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The Sun
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
I ditched city for a hidden historic town where houses cost as little as £4K & pints are cheaper than a Tesco sandwich
PERUSING the offerings on sale, Kiki Delichte weighs up her options. A nice vintage one-off for £3,451 that would need a little restoration work, or she could fork out another £700 for a larger piece with fewer flaws. 7 7 But Kiki isn't perusing eBay for a vintage designer bag but rather she's house-hunting for her dream home in Italy. The 28-year-old moved across the world to renovate a 600-year-old medieval home – because house prices in her hometown had 'sky-rocketed'. Kiki was stunned by the local property market when she came across the tiny Italian town of Mussomeli online where historic homes were going for 'the price of a handbag'. The 28-year-old snapped up a 17-room pad for just £22,800, (€27,000) – a fraction of the estimated £367,000 ($500,000) one closer to home would have cost, and has been restoring it ever since. Despite involving a move across the world to a place she doesn't know a soul, Kiki is embracing the challenge full-heartedly, throwing herself into renovations. 'It started as a bit of a wild idea,' Kiki, who works in fashion PR, says . 'I had always seen news stories about cheap homes but never seriously considered it.' Kiki, who is originally from Canada, had been living in LA and quickly found the city overwhelming. 'I'd been living in the city for years, surrounded by constant pressure to chase a version of success that didn't actually fit me,' she says. 'Life felt expensive, overstimulating, and still a little soulless. Reality star quits UK for new life abroad less than a year after shock split with her fiancé 'I experienced a lot of loss and pain, and eventually, when I finally picked my head up and really looked around, I realised I wasn't living in a way that felt true to me, and I wasn't even sure why. 'Then I came across this tiny Italian town where you could buy a historic home for the price of a handbag. 'It wasn't some carefully calculated life plan, it was a gut feeling that there was a richer, more grounded way to live.' Kiki soon found her future home, which she says cost just a fraction of the price of what a house would cost in the US - playing a huge role in her decision. Kiki says: 'I'd been living in LA for over a decade and the real estate market there is laughable. 'Even in Canada, prices have skyrocketed. 'I was working hard, doing well, but owning a home, let alone a dream home, always felt just out of reach. 'I couldn't justify spending half a million dollars on something that didn't feel special. 7 7 7 'Then I realised that for a fraction of that I could own a literal piece of history. 'The math just started to make sense in a way that North America never did.' At some points she was paying £1,830, ($2,500), a month for a one-bedroom apartment. She explains: 'That didn't include parking or peace of mind. 'Nor with castle views and cobblestone charm. 'Rent felt like a monthly punishment for staying somewhere I wasn't thriving. 'It wasn't sustainable long-term, financially or emotionally.' But it was not only the price that influenced Kiki who was looking for a change of pace when it came to her lifestyle. She says: 'In LA, everything felt like a rush — fast food, fast fashion, fast success. 'In Mussomeli, time feels expansive. 'I'll be cooking more, walking more, talking to neighbours, hosting dinners instead of scrolling. 'My daily life will be rooted in connection, creativity, and calm. 'I'll still be working and creating, but from a place that nourishes me. It's not about slowing down completely, it's about being intentional.' So far she has spent £42,185 (€50,000) on renovations to the 600-year-old pad. She says: 'This is a historic home, the kind of place that reveals new surprises behind every wall. 'To me, this isn't just a house, it's an experience, an art project, a home base for my future, and a way to live life a little differently. 'So I'm more than happy with the investment. 'I'm building a spa with a jacuzzi and sauna, and full bar, because if you're going to bring a home back to life, why not make it a little magical?' Kiki estimates that the total will land somewhere around £101,250 – £118,140, (€120,000 – €140,000). She adds: 'I want it to feel like the ultimate home for peace and tranquillity. 'A place where I can bring all my loved ones together and experience something special and rare. 'It is the kind of place that feeds your soul and makes you feel at home the second you walk inside. 'I'm also building a library as an homage to the home's previous owner, a Sicilian scholar and professor. 'It felt only right to preserve that legacy and create a space where books, ideas, and conversation are front and centre.' Kiki now splits her time between Sicily, LA and Canada while renovations continue, but she is almost ready to move in full-time. She estimates it'll save her around £2,200, ($3,000 a month) once renovations are finished. She says: 'Rent alone is already eliminated. 'Groceries, utilities, dining out, everything is more affordable here.' And she's not wrong, according to local prices you can expect to pay around £3.40 for a pint, less than most supermarket sandwiches. Kiki says that another benefit is that she no longer has to pay for holidays. 'I don't need to pay to escape chaos, I just step outside and I'm in a 14th-century fairytale,' she says. 'This house felt like a chance to take something forgotten and make it beautiful again. Italy's €1 house scheme Depending on the region, a number of towns and villages across Italy have offered the cheap €1 properties to encourage people to move to the area. There are around 25 regions who are taking part, each with a number of properties. Many of the areas have a dwindling or aging population and hope to build the community again. The properties range from small houses to larger villas, but are all in a very rundown condition. The conditions for buying each property also vary, but the majority of them need large renovation works which are part of the scheme 'There's a kind of romance to that.' And to anyone else looking to take a leap of faith, she says that 'life doesn't have to follow the script'. She got the keys to her new home in January, started renovating in March and is moving in next month to do the finishing touches. Kiki, originally from Winnipeg, Canada, says: 'You don't need a five-year plan, a perfect timeline, or anyone's permission to build a life that feels good. 'I bought an old, crumbling house in a tiny Sicilian town with no real plan beyond: this feels right. 'And it's led to more freedom, joy, and community than I could have imagined. 'The life I've built here feels amazing.' For work, as of now - she is continuing her career in fashion PR. She adds: 'But once my home is completed I plan to start a business here. 'What business exactly, I'm not entirely sure, but I have a few ideas that I'm working on. 'I'm just healthier mentally, physically, and spiritually than I ever was in North America. 'It's truly remarkable what this town has given me, and the version of myself I've been able to return to because of this journey.' 7
Telegraph
16-06-2025
- General
- Telegraph
‘I accidentally printed thousands of photos of my colleagues': The most embarrassing office stories
We all have a bad day at the office from time to time, whether it's accidentally cc-ing your boss into an email you really didn't want them to see, or a printer that can smell fear. But some people's workplace mistakes are a little harder to bounce back from. We're talking potentially career-ending fiascos – from evacuating the entire office to throwing thousands of pounds' worth of jewellery in the bin. So if you've really messed up at work today, at least you can take comfort in the fact you're not alone… One man's trash… I had just started working at a top fashion PR company and one of our clients was a very high-end jewellery brand. They had sent us some really fine gold and diamond chain necklaces – worth around £3,000 – to be worn by a celebrity on a shoot. The jewellery was delivered to the showroom and had been signed for by an intern, but then we lost track of it. It was getting closer and closer to the shoot date and we still couldn't find the necklaces, so I thought I'd tidy up the showroom in the hope they would turn up. I remember finding a little jiffy bag-type envelope, giving it a feel and thinking there was nothing inside, so I chucked it in the bin. We ransacked the whole office and it was only when we checked CCTV days later that I realised what had happened – I'd accidentally thrown the jewellery away. I was so embarrassed I quit the job soon after. I still think about those necklaces lying in a landfill site somewhere because of me. – Adrian, 31, London Size matters I was working as an assistant to a wedding planner and we had spent months planning a client's wedding at a big stately home in the middle of nowhere. She had requested 100 white, double-handled vases, filled with white lilies, to be placed throughout the venue, and I had finally managed to source these within the budget which was no mean feat. On the day before the wedding, everything got unloaded and the boxes from the website which I'd ordered the vases from arrived and were checked off the list. It was only on the morning of the Big Day that my boss suddenly asked me where the vases were. 'In those two boxes over there,' I replied. As I spoke, I realised that the boxes did seem extremely small to contain 100 vases. I opened them up with dread and dug through mountains of bubble wrap before realising my mistake. Yes, I'd ordered 100 white, double-handled vases. They just happened to each be 3cm high. I laugh about it now but at the time I actually cried about it. – Alycia, 37, Leeds Snack attack I was working on a big summer campaign at a tech company where they had lots of perks, including a room where you could help yourself to free snacks. Or so I thought. One Friday night my family was driving to Cornwall and I thought 'Oh great, I'll stock up on snacks for our road trip'. I went to the snack facility and grabbed loads of chocolate bars, crisps, fruit, drinks – I really went for it. People even had to open the doors for me because I had so much food in my arms that I couldn't open the doors myself. Smiling happily to myself, I stuck it all in my bag and thought nothing of it. But on Monday morning I had a mortifying email from a very senior boss at my company – the global head of marketing – saying people had 'observed' me 'taking an unreasonable amount of snacks'. I was totally snack-shamed! I felt like I could barely show my face there again and never really recovered from the embarrassment. I now know that when people say 'Help yourself!' they don't always mean literally. – Lotte, 43, London Face off I had been trying for years to get into the music industry and had just landed a job as a PA to a big exec at a massive record label. I would often entertain my housemates with stories about some of the eccentric people that worked in my office, and they begged me to show them what they looked like. This was before the days when everyone had a social media profile to stalk, so one day I logged on to the company intranet, and tried to print a couple of headshots of my colleagues. But I must have pressed the wrong button because I ended up printing out the pictures of everyone in the entire company. Thousands of people's faces were flying out of the printer in the middle of the office, with no way of stopping it. I was madly panicking, trying to get rid of them all, but the printing job was linked to my email. My boss came over to my desk and said 'Why are you printing out everyone's photos?' I couldn't think of a single reason why someone would do this, so I very meekly said 'To show my friends?' I didn't last long in that job for some reason. – Malcolm, 45, Brighton What a balls up It was the summer of 2010 and I was the new boy on the news desk at a national newspaper. On the Friday night in question I had been in the office since 7am and was running on empty. Part of my job was to write short captions for pictures that came in late, and that night it was a photo of a woman at the Big Chill music festival. Keen to get out of the office, I turned to Wikipedia and did a bit of copy-and-paste to fill up the caption space. I forgot all about it until Monday morning, when it turned out I'd failed to realise that the Wikipedia entry had been hacked and I'd blindly copy-and-pasted that 'The Big Chill was founded in 1994 as the Wanky Balls festival in North London'. The mistake went viral. 'Reading and Leeds? We'd rather go to Wanky Balls Festival' read the headline in NME, #wankyballs was trending on Twitter, and the poor photographer had to issue a statement that the caption was nothing to do with him. I was mortified. But I later heard that a north London pub had plans to put on a real Wanky Balls Festival. I'm not sure if it ever happened. – Simon, 43, London Hold the line As a web designer I've had a few major clangers over the years. The worst was probably when I was still a junior and I was dealing with the senior manager of one of our clients. She was being extremely aggressive and rude on the call and midway through discussing a design brief she said 'Give me a second' and appeared to put us on hold. I turned to the colleagues who were sitting next to me and told them both what a massive pain she was being, and it was only when I eventually paused for breath that I heard a cough on the other end of the line. My blood ran cold – she'd heard everything. Things got even more shouty after that. – Alex, 38, Kent Dress to unimpress When I was in my early twenties I was working as a buyer's assistant at House of Fraser. Just before a big presentation, I was ironing all the clothes to make them look pristine and I managed to burn a huge, iron-shaped hole straight through the back of one of the key dresses. I spent the whole meeting praying no one would turn the dress around. Miraculously, I got away with it! – Stacey, 37, London First day from hell During my first day at my first 'proper' job as a receptionist at a big recruitment company, I mistook the MD's wife for his daughter in front of the whole office. Even when he corrected me I refused to believe him and thought he was joking. Then, during my lunch break, I put some bread in the toaster, forgot all about it, and set the fire alarm off. The whole building, with multiple companies and hundreds of people, had to be evacuated. Thankfully things improved a bit after that. – Isabel, 49, Surrey Some names have been changed
Telegraph
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
I've just turned 60 – this is how I look ten years younger
It took me a while to join the tweakment party, but last year, just before turning 60, I dove head first into the world of collagen stimulation, cell rejuvenation and semi-permanent make-up. As a fashion PR and Instagrammer I've always been nervous about trying any kind of tweakment as I didn't want to look as if I'd had anything done. My generation remembers Leslie Ash's injectable mishaps and the stigma around frozen foreheads and overdone faces only too well. The aesthetics industry has moved on since those alarming days and there's so much great work out there now. Fortunately for me, the rise of the invisible and natural looking tweakments coincided with the time I was beginning to seek them out. My first foray I first took the plunge at 57, with the tiniest sprinkle of 'baby' Botox. We'd just come out of lockdown, I needed to rebuild my fashion PR business, and look my best. On a daily basis I was putting myself out there on social media and running Instagram workshops. Public speaking had become a new part of my business. I didn't want to look drastically different, just a better version of myself. As I approached 60, I was self-conscious about my age and I hid it from everyone. I started noticing deeper wrinkles, more pronounced marionette lines, and darkening under-eye circles. Although Instagram filters and FaceTune became my allies for achieving a polished look, I didn't want to be someone who looked great on social media but unrecognisable in real life. Instagram had opened up a vibrant world of creativity and a bunch of fabulous new friends. Many of them, in their late 40s, had embraced tweakments like Botox, Profhilo, lash extensions and fillers. They looked great on it, and I thought, 'why shouldn't I?' View this post on Instagram A post shared by Marie-Louise Maxwell (@mrsmlmode) One doctor told me that I had left Botox too late. That my facial muscles would be too weak and rather than Botox lifting my eyes, it would push my forehead down and give me hooded eyelids. So I sought a second opinion at The Cosmetic Skin Clinic in London. I saw Dr Matthew Jarvie-Thomas who recommended carefully placed baby Botox on my smile lines around my eyes, between my brows and at the top of my forehead. So I had the tiniest splatter. The results took a few days to appear and were fantastic. My frown lines almost disappeared and my under eye wrinkles were faint. It was a subtle and natural result and the compliments flooded in. 'Your skin looks amazing! What have you done?' This was my entry into the world of tweakments. Four years later, I've tried a few, all aimed at looking a better version of myself. I feel more confident during client meetings, fashion launches, industry events, and influencer gatherings. I no longer use FaceTune or Instagram filters, to hide my age. When I turned 60 last summer, I had a new-me attitude and started to make a virtue of my age on my Instagram. While my confidence fluctuates, like most people, my career is thriving and I navigate life with my head held high. The tweakments I tried (and what they cost) The 'grow your own face-lift' Sculptra is a bit like growing your own face lift via bio stimulating injections that creates a lift, not with fillers, but with your own collagen. It appealed to me because the results are very natural looking and it is recommended for droopy jowls and pronounced marionette lines, which I had both. It works by stimulating the skin's natural collagen production and restores volume, gently lifting around the jawline and cheeks. I went to see Dr Jarvie-Thomas. He recommended treating the temple, as this was where I'd lost volume and it would help with my skin quality. It took about an hour, and while the procedure does involve 20 minutes of numbing cream and a series of injections, I found it only mildly uncomfortable. There is no down time either, so I could go on to my next meeting no problem. For the following five days, you have to massage five times a day for five minutes to prevent any lumps or nodules from forming beneath the skin. And then, very subtly, I started to look better, more youthful and my skin more vibrant. You need two sessions though, approximately 4-6 weeks apart. The results, take three months to work, and can last up to two years. My verdict Sculptra is priced per syringe, at £425. I had two treatments in total, bringing the overall cost to £850 – but the results can last for up to two years. Because it works by stimulating your body's own collagen production, the effects develop gradually, creating a natural, long-lasting lift. The treatment left me looking fresh, youthful, and noticeably more vibrant. It's a worthwhile investment: the results are subtle yet visible, with a real lifting effect around the jowls. Baby Botox Sprinkles start from £215. It's important to find the right practitioners, so better to spend a little more to get someone that comes with a strong track record. A good investment, lasts for at least 6 months. Eyebrow 'tailoring' Finding a great brow artist to define the arch will open the eyes and lift the whole face. Brows are so good for providing structure to the face, but as we age they get thinner, shorter and more droopy. I tried microblading four years ago, and ended up with comical Groucho Marx style brows. Fortunately they did fade and now, finally I've got great brows thanks to Shavata Singh, in Harvey Nichols, who undid the old work. She is a master in creating the ultimate sexy siren brow, which is more feminine, refined and designed to open up the eyes while lifting the entire face. It had been four years since my brow blading mishap, and although the tattoos had faded, they were still somewhat visible. Shavata recommended removing the old tattoos and reshaping my brows with her unique micro-blading technique of delicate feather strokes and precisely plotted shapes. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Marie-Louise Maxwell (@mrsmlmode) TikTok is inundated with stories of botched jobs, leading to a high demand for removal services such as this. The tattoo removal process was quite straightforward. She numbed my brows with ice and then zapped away the old pigment with a laser. You can slightly feel it burn but it only takes a few minutes. The healing process involves some itching, and tiny scabs that take a week to heal. I needed two sessions to completely remove the old tattoos and then had to wait a further six weeks before the new microblading could be done. At my next session, with my brows fully numbed, Shavata and her skilled assistant, Cody, carefully mapped out the ideal shape. I requested high arches to open up my eyes and achieve a feminine, natural look – and that's precisely what I got. The downtime was minimal; I just had to avoid getting them wet for a week. So I cleansed with micellar water and wore a brow guard when I showered. The results are exactly what I was hoping for. I now have the perfect sculpted brow, with high arches that lift my face and open up my eyes. Maintenance is minimum, you just need a tidy up every 4 to 6 weeks My verdict Removing old eyebrow tattoo blading costs £300 per treatment (I needed two sessions). Eyebrow blading starts from £800 to £1000, depending on the practitioner's experience. Shavata offers an 'Erase and Refresh' package for £1500, which includes both removal and new blading. This is a fantastic investment if you're looking to reshape your eyebrows. The key is finding a practitioner who understands how to create the perfect shape for your face. The results last at least a year, and you'll save on salon eyebrow shaping too. I now maintain the shape at home, but I'll head to Shavata for threading every few months. I highly recommend this – my eyes look more open, and the new eyebrow shape has lifted my entire face. The laser removal was a crucial step for me, so it's essential to do your research and decide on the shape you want beforehand to avoid going through the 'Erase' laser removal process. Shavata Singh, 125 Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7RJ The 'fish sperm' facial It may not sound particularly inviting, but with celebrities like Jennifer Aniston swearing by the treatment, I was intrigued to see if a 'fish-sperm' facial could help me achieve my skincare goals. It promises impressive benefits, such as reducing under-eye bags, smoothing the upper lip and minimising fine lines, all leading to youthful, radiant skin. Several of my friends have tried it, and their complexions looked so dewy and youthful that my curiosity was definitely piqued. I decided to consult Dr Paris, a highly recommended expert in aesthetics at her new clinic, The Ardour, in Marylebone, London. The 'fish sperm' facial is more formally known as the Polynucleotide treatment and uses DNA derived from salmon-trout. This procedure offers numerous benefits, including deep hydration, cell regeneration, skin repair, anti-inflammatory effects and the stimulation of collagen and elastin production, all of which help strengthen the skin barrier. After applying numbing cream to my face, Dr Paris administered the treatment using a cannula, delicately infusing the polynucleotides into the middle layer of my skin, including the under-eye area, my top lip and my neck. It takes about half-an-hour, and you need three treatments spaced six weeks apart, with visible results starting to appear 12 weeks after the first session. The results have been nothing short of remarkable. For the first time in forty years, I feel confident enough to leave the house without foundation. The transformation is both striking and natural; in fact, my mother even remarked over Christmas that I didn't look much older than my 24-year-old daughter. While I'm sure she's biased, these tweakments have truly helped turn back the clock. With a renewed sense of vitality, I'm now on track to make my 60s my best decade yet. My verdict For the Polynucleotides, I needed three treatments, each costing £450, bringing the total to £1200. This treatment promotes cell regeneration and enhances skin quality but doesn't add volume, which is why I also opted for Baby Botox. If I had to choose between Sculptra and Polynucleotides, I'd go for Sculptra. The results are more noticeable and last much longer. It really depends on your goals – Sculptra provides more structure and lift, while Polynucleotides is ideal for skin rejuvenation.
