Sickening! RBS chief's very own Versailles: opens his gardens to the public who bailed out his bank [View all]

[stockholmer]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2137090/Inside-RBS-chiefs-Versailles-Hester-opens-gardens-public-bailed-bank.html

He has received at least £35million since joining the beleaguered Royal Bank of Scotland in 2008. But while the taxpayer-owned bank continues to record hefty losses, Stephen Hester’s personal spending on his lavish 350-acre estate continues unabated. And yesterday some of those taxpayers who helped bail out his bank got to see exactly how the chief executive is spending his riches.

Mr Hester invited the public to see the manicured grounds of his £7million home, which would not look out of place at the Palace of Versailles. He has hired some of the best landscape gardeners in the country to turn Broughton Grange into ‘one of the most significant private contemporary gardens in Britain’, in the words of one expert. In rolling hills outside Banbury in Oxfordshire, the country pile boasts an outdoor heated swimming pool, two tennis courts and two horse paddocks. However, the real jewels of the estate are the huge variety of spectacular gardens which are tended by a team of eight landscaping experts all year round.

The rare chance to tour his estate, advertised through the Royal Horticultural Society, comes three months after Mr Hester, 51, was condemned over his £963,000 bank bonus. He finally waived his right to it after a huge public outcry. Days later RBS recorded its fourth year of losses since its £45.5billion bail-out by the taxpayer in 2008. It posted losses of £2billion – but still paid out £785million in bonuses to staff. Visitors to Mr Hester’s estate were carefully vetted by staff at The Lodge by the main gate – the £6 entrance fee goes to charity – before being sent down a long tree-lined drive to the main house. Since being used as a farmhouse in the 17th century, a number of buildings have been added to create a quadrangle where dogs and ducks are allowed to roam.

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