COMEDIAN Peter Kay wrecked the pricey patio at Eric Clapton’s swanky holiday home — with an inflatable paddling pool.
The 52-year-old became friends with the guitarist, now 80, when they met backstage at a gig.
Peter Kay ended up staining Eric Clapton’s expensive sandstone patio tiles at his Provence mansion[/caption]
Eric let Peter and his family stay at his Provence mansion, which had 16 bedrooms and an outdoor pool.
But Peter found the pool too cold — so he popped to a supermarket to buy a paddling pool, which he inflated on a patio and filled with warm water.
The purchase was a success, as Peter said he could bask in the water “sipping Baileys, watching Only Fools and Horses on a giant screen through the French doors”.
But the holiday turned into a nightmare when he deflated the pool to find dye from Eric’s black-and-gold Versace towels — placed underneath to soak up water — had stained the super-expensive sandstone patio tiles.
Peter said: “I grabbed a few scourers from the kitchen, some fairy liquid and we all started scrubbing, but nothing was lifting.
“I pegged it back to the supermarché and bought some steel-wire brushes, industrial floor cleaner and a rake.”
The Phoenix Nights star then managed to flood the housekeeper’s flowerbed with water from the paddling pool.
In his new book, Peter Kay’s Diary, the funnyman claimed he rang Eric, whose best-known songs include a cover of Bob Dylan’s Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door, and offered to buy some plants and pay for his patio to be powerwashed.
Peter added: “He was puzzled as to why I’d bought a paddling pool in the first place. I told him his pool was freezing.
“He said, ‘But why didn’t you just turn on the pool heating?’. It has heating. No b*gger told me”.
