Lonely lord continues lovehunt

An eccentric lord who placed a lonely hearts advert to find a “lady” today met a woman from the Arctic circle.

David Piper, the 54-year-old Lord of the Manor of Warleigh, near Plymouth, received more than 1,600 replies to his advert in the International Herald Tribune 18 months ago.

He has organised a boat cruise this evening for would-be ladies to get to know him as his quest for love continues.

Among the women who will be on board is 44-year-old anthropologist Leslie McCartney, who has recently relocated to London from the Canadian Arctic Circle.

She wrote to Mr Piper after hearing him interviewed about his advert on Canadian radio station CBC Radio.

They exchanged letters and gifts – although because she lived 750 miles from the nearest post office, mail often took three months to arrive – but only met for the first time today.

Mr Piper said: “We haven’t had much chance to have a chat properly, but she’s a fun person.”

He will also meet a woman from London on his charity cruise up the Rivers Tamar and Tavy, past the Warleigh estate.

First prize in an on-board raffle is a night in a newly-refurbished Plymouth hotel which is offered “on the basis that it can come with me or not with me”, he joked.

Mr Piper, a divorced father of four, sold his Warleigh Estate last October for an undisclosed sum, although he has retained his title and several acres of land.

He has already met more than 30 women as a result of the advert he placed in November 2002 for a woman aged 25 to 35 of “independent means”.

It read: “Eccentric Lord of the Manor, 52, seeks attractive 25 to 35-year-old entrepreneurial, intelligent, professional of independent means to become his Lady of Warleigh.

“Mutual interests should include a catholic taste in music, the arts, travel adventure, English humour and fun.” Even now he receives a few new letters from interested women every month.

Romance failed to blossom with Rosaura Cappelleri, a real estate agent who sold her home in the United States to relocate to Devon in order to meet him last August.

But while the estate with its 71-roomed mansion house and outbuildings has been sold, the lonely lord’s search for a lady continues.

He said: “I was flattered by the number of responses. One will just see what happens.”