Addressing the breakdown in their relationship, Cole said that he was led to believe that Moth was dying at a time when Winn wrote that doctors had deemed his condition to be normal.<\/p>\n
![\"Raynor](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/\/f6d5998b-61d7-4282-9556-7485a4b5ca7a.jpg\")
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Raynor Winn<\/p>\n
ADRIAN SHERRATT FOR THE TIMES<\/p>\n
Winn, whose real name is Sally Walker, has been at the centre of a publishing storm after former acquaintances raised questions about whether parts of her \u201ctrue\u201d story were fabricated.<\/p>\n
The author\u2019s portrayal of how she and her husband lost their cottage in rural North Wales is at the centre of the controversy. The memoir blames the repossession of the home on a friend after a bad business investment.<\/p>\n
\u2022 The Salt Path review \u2014 Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs on top form<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n It fails to mention how the couple\u2019s financial predicament was linked to Winn\u2019s alleged theft of \u00a364,000 from an employer<\/a>. Experts have also questioned Winn\u2019s portrayal of her husband\u2019s condition, corticobasal degeneration.<\/p>\n Cole offered his farmhouse to the couple after being moved while reading the memoir in 2018, supposedly describing it as a \u201c300-page CV\u201d.<\/p>\n He particularly empathised with Winn\u2019s struggles as his wife had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Cole contacted Winn on X and proposed that they should take on Haye Farm, which sits alongside a creek close to the River Fowey.<\/p>\n \u2022 How the Salt Path fiasco happened \u2014 insiders on the crisis in publishing<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Unable to maintain the property due to his wife\u2019s need to be close to a hospital, Cole provided a small fee for them to take it on. They moved in in late 2019.<\/p>\n Raynor Winn and her husband Moth attended a screening of The Salt Path in May, before the scandal broke<\/p>\n HUGH R HASTINGS\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n The film starred Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs<\/p>\n ALAMY<\/p>\n Cole is depicted as a City trader called Sam in Winn\u2019s second book, The Wild Silence, that details how she and Moth move to the the neglected cider farm, helping to revitalise it and Moth\u2019s health.<\/p>\n The wealthy businessman was based in Sussex but often visited the couple at the Cornwall site close to the hamlet of St Veep.<\/p>\n \u2022 What the Salt Path author Raynor Winn told me about honesty<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n In an interview with The Observer, Cole described how Moth \u2014 short for Timothy \u2014 had told him about a setback with his degenerative condition in October 2021.<\/p>\n \u201cHe put his head in his hands and he said: \u2018We went to the hospital this week and I\u2019ve been told not to plan beyond Christmas\u2019,\u201d Cole said. \u201cI just went and gave him a big hug.\u201d<\/p>\n Cole had become close friends with the couple and prioritised their wellbeing even though the cider farm that they were meant to be looking after was losing money.<\/p>\n While reading Winn\u2019s third book, Landlines, published in 2022, Cole was surprised to see the author recount how in the same period a neurologist had described Moth\u2019s brain scan as normal.<\/p>\n \u2022 Salt Path scandal: the juiciest literary scams, from James Frey to JT LeRoy<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Cole, who now runs the farm, owns a spirits company and works as an impact investment manager, said: \u201cI was reading it on a train and I just went: \u2018What the hell?\u2019 It just makes no sense whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n Cole sent a message to Winn asking why if there was such good news, they had not told him. He said that she replied several days later but did not address the point.<\/p>\n He was left surprised when the couple were filming at the farm with Rick Stein, the celebrity chef, for a BBC series on Cornwall several weeks later.<\/p>\n Cole said that Winn and Moth talked through the cider-making process at the centuries-old orchard even though this was a process they were not involved in. \u201cI felt like I was being gaslit,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The couple ended their tenancy shortly after without saying goodbye in person, leaving the key under a pot and a note on the table. Cole said that he has barely had contact with them since.<\/p>\n![\"Raynor](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/\/a15b2e05-bb78-4a73-a962-e104485bee3d.jpg\")
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