Heydoor residents claim their lives have been ruined by celebrity boot camp

Ex Royal Marine Craig Williams and wife Paula set up camp in Heydour
Charge customers up to £1,000 a week and have attracted celebrities
This has included Binky Felstead from Made in Chelsea and Calum Best
But residents in the Lincolnshire hamlet are angry about noise and traffic
Say it is ‘totally unsuitable’ for the hamlet and made their life ‘miserable’
Its planning application has been deferred and will be heard at a later date

Thomas Burrows for MailOnline

Published:
18:27 GMT, 18 December 2014

|
Updated:
20:03 GMT, 18 December 2014

View
comments

Well-heeled residents living in a picturesque hamlet have been ‘made miserable’ by a couple who set up a celebrity boot camp in the grounds of their £1million Grade II listed home.

Former Royal Marine Craig Williams, 37, and his wife Paula, 36, run the military fitness centre which has attracted the likes of Binky Felstead from Made in Chelsea and James Argent from The Only Way is Essex.

They charge customers up to £1,000-a-week for a course which includes gruelling Army-style circuits, Yoga and workshops on nutrition and diet.

Scroll down for video

Former Royal Marine Craig Williams, 37, and his wife Paula, 36, run the military fitness centre in the hamlet

The bootcamp, in the grounds of the couple’s Grade II listed home, has attracted criticism from neighbours

Residents have complained that the camp, set up last year, is too loud and creates too much traffic.

The bootcamp has attracted the likes of James Argent from TOWIE and Binky Felstead, from Made in Chelsea

But the couple have run into trouble with their neighbours in the quiet hamlet of Heydour, Lincolnshire.

They have received 27 letters of objection from disgruntled locals, who said music for the exercise blared from the site and that the camp creates too much traffic.

Obesity IS a DISABILITY, rules highest EU court after 25st…

South Downs crowned the most expensive National Park in…

The camp, which had its planning application deferred on Tuesday, said residents had been ‘hostile’ but they were working to resolve the issues.

Team Bootcamp opened last year in the grounds of Heydour House in the hamlet which only has eight properties.

Training days at the boot camp begin at 7am with a challenging circuit session followed by a punishing workout on the custom built obstacle course.

The intense training, which has been used by celebrities such as Calum Best, takes place over four hours each day.

Disgruntled residents have claimed the bootcamp in the grounds of the house has made their lives miserable

The couple charge customers up to £1,000-a-week for a course which includes gruelling Army-style circuits

Calum Best (pictured) is another celebrity who has attended the bootcamp in the quiet hamlet

Angry residents claim the boot camp has destroyed their quality of life.

Parish council chairman Michael Bromige, 79, who lives half-a-mile away from the boot camp, said: ‘The noise from the boot camp has been very intrusive, with music and shouted commands.’

Resident Andy Soper, who lives in neighbouring Oasby, said: ‘The hamlet comprises of our cemetery, church and eight houses.

‘It is an extremely quiet area and the cemetery has always been a place of peace.

‘There is a huge amount of intrusive noise from the boot camp, totally unsuitable for our small hamlet. It is upsetting for those visiting graves of loved ones.’

Paul Richardson, 53, who also lives in Oasby, added: ‘I just think it is the wrong place for something of that nature.

‘I don’t particularly like seeing the group coming round the village.

‘The building should be used for offices or something that doesn’t affect other people.’

Another resident, who did not want to be named, said: ‘I live within a very short distance of Heydour House and I have to say since the boot camp arrived my life has become miserable.

‘There was a time when my partner and I enjoyed the peace and tranquillity this area has to offer.

‘We both work hard and have been rewarded with a certain level of lifestyle which we are not ashamed about.

‘What we do not appreciate is our world being disturbed by what can only be described as a drill sergeant screaming commands to overweight people as they struggle to touch their toes.’

Despite the criticism, the couple are determined to carry on running the bootcamp from their home

Training days begin at 7am with a circuit session followed by a workout on the custom built obstacle course

The military-style camp in Heydour, near Grantham in Lincolnshire, is a regular haunt for TV stars

HEYDOUR HAMLET AND BOOTCAMP

Heydour is a picturesque hamlet mentioned in the Domesday Book. It is situated nine miles north-east of Grantham in Lincolnshire.

It has a Grade-I listed Anglican parish church dedicated to St Michael which originates from the 12th century.

The hamlet’s school was closed in 1983 and the nearest post office and shop is two miles away in Wilsford.

Heydour House, where the Team Bootcamp is based, is a former rectory built in 1857 which was given a Grade-II listed status in 1984.

The ten-bedroom property boasts a four-acre garden with a tennis court and a grand entrance hall complete with a stone archway.

On their website, Team Bootcamp boast that clients can lose 8-11 lbs per week ‘in a safe and secluded environment free from the trials of day-to-day life.’

They are currently running half price winter week-long camps which cost charge £449 for shared accommodation, with clients paying £547 for a twin room or £597 for a single room.

But Mr Williams, who spent 15 years in the military serving in Afghanistan, Iraq and Sierra Leone, before retiring in 2011, has vowed to continue the camp in the hamlet.

He said: ‘We are not only client focused but highly community focused.

‘We have taken great steps to reduce the noise, and have created a noise and disturbance management plan.

‘The local parish council are invited to come in and get involved with it.

‘The noise does travel really well here and we are aware of it.

‘We do spend a lot of time and energy keeping on top of the noise and the complaints and we have stopped using music and our trainers from shouting.

‘I am used to hostile environments all over the world. The feeling I get when I walk through the village is the same, it’s not nice.’

Mrs Williams added: ‘The lady next door in Heydour Priory says having a boot camp next door to her is devaluing her house.

‘She doesn’t like to look at it, it is all down to snobbery. They want us to move an assault course that we only spend three hours on each week.

‘Nobody else in our village has complained, it is two neighbouring villages and they are all friends of this woman next door. All of this is coming from one circle of friends.

‘The only way we can show people what we do is if they come and spend time with us.

‘We have got nothing to hide, we are not creating the noise they say we are, you can’t hear anything.’

Councillors at South Kesteven District Council deferred making a decision on the application to a later date.

They had asked for amendments to be made before planning permission would be granted.