Page 24 | Thread 20 : To feel disappointed after reading this in The Observer about the author and her husband from The Salt Path book and film?

DisappointedReader · 2025-12-04T01:24:44+00:00

The Observer's original exposé: [[https://observer.co.uk/news/national/article/the-real-salt-path-how-the-couple-behind-a-bestseller-left-a-trail-of-debt-and-deceit The real Salt Path: how a blockbuster book and film were ...]] First thread: [[https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5368194-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film? To feel disappointed after reading this in The Observer about the author and her husband from The Salt Path book and film? | Mumsnet]] Links to threads 2-16, the other 20 Observer articles and videos to date, Raynor Winn/Sally Walker's statement, our timeline and sources can all be accessed in the OP and first few posts of Thread 17: [[https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5403285-thread-17-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5403285-thread-17-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?]] Thread 18: [[https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5422393-thread-18-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5422393-thread-18-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?]] Thread 19: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5437058-thread-19-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film? *New posters* joining us in the genuine spirit of our civil discourse are welcome. It would be helpful to get the background from at least some of the Observer exposé items before posting. *To all *- Please be extremely cautious when it comes to naming or implicating people and addresses not in the public eye or with no direct connection to the story, and around the understandable health speculations, especially where details are unclear or still emerging. Remember, even Hollywood rabbits attract the odd flea. Please do not engage with drive-by scolders and ploppers who seem to have their own agenda and seek to derail. Avoid @'ing and quoting them as - from experience - this will only encourage them back to the threads. Over five months we have done amazingly well together for 19 very interesting, very serious and very silly threads so far. I can't be here as much as I'd like so all help with keeping our discussion walking along in our usual reasonable and respectful fashion is very welcome. Keep to the path. No saltiness. May the fudge and cider be with you. *Up and coming: * - *Salt Path: A Very British Scandal, Monday 15th December 9pm Sky Documentaries and NOW* - *Sunday Papers Live, The Real Salt Path with Chloe Hadjimatheou, Sunday 7th December (see image below for tickets and further details)* - *Observer Newsroom: The Real Salt Path Story, Thursday 8th January 2026 6.30-7.30pm. More information and to book via this link* [[https://observer.co.uk/our-events/the-real-salt-path-story]]

LetsBeSensible · 14/12/2025 20:35

And my particular bugbear, the promotion of disabled people doing more physical exercise than is safe, and “neuroplasticity” two constant bugbears of mine in popular culture without scientific basis, which can somehow cure all ills.

crossedlines · 14/12/2025 20:36

NaughtyNoodler · 14/12/2025 20:23

What I still find difficult to fathom is what all this stolen money was spent on. £67K from the Hemmings, £25K from Sal's mother, £25K from Tim's parents. That's £117K in 2008 money. Kids weren't privately educated; Sal wasn't into fashion; Moth wasn't into fast cars; they didn't go off on expensive foreign holidays; as far as we know they didn't have gambling issues, weren't into drugs and alcohol. So what was all the stolen money spent on?

Edited

I suspect just living beyond their means…. It seems as though Sal never did much more than part time work. Tim worked at the NT property for a while but then gave up. I suspect quite a bit of remortgaging went on as well… the Welsh property can’t have cost that much originally but if they were doing it up and remortgaging they no doubt overstretched themselves. Overall I get the feeling it wasn’t so much that they had an extravagant lifestyle, it was more that they were lazy shysters who thought it was beneath them to work a full week each

WearyCat · 14/12/2025 20:40

NaughtyNoodler · 14/12/2025 20:23

What I still find difficult to fathom is what all this stolen money was spent on. £67K from the Hemmings, £25K from Sal's mother, £25K from Tim's parents. That's £117K in 2008 money. Kids weren't privately educated; Sal wasn't into fashion; Moth wasn't into fast cars; they didn't go off on expensive foreign holidays; as far as we know they didn't have gambling issues, weren't into drugs and alcohol. So what was all the stolen money spent on?

Edited

I just think they didn’t do much paid work, they feel above it/that they’re owed a living. It would be easy to rinse through that sort of money if not much is coming in but you like proper tweed waistcoats and nice leather jackets.

i also suspect that ‘published author’ fits Sal’s brand of job snobbery better than ‘bookkeeper’ or ‘legal clerk’. She wants to be a creative, a wild child of nature. Just as she thinks crafting ancient-styled stacks of wood and calling apple trees back to health befits Tim more than being a plasterer (even a “master plasterer”, which as a label itself lends an image of ancient knowledge and skills, possibly used to build cathedrals, rather than skimming artex plaster onto someone’s ceiling). They’re both pretentious and I have no doubt they used the money to support the image they wanted to project.

WearyCat · 14/12/2025 20:42

Vroomfondleswaistcoat · 14/12/2025 19:51

Unless it's alcoholism that he's keeping hidden. Which might give quite a few of the symptoms he has been reported as having. (I don't seriously consider that Tim is a closet alcoholic, but there are quite a few conditions that can give shaky hands and difficulty walking and not all of them are worthy of panic stations).

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I did wonder whether his eco-warriorism in the 80s took in a bit of rave culture and possibly a love of party drugs. Perhaps he’s got some ataxis related to overconsumption?

NaughtyNoodler · 14/12/2025 20:43

crossedlines · 14/12/2025 20:36

I suspect just living beyond their means…. It seems as though Sal never did much more than part time work. Tim worked at the NT property for a while but then gave up. I suspect quite a bit of remortgaging went on as well… the Welsh property can’t have cost that much originally but if they were doing it up and remortgaging they no doubt overstretched themselves. Overall I get the feeling it wasn’t so much that they had an extravagant lifestyle, it was more that they were lazy shysters who thought it was beneath them to work a full week each

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Yes but they did convert the barn into holiday lets and rented the space out. This was enough to sustain the next owner (Maxine Farrimond) who ran Pen-y-maes as an AirBnB. I take the point about the French property purchase and property remortgage.Maybe they just filched £10-15k pa and it all added up and they also gave the kids quite a lot to,live on.

FurryHappyKittens · 14/12/2025 20:45

And Escape to the Country showed the place as very nicely fitted out, thankyouverymuch!

SimoArmo · 14/12/2025 20:46

LetsBeSensible · 14/12/2025 20:32

French property and powder blue AGA type range.
Not doing any real work to earn to support your family?

I just want to hold space for those groups who we have not heard from, whose voices have been drowned out by SalRay and her book, when she had no right, no right to do so at all

CBD community
Disabled community
Homeless community
Menopause community
SWCP walkers

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Insert: writing community

PinkPanther57 · 14/12/2025 20:47

Uricon2 · 14/12/2025 15:57

I am still reeling from the description of the HNTDDD storyline, complete with embezzlement from an employer (rather than 'mistakes being made') Really wasn't expecting that. It seems an utterly foolhardy, shameless plotline under the circumstances, although I suppose she thought she'd have been protected by her famous NDA had it become a success (which it never would if the page we've all read is anything to go by)

Observer/Chloe needs to make more of this, context/relevance lost.

NaughtyNoodler · 14/12/2025 20:48

FurryHappyKittens · 14/12/2025 20:45

And Escape to the Country showed the place as very nicely fitted out, thankyouverymuch!

They probably spent quite a bit on it over the years. If Moth wasn't working after Plas-yn-Rhiw and Sal was also on her uppers after leaving the White House Hotel job, maybe it all just added up and they were living beyond their means.

PinkPanther57 · 14/12/2025 21:03

DworkinWasRight · 14/12/2025 19:49

The one thing that has puzzled me about the story is this: they are clearly grifters who would rather steal money from their employer and their own elderly parents than do an honest day’s work. So where did they get the energy and commitment to write a book? Writing a book is hard work, and there is very little likelihood, if you’re not a known name, that you’ll get it published, and an even smaller chance that it will become a bestseller. It seems amazing that Sally actually found the discipline to write a book, let alone one that had bestseller potential.

She copied the last one?

BegazingBrandy · 14/12/2025 21:06

Aussiebornandbred · 13/12/2025 22:22

One day to go
Hanging out here for any crumbs about the documentary.
Is anyone able to post the text from that Observer article today “Don’t look for the money: I’ve taken it all”? (Thank you Naughty Noodler for the heads up)

It's been a long day.

Special awards to 🌺 @Aussiebornandbred 💛and
🌻@NaughtyNoodler 💙

PinkPanther57 · 14/12/2025 21:07

Vroomfondleswaistcoat · 14/12/2025 19:04

I'm shocked that this was as bad as it appears to be, but also slightly... glad? I was worried that this was all going to be shrugged off as 'my truth', a bit of 'mistakes were made' and a pinch of 'changed a few events for narrative purposes.' Things are so very much worse that there really is no way out of this for Sal. She can complain about 'family has it in for her' all she wants (but why WOULD they, with no reason? Money? Any nice genuine person would already have seen their families all right and set for life), but I think her only hope now is to take off for somewhere abroad and just stay there.

Because now even more people are going to feel taken in, and if there's one thing people really HATE, it's being made to feel stupid.

I think she’ll be able to breeze through it, family are jealous, etc.

NaughtyNoodler · 14/12/2025 21:19

DworkinWasRight · 14/12/2025 19:49

The one thing that has puzzled me about the story is this: they are clearly grifters who would rather steal money from their employer and their own elderly parents than do an honest day’s work. So where did they get the energy and commitment to write a book? Writing a book is hard work, and there is very little likelihood, if you’re not a known name, that you’ll get it published, and an even smaller chance that it will become a bestseller. It seems amazing that Sally actually found the discipline to write a book, let alone one that had bestseller potential.

That's all true BUT clearly this fact was lost on Raymoth when they came up with the cunning plan of clearing their £230K overdraft on Pen-y-maes and £100k loan from Cooper by selling enough copies of HNTDDD at £5 a shot. That would have required them to shift 70k copies in less than 6 months. When your target market is Welsh speaking small holders that is a big ask!

Sal clearly has writing talent. She was stuck at home in the Wesleyan Chapel in West St, Polruan while Moth was doing his HND degree course at the Eden Project.

She was deeply antisocial and had time on her hands. So from Sept 2016 she sat down and reinvented their summer holiday jaunts into what became TSP. Did it require a huge amount of self discipline? I doubt it. Moth's student loan was rolling in and she had time on her hands with a hidden suspicion that she had literary talent.

She had experience of knocking off HNTDDD, so thought she would give it another go with TSP. I don't think it was hard work for her. She had nothing else to do while Moth was out all day at the Eden project on his HND course.

PinkPanther57 · 14/12/2025 21:35

NaughtyNoodler · 14/12/2025 21:19

That's all true BUT clearly this fact was lost on Raymoth when they came up with the cunning plan of clearing their £230K overdraft on Pen-y-maes and £100k loan from Cooper by selling enough copies of HNTDDD at £5 a shot. That would have required them to shift 70k copies in less than 6 months. When your target market is Welsh speaking small holders that is a big ask!

Sal clearly has writing talent. She was stuck at home in the Wesleyan Chapel in West St, Polruan while Moth was doing his HND degree course at the Eden Project.

She was deeply antisocial and had time on her hands. So from Sept 2016 she sat down and reinvented their summer holiday jaunts into what became TSP. Did it require a huge amount of self discipline? I doubt it. Moth's student loan was rolling in and she had time on her hands with a hidden suspicion that she had literary talent.

She had experience of knocking off HNTDDD, so thought she would give it another go with TSP. I don't think it was hard work for her. She had nothing else to do while Moth was out all day at the Eden project on his HND course.

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I don’t think she has real writing talent but she had the perfect storm of enough material, lockdown, a medical ‘hook’, homelessness, victimhood etc.

NaughtyNoodler · 14/12/2025 21:47

Ahead of the Sky documentary I'd like to take my hat off to all the contributors here on MN.

I think this thread has in no small way contributed to the Sky documentary being aired tomorrow and the truth behind TSP.

Nowadays there is lots of negative stuff circulated about the pernicious influence of social media, but in a world of fake news and AI, I think this MN thread is a testimony to all that is good about social media - informed , intelligent and civilised debate with regular injections of self deprecating humour and insights about real every day health problems by real genuine people. Bravo!

Freshsocks · 14/12/2025 21:52

What a day @BegazingBrandy, you have all made such great posts, thank you to everyone for all the links and articles. I've only just caught up with you all, as long as the health claims are put to bed, as these are Salray's most dangerous deceptions, I will be happy. If people want to continue to follow her as an author or some kind of eco guru that's up to them, as long as we never have to be subjected to her health advice.

It seems like a copy of the raffle book has been found, it's interesting that we discussed Salray writing this very plot line in earlier posts, that people might have found an admission to embezzlement, leading to the loss of the house compelling, it now seems this is what she did write, very interesting. Also the confirmation that they were staying with the niece in relative comfort for the crucial months and that Salray didn't pack fleeces as she claimed.

The theft from the parents was a bit of a shock, I am not surprised that the family are upset, I agree that Salray can deny this, but honestly the piece about Salray pretending to be hearing voices, I did not see that coming, the documentary is going to be gripping I'm sure.

Just seen your last post @NaughtyNoodler, brave indeed

TonstantWeader · 14/12/2025 21:57

Sheesh, what a day! We’ve been otherwise occupied all weekend, but I logged on tonight to dip in ahead of tomorrow……and 270 new posts just, maybe, just suggested to me that something had happened……and to quote an earlier poster, ‘hoo, boy’ was that the case!

unbelievable brass neck. Just shocking. No wonder the nephew called them pathological liars in July. Huge thanks to @Aussiebornandbred for the transcription. Tomorrow when the documentary drops is going to be wild. I note the point upthread about there being a somewhat muted response, but yesterday’s Times made the documentary one of their TV picks of the week and a pick of the day for tomorrow, so I do think there’ll be more of a spotlight later once it’s aired.

@Vroomfondleswaistcoat as soon as I saw that CH had got a copy of HNTDDD I could hear your rage at the CB prize all over again. I hear you, sister!

PinkPanther57 · 14/12/2025 22:01

TonstantWeader · 14/12/2025 21:57

Sheesh, what a day! We’ve been otherwise occupied all weekend, but I logged on tonight to dip in ahead of tomorrow……and 270 new posts just, maybe, just suggested to me that something had happened……and to quote an earlier poster, ‘hoo, boy’ was that the case!

unbelievable brass neck. Just shocking. No wonder the nephew called them pathological liars in July. Huge thanks to @Aussiebornandbred for the transcription. Tomorrow when the documentary drops is going to be wild. I note the point upthread about there being a somewhat muted response, but yesterday’s Times made the documentary one of their TV picks of the week and a pick of the day for tomorrow, so I do think there’ll be more of a spotlight later once it’s aired.

@Vroomfondleswaistcoat as soon as I saw that CH had got a copy of HNTDDD I could hear your rage at the CB prize all over again. I hear you, sister!

This prize has to be rescinded & money given to the runner up if there’s any justice in the world.

Freshsocks · 14/12/2025 22:01

Sorry typo, Bravo!
Yes @TonstantWeader the prize must be removed, if the book has been found, they will surely have to revoke it, or make some kind of statement.

SimoArmo · 14/12/2025 22:01

NaughtyNoodler · 14/12/2025 21:47

Ahead of the Sky documentary I'd like to take my hat off to all the contributors here on MN.

I think this thread has in no small way contributed to the Sky documentary being aired tomorrow and the truth behind TSP.

Nowadays there is lots of negative stuff circulated about the pernicious influence of social media, but in a world of fake news and AI, I think this MN thread is a testimony to all that is good about social media - informed , intelligent and civilised debate with regular injections of self deprecating humour and insights about real every day health problems by real genuine people. Bravo!

Agreed!

TonstantWeader · 14/12/2025 22:03

Freshsocks · 14/12/2025 22:01

Sorry typo, Bravo!
Yes @TonstantWeader the prize must be removed, if the book has been found, they will surely have to revoke it, or make some kind of statement.

Yes, I completely agree with you and @PinkPanther57 . Or SW surrenders it voluntarily and repays the prize money. I doubt that will happen but she shouldn’t keep that award.

NaughtyNoodler · 14/12/2025 22:07

Freshsocks · 14/12/2025 22:01

Sorry typo, Bravo!
Yes @TonstantWeader the prize must be removed, if the book has been found, they will surely have to revoke it, or make some kind of statement.

In the history of book prizes it's without precedent to withdraw a prize that has been awarded (apart from politically imprudent remarks by prize winning authors), but hey, there's a first time for everything!

Freshsocks · 14/12/2025 22:11

I agree @NaughtyNoodler, but they could make a statement of some kind, I wonder how PRH will respond to the claim that a relative had contacted them, and been fobbed off?

SimoArmo · 14/12/2025 22:16

This is something I came across today - no idea if it was posted before in the annals of disappointment - but an example of how the books, irrespective of the health disclaimer, easily misled people to think walking helped Moth, or could even work for others with Parkinsonism. It is a forum post on the Cure Parkinson's charity website.

"No easy path. Husband added years to his life by doing this..."

Thread 20 : To feel disappointed after reading this in The Observer about the author and her husband from The Salt Path book and film?

NaughtyNoodler · 14/12/2025 22:17

Based on the response of PRH and Sal's agent to this sorry saga, I suspect statements will be conspicuous by their absence!

The only way this will change is if the mass media shift the focus of the story from Sal to her agent and her publisher.

Hitherto, as far as I can ascertain, both her agent and publisher are lying low and refusing to engage with CH....