Lovelorn lord to move to France

David Piper: Heading back to the Continent

An eccentric Devon lord who placed a lonely hearts advert to find a wife has announced he is moving to France.

David Piper, the 54-year-old Lord of the Manor of Warleigh, near Plymouth, received more than 2,000 replies to his advert 21 months ago.

But after meeting more than 40 potential "ladies", he has yet to find love.

Mr Piper, who lived in Paris in the 1970s, now plans to sell up and continue his quest for romance abroad.

English humour

The 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 is now putting his £1m 10-bedroom waterfront Plymouth town house on the market.

Mr Piper had a phenomenal response to the advert he placed in the International Herald Tribune in November 2002.

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."

Heard interview

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.

In May this year he met anthropologist Leslie McCartney on a charity riverboat cruise. She had 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 1,200km from the nearest post office, mail often took three months to arrive.

But she too was not destined to be the Lady of the Manor of Warleigh.