Moving mountains to please a client

Former Wimbledon football club owner Kjell Inge R¯kke wants a second \'great hall\' built on to his palatial Scandinavian home. The only trouble is there\'s a mountain in the way. So he plans to dynamite it out of the way.

When the mountain is moved, Wells Cathedral Stonemasons in Cheddar will move in to build the \'great hall\'.

They have already produced the intricately carved columns, windows, doorways, and features for one \'great hall\' at the home of Kjell Inge R¯kke, and now they have been chosen a second such extension at his mansion. But they cannot plan the new extension until an intruding mountain has been removed by dynamite.

Peter Arkell, managing director of Wells Cathedral Stonemasons, told NSS: "The first project, to produce a perfect replica of a medieval great hall at R¯kke\'s palatial home, was one of very few world-wide new-build commissions to enable stonemasons to demonstrate the full range of their skills. The new commission will produce an even more impressive building.

"As soon as we hear that the dynamite has done its job, we shall fly to Norway to survey the new project with the detailed architects\' plans, which show the kind of ornate hall that would have graced the palace of a middle-ages monarch."

Using York Stone to match the previous project, all components for the new hall will be carved at Wells Cathedral Stonemasons\' workshop before being shipped out to Norway for the project.

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