Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne has been given the go-ahead to create his ‘forever home’ for his family in a secluded country retreat equipped with a pool and tennis court.
I can disclose that the actor splashed out on the nine-bedroom, Grade II home set in 18 acres of land in Wiltshire last year, which was valued at £4.25million. He has now been given the all-clear to carry out massive renovations on the property.
Eton-educated Eddie and his wife, Hannah, both pictured, want to ‘overhaul’ the building’s exterior, repairing and re-pointing brickwork and re-roofing the house. Inside they want to refurbish the wooden flooring, install wood fibre insulation and replace the boiler with ground-source heat pumps.
Wiltshire Council recently gave permission for the work to go ahead, saying the plans were ‘well designed and sympathetic’. The application said: ‘The building has recently changed hands for the first time since the 1930s, when the last known sizeable amount of work was undertaken. The new owners, who have a young family, intend the house to be their “forever home”.
Eddie and Hannah are set to carry out major renovations on the Grade II listed building in Wiltshire
The document also said: ‘It should be stressed that the new owners have traditional taste and have purchased the property due to their love of historic buildings.’
Eddie, 43, and Hannah, 42, are believed to be waiting for the renovation before moving in with their children Iris, nine, and Luke, seven.
Harry’s ‘first kiss’ enjoys electric do
Sophia Hesketh, Prince Harry’s rumoured first kiss, pictured in a blue wig and matching dress
When the Prince and Princess of Wales were attending Wimbledon and away from their Sandringham holiday home, Anmer Hall, their fellow ‘Turnip Toffs’ got the party started in Norfolk.
Robbie and Iona Buxton gave a very colourful bash at their 18th-century Kimberley Hall estate and were joined by the likes of Queen Camilla’s son, Tom Parker Bowles.
Sophia Hesketh, 40, who is said to have been Prince Harry’s first kiss and is daughter of former Tory treasurer Lord Hesketh, wore an electric blue wig and matching dress. Her husband, Ollie Birkbeck, 52, wore a Miami Vice-style grey suit. Other guests included Lady (Lara) Somerleyton and James Tollemache, whose 21st birthday party saw Prince William dancing in his boxer shorts before jumping into the moat at his Suffolk estate, Helmingham Hall.
BBC broadcaster Michael Buerk, whose report on the Ethiopian famine in 1984 prompted Bob Geldof to stage Live Aid, is shocked so many of the pop stars are still alive. ‘I am rather surprised some of them are not dead already,’ he tells me at the 40th anniversary performance of Just For One Day – The Live Aid Musical, at London’s Shaftesbury Theatre. ‘I mean, that cocaine thing probably…’ Buerk, 79, is careful to add: ‘Not at the BBC, of course.’ Perish the thought.
King’s godson hits town in kilt
Prince Constantine-Alexios, far left, with Flynn Busson, far right, in full tartan get-up at the weekend
Prince William has refused to wear a kilt since he was a child, even though he will be King of Scotland one day.
But King Charles’s godson, Prince Constantine-Alexios, was keen to slip into Scottish attire on a trip to Edinburgh at the weekend.
The Greek prince, 26, joined friends including Flynn Busson, 27, the son of Australian supermodel Elle Macpherson. Constantine-Alexios, far left, wore a red kilt and sporran, while Flynn, far right, chose a yellow tartan baldric and complementary trousers.
KING Charles got a frosty reception from anti-monarchists Down Under last year. But he has won over artist Warwick Fuller, whose works will be shown at Buckingham Palace. ‘I have so much respect for the King because of the way he conducts himself,’ the self-declared republican says.
Judy hopes for ace Sir Andy statue
Sir Andy next to a very questionable ‘terracotta warrior’ version of himself in Shanghai, C
Judy Murray is hoping Wimbledon’s planned statue of her son, Sir Andy, is better than another she hates.
The new figure has been commissioned by the All England Club to celebrate the Scotsman’s historic victories. And his mother says: ‘There is a statue of Andy, Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic in Shanghai. They’re called the terracotta warriors… I walked straight past it and somebody said, “You just walked past Andy”.
‘I went back and thought, “No, that’s nothing like him”. That’s how bad it was. I’m sure Wimbledon will do better.’
While Succession’s Logan Roy had a ruthless approach to parenting, actor Brian Cox is making up for lost time with his eldest son, Alan. The actor has cast him in his feature directorial debut, Glenrothan. Alan, 54, will play the father of Brian’s character, Sandy. ‘I cast my own son as my father, which was weird,’ Cox, 79, acknowledges.
