Thread 23 : To feel disappointed - and now disgusted too - after reading this in The Observer about the author and her husband from The Salt Path book and film?

[DisappointedReader]

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The Observer's original exposé: The real Salt Path: how a blockbuster book and film were ...

First thread: 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?

Links to threads 18-20 can be found in the OP of Thread 21: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5460943-thread-21-to-feel-disappointed-and-now-disgusted-too-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?

Thread 22:www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5470952-thread-22-to-feel-disappointed-and-now-disgusted-too-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?

Most recent:

• Salt Path: A Very British Scandal, available on Sky Documentaries and NOW TV, 15th December 2025
• ‘Don’t look for the money. I’ve taken it all’: Salt Path author Raynor Winn’s ‘confession’ that she stole from her family | The Observer
• Observer Newsroom: The Real Salt Path Story, Thursday 8th January 2026

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. For over 6 months we have done amazingly well together for 22 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.

After 22,000 posts there are still new things to look out for on the path:
Podcast series (7 episodes) from The Observer's award-winning Investigative Journalist Chloe Hadjimatheou, 13th January 2026.
The Walkers: The real Salt Path | The Observer

After listening to some of The Walkers: The real Salt Path podcast episodes from The Observer today my thoughts are even more with the victims. I also believe that the publishers, agent and prizegivers must now act and be seen to act.

Please start each post with the podcast episode you are commenting on, for clarity and to help others avoid spoilers if they wish to do so. Many thanks.

As always, keep to the path, no saltiness, eat fudge and drink cider.

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Thank you @DisappointedReader, the charabanc is looking handsome, you never disappoint :)

re Episode 3 of podcast

@DoubtfulCat, it's not entirely clear, but it seems as if the young cider-making couple had in fact been on the farm before the time when BC showed up with them and TW came storming out of the farmhouse, shouting and furious. Not only does BC say to SW in his shaken email afterwards 'I know you are delighted that this couple are back', he also told CH that the cider that Rick Stein is shown drinking in the TV programme had actually been made by this same young couple, not the Walkers.

He also told CH that, after the conversation of October 21st 2021 when TW told him he'd been told not to make plans for after Christmas, he'd suggested that he 'bring people in to do the harvest and make the cider' -- it doesn't say who he made the suggestion to, or how, but one assumes it was to SW in an email (which seems to have been how they usually communicated after they started living on the farm, and the times he talks about communicating, it's always emails to SW, not TW), because 'Raynor told him Moth's pride was hurt', so he dropped the idea immediately.

So TW's storming out of the farmhouse a year later, shouting in a rage about BC bringing in the young cider-making couple, can't have been because it came a total surprise and shock to him, either. It had been suggested before, and they'd certainly been on the farm already.

CH specifies that although the Walkers never made any cider at all during the five years they lived at Haye (despite pretending to to other people, including Rick Stein) BC had always made a small amount of cider every autumn, so as not to break the 800-year-old tradition. Presumably it was this couple who made it on his behalf?

And of course SW excusing TW's display of temper to a shaken BC blames it on CBD and constructs herself as stoical victim of this unpleasant symptom:

I'm so, so sorry you encountered the side of CBD I try to keep away from everyone. It can last a day, a week, or more. It can take its own shape, which I know how to deal with, but can come as a shock to others who can't understand the complete contrast to the Moth they know.

But this no longer flies with an increasingly suspicious BC, who has read LL and seen its claim of a miracle cure. When he presses for clarity in his email in response, SW simply doesn't reply, a tactic that has served her well on many occasions.

I am wondering at what stage the Police and DPP might intervene given the mountain of evidence that has accumulated about serial theft and fraud. Surely the public need to be protected against such behaviour that leaves a long trail of victims in its wake - eventhough the chances of the Walkers committing further crimes may be limited and their victims may not wish to pursue matters, there is a need for a message to others who may wish to emulate the Walkers that white collar crime, certainly on this scale should never be tolerated or without punishment.

Well, 'Anne', SW's niece said to CH in the episode 6 that she'd phoned a few different police stations, but that no one seemed interested.

I suppose the issue is in part that the victims of both family thefts are dead, their bank accounts wound up etc, and that they were persuaded not to report the thefts at the time by SW saying to her sister that she would get prison time if reported again, and by TW's parents' belief that reporting SW's theft would damage TW's health or MH or something...?

@AbovetheVaultedSky agreed, thanks, it’s @vroomfondleswaistcoat who hasn’t been able to listen yet.

@DreamyHiker I completely agree. These aren’t victimless crimes- far from it- and too often “white collar” crime is handwaved away. But these are serial offenders and I’ve no doubt at all that they’ll never stop, whether it’s utility bills unpaid or scamming the public with lies designed to elicit sympathy along with hard cash.

I've only listened to the first two podcasts, but did I read on the last thread that TW was receiving PIP as suspected? As PIP is based on what you can and can't do rather than diagnosis, I'd be interested to know how DWP would square long distance walking, rewilding and cider making as claimed with needing help with day to day living, since it is clear that MW and TW are one and the same. Yet another disservice by this sorry pair to those genuinely in need by adding to the detrimental narrative about PIP claimants as spongers.

I bet Tim is still receiving PIP (it isn’t means tested). He obviously wasn’t ever going to work again- he’s too ill, isn’t he?
The pair present such patterns of behaviours, exploiting the trustworthy, helpful and empathetic people then doing a runner as soon as things are being expected/ questions are being asked… It shocked me when I found out they lived on the Haye Farm for 5 (!) years!
Happens with Anne (Polly) and same with BC.
I’d love to know the real reason for them moving to Wales, I don’t believe in any “property investment”.
I also wonder if CH was able to trace Sallys former employment record at the Abersoch hotel?

There was a reference to TW getting PIP by 'Anne' (SW's niece, who is 'Polly' in TSP) while they were staying on her farm.

Ep 3
I have just checked by listening to the relevant section again at 28 minutes on. This follows TW’s angry outburst. BC I believe says, “I know that you aren’t delighted that this couple are back but….”.

Other posters have suggested narcissistic rage and this could fit with a sense of losing control of BC and the farm.

Ah, OK, I misheard then.

(Though it still confirms that the Walkers already knew this couple, and that they'd already been on the farm before this outburst.)

Takes a certain amount of arrogance to live on a farm with a wonderful heritage of cider making for a low rent, to not make cider, to go off for months on a walk, and then to object to the owner bringing in outside help because he is concerned it may be too much strain on you.

And for nearly five years.

My heart really goes out to Bill Cole!
Absolutely @RainyTuesdaysAndSunnyWednesdays !! And not only that but to completely rewrite history and to alter reality, making themselves into victims as usual in those books of hers. I am sickened by the way she presented Bill Cole and Haye Farm. She writes as though Ray and Moth are magical healers on that land. I feel so angry thinking about this.

Thank you @DisappointedReader for opening up the next part of the trail for us. I believe myself to be completely covered in salt and in need of vinegar to finish me off. Anyone got any chips?

I wasn’t sure myself at first as it is quite difficult to catch. Had to listen several times!
I agree, they must have already been pretty familiar with them. Possibly it was they who showed TW the method of making the cider. Unless, of course, heritage cider making was already one of his many skills.

Re the narcissistic rage and the description if his eyes, many of us who have been on the receiving end of such behaviour have described the eyes as going black. The eyes look empty, and it often coincides with the mask slipping to reveal the real person underneath the carefully presented exterior) If you've come across it before you know that this is getting dangerous.
He had lost control of the situation and was absolutely furious at the situation, narcissists hate that. Even though they are wholly in the wrong (or maybe especially when they are wholly in the wrong). Often they can hide under their mask to outsiders but if the rage builds up inside them it does come out explosively.
It may be that SW had put up with such ragws, maybe that was true. But putting it down to the serious illness was the lie.
Haven't seen the programme, and haven't heard the podcasts so thank you those who have summarized things.

Ugh, yes! That's what's been growing on me over the podcast episodes, the arrogance. In their arrogant, entitled, dishonest behaviour at Haye Farm and their portrayal of Bill Cole they repeated the modus operandi behind The Salt Path, when ironically because of that book Bill had reached out to them in empathy, believing them to have suffered similar experiences.

Hi all,

We're posting on behalf of Phoebe who is writing a piece for the observer:

"I have been asked to do a piece for this weekend's edition of the paper which joins up with our Salt Path coverage of the new podcast. The idea is to look at the role of sleuths on forums like Mumsnet when stories like this happen! I would love to be able to chat to some of the main posters on the Salt Path threads about how they go about it and why they enjoy it/ get involved.
Please email [email protected] if you'd like to get involved."

Good afternoon @LilyMumsnet There seems to be a stunned silence. Thank you for letting us know. It will be so good if the important elements of this story continue to be highlighted and there is some outcome for the victims. That is the important thing.

Oh gosh yes 😖the poor man! I remember reading in his first news interview that he wanted to sign the farm over to them and his wife didn’t want him to and caused upset between them - which is unforgivable that the Walkers caused that too. Bill’s wife obviously had a gut feeling which was correct.

Totally unrelated to the above but it popped into my head just now, all the times in TSP that she criticises people’s behaviour. I must have been thinking about gulls (because I’m covered with salt and vinegar) because I was reminded that they pass a couple who are throwing their uneaten chips to the herring gulls and the reader has a lecture delivered to them about this and how bad this couple are for doing such a thing. Errrr… hello?? <knock knock> Both of you are thieves, liars, grifters, sociopathic, narcissistic…. List goes on for miles…. Is any of that bad? No of course it isn’t.

Following on from the last thread and the figures for TSP sales, if Chloe's investigations didn't cause a spike in sales of TSP and the former PRH person is wrong, shouldn't someone tell Chloe? as she is likely to continue to repeat this in every interview she does about this exposé. I think it is important, the ex PRH person was given a lot of time to express their opinions. Chloe is repeating this statement that her exposé sent sales up, she says it in the interview shared yesterday.

It doesn't look good if Chloe is talking about how thorough her fact checking is. Just seen your piece @BewilderingBrandy, maybe this person can get Chloe to have one of her people double, double check, what the ex PRH person is telling her about TSP sales.

@AbovetheVaultedSky yes, just listened to the bit about the cider RS drank, BC confirmed it was made by the young couple. At some point I think he says that he'd not wanted to break the 800 year tradition and had on occasion made some himself.

I agree with everyone saying the portrayal (and betrayal) of Bill is dreadful, he absolutely bent over backwards to make their lives as easy as possible.

I agree but didn't want to distract. Likewise with the inaccuracy I picked up on months ago - it is because I am a native and resident of Devon/Cornwall - I didn't think it would be a thing for hardly anyone else.

Also, what did look good, re the sales figures, was Chloe. She just takes it on the chin and gets on with the main job, doesn't she? Imagine what it was like to be told by John that she had ended his hope, to meet with Ros, to have Cecille crying on the phone. She is absolutely brilliant.

Thank you so much to everyone who has attempted to sort out my understanding about Episode 3, Sal, Tim, Bill and the young couple. I wonder if Chloe has heard from them at any point during this?

I agree with you @BewilderingBrandy, we all think Chloe is great, but she will have detractors, throughout this investigation Chloe has reiterated how vigorously she has fact checked everything, gone over it all with legal people. If she keeps repeating this, and it isn't true, it could make people wonder if other facts have been checked properly. I only say this, because it feels like the kind of thing Chloe is going to keep repeating, especially if she believes it.

When it comes to sales of books; I can't even accurately track the sales of my OWN books - I can see Amazon sales but that doesn't include other ebook sales (Kobo etc) or sales from other sites, so is it possible that Chloe is aggregating sales on all platforms to come up with increased sales for TSP etc?

I would imagine she may have done, they aren't difficult to find (and may still possibly be at Haye). Hopefully so, because from what I have read they are exactly the sort of people that BC thought he had found in the Walkers.