Celebrity Cotswolds: Countryside hills are A-list capital of Britain
With its honey-coloured cottages and sleepy country pubs, it’s a world away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Maybe that’s why the Cotswolds is luring so many celebrities seeking a rural retreat from London life.
In fact, a study has found that the region is home to more stars per acre than anywhere outside the capital. There are around 50 celebrities with bolt-holes in the Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire countryside.
Famous residents include Kate Winslet, 36, who owns a £3.5million Grade II-listed manor house in Church Westcote and Liz Hurley, 46, who owns a £3million farm in Ampney Knowle.
Samantha Baden, property analyst, who carried out the research, said: ‘In some ways it’s the UK equivalent to Beverly Hills and offers celebrities the perfect balance between a seemingly normal life with easy access to the glamour of London.’
Other celebrities with homes in the Cotswolds include singer Lily Allen, 26, who moved to a £3 million manor house in Cranham in 2010 and artist Damien Hirst, 46, who owns Toddington Manor, a 300-room mansion set in 124 acres; Prince Charles, Hugh Grant, Liz Hurley , Damien Hirst, Kate Moss and Jamie Hince, Lily Allen and Stella McCartney & Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond, writer Jilly Cooper, the Princess Royal, actress Fiona Fullerton and presenter Lawrence Llewellyn-Bowen, Keith Allen, Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall, Anne Robinson, comedian Rory Bremner & food critic Matthew Fort, Tony Adams and Richard Ashcroft, Amanda Holden, Blur star-turned-country gentleman Alex James, and Rebekah Brooks, the former News International chief executive.
Such a feast of fame has no direct effect on house prices, despite claims by some agents that stars can push up prices in a local area - even though the county's homes cost on average £100,000 more than the national average.
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