Once upon a time Jeremy Clarkson, Amanda Holden, and the Beckham family could congratulate themselves on being the leading members of the Cotswolds’ A-list.
But an invasion from across the Atlantic is threatening to dethrone the middle-aged TV presenters, retired footballer and former Spice Girl.
The latest arrivistes said to have the Cotswolds in their sights are global megastars Beyoncé and Jay-Z who are reportedly negotiating the purchase of a 58-acre plot near the village of Wiggington, Oxfordshire.
Planning permission was granted five years ago to build a new house on the site but, with over 30 objections from local residents, it seems the music moguls may not get the warmest of English welcomes if they build to existing designs.
CGIs from 2020/2021 show a striking complex of interlinking barns, each with their own entrances, to allow a family to live "independently but together", according to the architect's website. The seven-bedroom house is designed to be made of wood, with one of the wings of the property projecting out over a lake.
One Wigginton resident objecting to the plans said: "It is such precious countryside that we will be losing. There is a huge risk that the area is turning into an urban sprawl. If ever there was an inappropriate development proposed then this is surely it."
She went on to condemn it as an "oversized flat-pack timber eyesore".
The 58-acre plot near Wiggington stands only around two miles from the showpiece Cotswolds home owned by chat show host Ellen DeGeneris and her wife, the actress Portia de Rossi.
The couple are understood to have bought the newly-built 11,000 sq ft courtyard house in 2023, spending up to £20m on the estate set in 100 acres of grounds where they keep chickens. DeGeneres dipped her toe into farming life by taking on a small flock of unruly sheep which lasted only a couple of weeks after they kept escaping — and letting themselves into the couple's new home.
DeGeneres and de Rossi put their home in Montecito, California, up for sale last year and have confirmed that a motivation for the move was their distaste for the Trump administration.
And they are not alone. Americans applying for British citizenship topped 6,000 last year, up 26 per cent compared to 2023, with numbers spiking around the time of Donald Trump’s re-election. Meanwhile, buying agent Jo Eccles reports a 25.5 per cent rise in American students attending UK private schools in the last five years.
“ I would estimate that around 10 per cent of buyers looking at homes over £2 million in the Cotswolds are in fact American citizens,” said Helen Whitfield, partner and head of residential agency at Butler Sherborn estate agents, who said there are regularly bidding wars and over-asking price offers on the most beautiful houses.
“The Cotswolds has become a huge brand on the world stage,” agreed Seb Hipwood, co-founder of The Blue Book Agency. “It is shorthand for the quintessential England people imagine, with rolling hills, stone villages, farmers’ markets and world-class food halls.”
The DeGeneres Rossi house is close to the village of High Newington and both the Beckhams and Simon Cowell live locally. Conveniently, it is only four miles from the Soho Farmhouse, the private members club which is the centrepiece of the north Cotswolds social scene. The couple have been spotted hanging out there, as well as at The Farmer’s Dog, which is owned by Clarkson.
Harry Gladwin, head of the Cotswolds at The Buying Solution, said he had seen a 30 per cent uptick in US-based buyers since the start of the pandemic. “American buyers are drawn to villages with a strong sense of community, a welcoming pub and postcard-perfect look,” he said. “This region ticks every box of what they dream the English countryside should be – rolling hills, honey-coloured stone, cricket on the green, cosy pubs and villages that look unchanged for centuries. Many Americans comment it’s like living in a fairytale. There’s also the celebrity factor which reassures Americans that they’re buying into something fashionable as well as authentic.
While some Americans are relocating to the Cotswolds – now nicknamed the British Hamptons – plenty more have dipping their toes in the water. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce stayed in a £3.3 million Great Tew property during the European leg of her Eras Tour last summer.
Apple heiress Eve Jobs, daughter of the late tech genius Steve Jobs, celebrated her wedding to British Olympic gold medal show jumper Harry Charles at Estelle Manor near Charlbury in July, which was attended by stateside guests including Kamala Harris, the former US vice president, and Princess Beatrice and her property developer husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi. Jessica Springsteen, daughter of Bruce Springsteen and a successful show jumper in her own right, was a bridesmaid dressed in scarlet satin.
While Harris celebrated the nuptials, her successor, JD Vance was also spending time in the Cotswolds. He holidayed with his family at the rented Grade II listed Dean Manor, set in six acres of gardens and grounds in the hamlet of Dean, close to Chipping Norton — to the annoyance of some locals who complained about police stops and road closures around the Vances’ holiday bolthole.
The glories of the Cotswolds have even permeated the glamorous world of the Kardashian family with Kourtney Kardashian visiting this summer and posting as series of bucolic pictures of Cotswold stone cottages, village ponds, and china teacups, to her 207 million Instagram followers. She captioned the images: “dreamy story book fairytale enchantment”.
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Buying agent Sharon Barnard of Stacks Property Search is currently working with a number of American clients, some looking for holiday homes and others looking to relocate permanently. Many have read about the region in the gossip columns and in social media and want to try it out for themselves.
What they love about the Cotswolds when they get here, she said, is not just the beauties of its landscape but the fact that it feels safe, and is not too remote from London and its airports. “The area has plenty of infrastructure, great pubs and restaurants,” she said. “Daylesford, Soho Farmhouse, and Estelle Manor all offer the kind of indulgent lifestyle that the Americans are seeking.”
While some Americans gravitate towards the celebrity-friendly north Cotswolds, Hipwood said others are venturing south and west in search of a quieter, more private life. Whatever their geographical preference, Hopwood notes that all US buyers tend to want an immaculate and historic home. “The idea of battling through a major renovation from across the Atlantic simply does not appeal,” he said. “Architecturally, it is English romance they are buying. Georgian rectories, honey-stone cottages, beams, fireplaces, the full storybook version of the countryside.”
