Middleton and her financier husband James Matthews are following in their footsteps by developing their own childfriendly tourist attraction just a stone’s throw from the Middleton family home in Berkshire.
James and his business partners plan to splash out £800,000 transforming a rundown petting zoo and deer park called Bucklebury Farm into an indoor play barn for children and expanding an existing barn to include a cafe and farm shop with outdoor seating.
The couple may already have come up with their name for the new venture. In November I revealed they had registered a company called Pippa’s Playground.
James, 46, who runs Mayfair investment firm Eden Rock, bought Bucklebury Farm last March and is the joint owner with his partner, James Murray. Pippa, 38, can be regularly spotted in a wax jacket and wellies overseeing things at the farm.
Plans outlining their vision say visitor numbers will be capped at 400 a day, and that the venture will inject £2.3million into the local economy. Murray and the farm’s manager, Oliver Shute, have presented the plans to parish councillors and permission is expected to be granted soon.
Pippa’s mother Carole set up Party Pieces from her kitchen table in 1987 while pregnant with her third child, James. She started out preparing party bags for Kate’s school friends and it grew into a multi-millionpound business.