Once a sleepy haven of rolling hills and honey-coloured stone villages, the Cotswolds has become the ultimate millionaires’ playground.
Celebrities have arrived in their droves, with everyone from the Beckhams and Simon Cowell to US chat show host Ellen DeGeneres now calling it home.
This influx of superstars has seen property prices soar – with a simple three-bedroom house in the OX7 postcode now fetching at least £2.5million.
The question on everyone’s lips is where in the Cotswolds is the next prime time piece of real estate.
James Walker is a regional chief in Knight Frank’s country department. He told the Daily Mail: ‘The ”Golden Triangle” of the prime Cotswolds as defined by some is roughly located between Burford, Stow on the Wold and Chipping Norton.
‘There is little to persuade those well-heeled buyers wishing to reside in these areas that there is much of interest beyond this comfort zone of first-class property and countryside.
‘That is until you actually look beyond… the highly attractive and conveniently accessible Cheltenham villages are fast becoming of significant interest to many potential buyers looking more broadly in the Cotswolds and inspired by the draw of Cheltenham’s cultural scene; the dual carriageway extension of the main route through the Cotswolds, ”the Missing Link” (A417), will ensure that access is vastly improved, taking traffic away from the rat-runs and surrounding villages.
‘Recently, there has been an unusual number of prime property available both privately and in the open market in the highly desirable Tetbury and surroundings.
‘The popular villages of the south Cotswolds accessed via the A433 from Cirencester to Tetbury and on to Bath are increasingly drawing the attention of the market.
‘Pretty countryside, bustling market towns and Kemble station are attributes which contribute to the appeal of the area.
‘Once regarded as understated, the south Cotswolds is really on the map and continues to surprise and impress!’
With the rich and famous continuing to flock to the Cotswolds, the next time you’re there for a stroll, you just may well bump into a few…
Charles and Camilla – Tetbury
Highgrove was acquired by King Charles in 1980, when it consisted of the bare necessities, including a kitchen garden, an overgrown copse, some pastureland and a few hollow oaks.
A series of interlinked gardens was created over the following 40 years by Charles, 76, using sustainable methods where possible.
Highgrove’s garden is now open to the public between April and September every year, welcoming 35,000 visitors.
The Orchard Room restaurant is open to guests who sign up for garden tours, with dishes prepared by in-house Highgrove chefs.
Queen Camilla, 78, also retains nearby Grade II-listed Ray Mill House, bought in 1996 for £850,000, with the proceeds of her divorce from Andrew Parker Bowles.
The Cotswolds’ most famous resident is His Majesty King Charles III, who spends time at his country estate there, Highgrove House
King Charles III and Queen Camilla during a visit to the Sandringham Flower Show in Norfolk on July 23, 2025
The then-Prince Charles spent time at Highgrove with Princess Diana as Prince William and Prince Harry grew up
Queen Camilla, 78, also retains nearby Grade II-listed Ray Mill House, bought in 1996 for £850,000, with the proceeds of her divorce from Andrew Parker Bowles
Sources said she uses the home to get away from Highgrove when it is teeming with tourists.
One insider told newspaper columnist Adam Helliker: ‘At Rey Mill she can sit down with a big G&T, kick off her shoes and watch Coronation Street, which Charles loathes.
‘She also doesn’t have to bother about how the place looks – Charles is so fussy about tidiness, while she leaves her stuff all over the place. She doesn’t need her cushions plumped all the time.’
Jeremy Clarkson – Chipping Norton
Jeremy Clarkson’s £12.5million Cotswold mansion is the ultimate rural retreat.
The former Top Gear and Grand Tour star shares the six-bedroom home with partner Lisa Hogan, 51, on his 1,000-acre Diddly Squat Farm near Chipping Norton.
Clarkson, 65, famously blew up his previous £4million cottage for a Grand Tour stunt – but subsequently battled jobsworth planners to open Diddly Squat Farm farmshop and restaurant.
Former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson owns this £12.5million Cotswold mansion
Plan of what the farmhouse was designed to look like at the back, from the original planning application
The former Top Gear and Grand Tour star shares the six-bedroom home with partner Lisa Hogan, 51, on his 1,000-acre Diddly Squat Farm near Chipping Norton
Clarkson, 65, famously blew up his previous £4million cottage for a Grand Tour stunt
He filmed the humongous explosion that got rid of his old home so he could build the new one
Jeremy Clarkson’s previous cottage was razed to the ground in a ball of flames
He previously ranted about his life going down the pan due to the extravagant new-build.
He said: ‘I’ve often said that nothing in life is as awful as trying on trousers. It’s the lowest point in a man’s life. Except it isn’t.
‘Being dragged to London to spend a day choosing what sort of flush handle you’d like on your lavatory is worse.’
Last year, Clarkson purchased The Windmill pub in Asthall, near Burford, for a reported £1m.
Posh and Becks – Great Tew
While the Beckhams’ property empire spans a London townhouse, a Dubai beach pad, and a Miami penthouse, the superstar couple are said to prefer life hunkered down at their stunning Cotswolds retreat.
Their Grade II-listed farmhouse was transformed into a sprawling country mansion when they snapped it up in December 2016 for £6.15million.
David and Victoria Beckham attend a dinner King Charles III’s Cotswolds estate, Highgrove House, in Tetbury, on February 7, this year
David Beckham relaxed at his Cotswolds estate as temperatures soared over the weekend
Over the years, and more frequently in recent times, David has shared snippets of what he gets up to at his rural home with his family, including caring for chickens
Inside, the home blends rustic charm with luxury, boasting exposed brick walls, huge open fireplaces, and wooden beams across low ceilings. The estate also boasts a football pitch, a bee farm and a traditional Estonian sauna.
The estate has hosted star-studded celebrations, including the backdrop for son Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz’s engagement photos.
Alex James – Kingham
Blur bassist-turned-cheesemaker Alex James has made Kingham in the Cotswolds his home – and quite literally ‘lives in a house, a very big house in the country’.
The 56-year-old owns a stunning six-bedroom 17th-century farmhouse surrounded by rolling countryside and 200 acres of farmland.
James shared the honey-stoned farmhouse with his wife Claire and their five children, but also invites thousands each year to the site of his annual Big Feastival food and music festival.
Blur bassist-turned-cheesemaker Alex James (centre) has made Kingham in the Cotswolds his home
The 56-year-old owns a stunning six-bedroom 17th-century farmhouse surrounded by rolling countryside and 200 acres of farmland
Speaking to Hello last year, James said: ‘The farm was completely derelict, and we worked hard, throwing everything into it.
‘God bless Claire. She thought she was getting a rock star, but she was getting a s*** farmer instead.’
Calvin Harris and Vick Hope – Moreton-in-Marsh
DJ Calvin Harris and presenter Vick Hope found their Cotswolds escape in 2019, paying £3.9million for a stylish property in the picturesque market town of Moreton-in-Marsh.
Harris, 41, won praise from locals after demolishing an ‘ugly’ post-war property to build a grand Cotswold country house in its place.
He and Hope, 35, hired Ben Pentreath, one of the Royal Family’s trusted architects, to design a home fit for a king.
Calvin Harris (right), worth an eye-watering £250million, lives in a stunning mansion with his wife, the Countryfile and Radio 1 presenter Vick Hope (left)
Calvin Harris, 41, won praise from locals and planners after demolishing an ‘ugly’ post-war property and building a grand ‘Cotswold country house’ in its place
Harris hired one the Royal Family’s favourite architects to build a home fit for a king and now plans to swap rave culture for agriculture
Set on 10 acres on the outskirts of the desirable Gloucestershire village, the property boasts a vineyard, swimming pool, tennis court, and landscaped gardens.
Yet not everyone was happy with the arrival of the One Kiss DJ, real name Adam Wiles.
Local Ken Mercer previously told the Daily Mail of his mixed feelings about another multimillionaire star relocating to the desirable spot.
The retired Norfolk holiday cottage boss said: ‘Another big celebrity name coming to The Cotswolds who can afford to buy a massive plot of land which could house 20 homes for ordinary people.’
He added: ‘I can’t imagine Calvin will mix with local villagers when he moves here.’
Simon Cowell – Chipping Norton
Music mogul Simon Cowell purchased a luxurious £8million farmhouse in the Chipping Norton area in 2021, settling into eight acres of rolling Cotswolds countryside.
The Daily Mail revealed how the 65-year-old plans for a new 793 sq ft ‘party barn’ to entertain friends and family.
The extension, described by his agents as ‘minor in scale,’ is roughly the size of an average new-build home in the UK and will double as a games room for Cowell’s two sons.
Simon Cowell – pictured here in an Instagram photo he shared alongside his fiancee Lauren Silverman and their sons Eric, 10, and Adam, 18 – is bidding to build a new extension
Cowell filmed himself outside his Cotswolds home last October, singing happy birthday to himself in a video which he shared on Instagram
Simon Cowell officially bid farewell to London after leaving the capital ‘because he no longer feels safe’, selling his £45million home in Holland Park (pictured)
Cowell moved to an estate with fiancée Lauren Silverman following a spate of break-ins at their former £45million Holland Park home.
Perched on a hilltop, the property already boasts a wild swimming pond, indoor pool, and sweeping countryside views.
Cowell joined neighbours, including Kate Moss and Princess Beatrice, in the fashionable rural enclave.
Ellen DeGeneres & Portia Rossi – Burford
Former talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, 67, left the US just before Donald Trump’s election victory, disillusioned with life in America.
She and partner Portia de Rossi, 52, first purchased a property in Cheltenham, which they described as a ‘part-time house,’ before snapping up Kitesbridge Farm in 2024 for around $20million.
The couple then moved into a bespoke 10,000-square-foot home nearby named Hiaven, which they purchased for $26million.
Ellen DeGeneres has put her Cotswolds farmhouse on the market for £22.5million – a staggering £7.5million more than she paid for it just 12 months ago. Pictured: The former talk show host (left) and her wife Portia de Rossi (right)
High end estate agent Sotheby’s International Realty is marketing the seven-bedroomed home as ‘a landmark country estate in the heart of the Cotswolds’
It is the astonishing price increase which has surprised some estate experts familiar with the property – even if it has been ‘beautifully reimagined’
She bought the home for £15million 12 months ago – £2.5million over the asking price
The couple have since moved to a spectacular new property which is perched on a hilltop on the edge of a village in Oxfordshire
She has been living in the UK with her actress wife Portia de Rossi, 52, currently based in a new second home – having left the initial one that is now up for grabs
DeGeneres, 67, revealed last month at an event in Cheltenham that she was selling Kitesbridge Farm.
She said: ‘We decided we needed a different house, and now we are selling that house.
‘So if anyone wants a house, it’s a beautiful stone farmhouse.
‘To clarify, I’m not selling the new one we now live in. I’m selling the old stone farmhouse.’
Kate Moss – Little Faringdon
Supermodel Kate Moss has called the Cotswolds home for over two decades, owning a 10-bedroom Grade II-listed manor in Little Faringdon.
She purchased the property in the early 2000s for £2million and quit London permanently in 2021 for life in rural Oxfordshire.
The manor features deep red living rooms, wood-panelled walls, stone floors and bold artworks.
The supermodel bought her home in the Cotswolds over a decade ago for a cool £2 million, and moved permanently to the property last year
Kate’s sister Lottie, who spent lockdown with the supermodel, has shared a host of snaps from inside her mansion, including a photograph from a red painted lounge
Lottie also posed for another picture in a light pink coloured room with a huge photograph of a nude woman above the chaise longue
Meanwhile there are also stacks of books piled up on bookcases in the living room of the supermodels’ home, where guests can lounge on a red floral sofa
Wooden bookshelves line the living room of the country mansion in the Cotswolds where Kate spent lockdown with Lottie and her husband
Kate, who lives at the country pile with partner Nikolai von Bismarck, 35, and her children, also has a large garden with a statue next to a pond, which Lottie showcased in another of her snaps
Outside, there appears to be several dining areas, including an under-cover barn conversion in which are there multiple wicker thrones
Outside, the gardens include a pond, statues and vibrant flower displays.
The former city-loving hedonist, 51, has embraced country life, previously telling The Times: ‘You do things you could never do in the city – sleeping outside, cooking on a fire, all of those things that, growing up in Croydon, I didn’t have.
‘It’s like having another childhood or being in the Famous Five. It’s those simple things that make your life proper, isn’t it?’
Richard Hammond – Bollitree Castle
Richard Hammond’s Cotswolds home is a Grade II-listed mock castle in Weston-under-Penyard.
The Top Gear and The Grand Tour presenter, 55, snapped up Bollitree Castle in 2008 for a reported £2million.
Set on 20 acres, the property boasts six bedrooms, a swimming pool and 20 acres of land.
The Grade II-listed property, built in the 18th century, has six bedrooms, a swimming pool and 20 acres of land
The Top Gear star, 55, confirmed the end of his 28-year marriage with indy, 59, earlier this year (pictured in 2023)
The Top Gear and The Grand Tour presenter, 55, snapped up Bollitree Castle in 2008 for a reported £2million
A swimming pool (pictured) is currently housed in the barn where Hammond lives
Richard Hammond reportedly stayed in his beloved barn on his sprawling £7million Bollitree Castle estate in the wake of his split from estranged wife Mindy
Richard has a huge motor collection and said he was keen to rip up a swimming pool he didn’t use in the barn to show off more
The couple’s eldest daughter Isabella, 24, still lives on the estate, working with her father, while younger daughter Willow, 22, lives in Gloucestershire
However, Hammond was reportedly banished to the barn in the wake of his split from estranged wife Mindy, 60.
The car fanatic spent 15 years restoring the listed granary barn into his dream ‘clubhouse’.
The couple’s eldest daughter, Isabella, 24, still lives on the estate, working with her father, while younger daughter Willow, 22, lives in Gloucestershire.
