Castle Combe is one of the many beautiful villages in the Cotswolds (Image: Getty)
A stunning region in the West of England once known for its cosy countryside retreats has become a magnet for royals and super rich celebrities.
The Cotswolds in Gloucestershire is home to huge stars including David and Victoria Beckham, Elizabeth Hurley, Kate Moss and Simon Cowell. It is also where Princess Beatrice resides and A-listers from overseas have moved there too, namely Ellen DeGeneres and her wife Portia de Rossi.
The idyllic region has attracted big names for various reasons and Nicholas Rudge, sales director at Savills estate agents in Banbury, explained why that is.
“The Cotswolds has become hugely fashionable because money has poured out of London,” he told Hello! magazine. “The region is safe, it’s civilised, it’s protected; it can’t be overdeveloped, as it’s an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Ellen DeGeneres out on a walk in the Cotswolds with wife Portia de Rossi (Image: -)
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“If you come from a Georgian or Victorian house in London but you grew up in the country, there’s this romantic image of pubs with fires and long walks with dogs, and that’s exactly what the Cotswolds offers. You can bump into Kate Moss down in Thyme; you can see all sorts of people. What’s rather nice is that they just get on with their lives and I think a lot of people respect that.”
It attracts 25 million visitors per year with many people looking to enjoy some rural peace for the weekend – but in recent times it has become more of a billionaires’ playground.
Giving an insight, Plum Sykes told the BBC: “I’ve been living out here on and off for the last 15 years, and I’ve really seen a change
“I started to sense a few years ago that a bit of the Cotswolds had become really glamorous and over the top, and was actually getting a bit out of control… women going on a hack (a horse ride) dressed up as if they’re going to a ball, helicopters landing at sports day. When the spending and the lifestyle starts to get out of control, that’s when it’s ready for satire.”
Jeremy Clarkson’s pub is called The Farmer’s Dog (Image: Emma Trimble / SWNS)
Ellen and Portia bought a gorgeous £15million farmhouse last year and in recent months they were spotted alongside James Blunt at her local pub, The Farmer’s Dog, which is of course owned by Jeremy Clarkson.
And speaking about the famous duo, Clarkson once said: “She lives in the village where our pub is. Absolutely I welcome them all. Everyone said she has been cancelled but she seemed nice when she came to the pub, the staff said she was very friendly and lovely. I am not going to believe what I read online. She seemed lovely.”
The horses and hounds of the North Cotswolds Hunt (Image: Getty Images)
Clarkson has also previously boasted about his other neighbours, the Beckhams, who have spoken highly about the area. The pair live in a £12million estate near Chipping Norton and the power couple have their own lake, swimming pool, sauna, and even football pitch.
And conversing with the Queen, Beckham recently said: “It’s beautiful there, so beautiful. We love it. We are happy there. We’ve got chickens.” Victoria has also shown off the inside of her spectacular home on Netflix , saying: “It’s so nice; we try to go there at the weekends as much as we can.”
And speaking to Hello!, private chef The Cotswold Guy, who runs a shop in Gagingwell, said: “I’m the cook for David Beckham in the Cotswolds and whenever he needs stuff in London. Simon Cowell has a house nearby – he loves a roast dinner from me too.”
David and Victoria Beckham enjoy going to their Cotswolds mansion on weekends (Image: davidbeckham/Instagram)
He added: “The Cotswolds is a bit of weekend retreat, so when the families come here, I often do the dinners at the house.”
But as well as Hollywood stars, former footballers, models and music moguls, the picturesque rolling hills are also home to royalty.
The most famous example is Princess Beatrice who, along with her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, lives near Blenheim Palace. They stay in a £3.5million farmhouse with six bedrooms with their two little children, Sienna, three, and baby Athena, along with Edoardo’s son, Wolfie, who is eight.
A source close to the royal told Hello!: “Beatrice no longer has royal protection, so it’s important for her to feel safe, particularly for her children. Country living means long walks in woods and cosy lunches in pubs with roaring fires, while the couple are also regulars at Soho Farmhouse.”
Princess Beatrice lives in a Cotswolds mansion with her family (Image: BUCKINGHAM PALACE/AFP via Getty)
Ellen and Portia have also been spotted at Soho Farmhouse which opened in 2015 and spans 100 actresses of Oxfordshire countryside. It is used for parties, retreats, family walks and a place to eat. And to visit for the day, you need to be a member.
It is located along the same road as to where the Beckham’s live in their Cotswolds mansion which they bought back in 2016.
Kate Moss meanwhile has been in the area even longer, having bought a ten-bedroom Grade II listed mansion in Little Faringdon back in 2012.
The model spoke with The Times to give a glimpse into her lifestyle, saying she likes wild swimming “in a secret place, in the middle of lots of fields and only the villagers are allowed to use it”.
A swan sitting on the banks of the brook in the Wiltshire village of Castle Combe (Image: Getty Images)
She also grows her own vegetables, potatoes, onions, garlic, tomatoes, rocket and lettuce and she decided to move there permanently after spending most of her time there during the pandemic.
At the time a source told Mail Online in November 2021: “This really is the end of an era for London’s Britpop scene, now that the Queen of London is moving out.”
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