Which Celebrities Live In The Cotswolds? (& Where?)

By Isabel Dempsey

3 weeks ago

Liam Gallagher is the latest celebrity planning a move to the area


Oasis star Liam Gallagher is the latest in a long line of celebs looking to call the Cotswolds home, with rumours circulating that the musician has brought up the £4m home of England and Arsenal captain Tony Adams in Coates, near Cirencester. Taking to X, Gallagher took a playful jab at his soon-to-be A-list neighbours: ‘To all the beautiful people from the Cotswolds, I come in peace. You won’t even know I’m there, I’m not like all those divvy celebrities who like to show off I’m LO FI as you were, LG x.’

And no wonder: last year’s annoucement that Tom Cruise was seeking a honey-stoned manor of his own left locals severely disgruntled. While we don’t know whether Cruise has yet made the move, the Mission: Impossible star was reportedly eyeing up large properties in the area of Charlbury, with his personal assistant on the hunt for multi-million pound estates.

More and more, the Cotswolds has become somewhat of a celebrity magnet. While not an official resident, last year Steve Jobs’s daughter Eve and Olympian Harry Charles hosted a pre-wedding dinner at The Bull in Charlbury, with guests including the likes of former US Vice President Kamala Harris. Other US natives known to have been drawn to its bucolic charms include US Vice President JD Vance on a summer escape, as well as Taylor Swift and her now-fiancé Travis Kelce who hid out in a £3.3m Great Tew property during the Eras Tour.

But with so many celebrities swanning in and out of the area, it can be difficult to keep track of the current Cotswolds celeb set. Many former residents (Elizabeth Hurley, Laurence Llewelyn‑Bowen and Stella McCartney to name a few) have long abandoned the area and others such as Richard Hammond, Guy Ritchie and Geri Halliwell sit just outside the region’s border. To stave off confusion, here’s your complete round-up of all the celebs that currently call this Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty home.

All The Celebrities Who Live In The Cotswolds

Claudia Winkleman in The Traitors

© BBC

Claudia Winkleman

Strictly Come Dancing host, Traitors star and fringe fanatic Claudia Winkleman reportedly snapped up a historic manor house in the Cotswolds around three years ago. Alledgedly worth about £3m, Winkleman shares the long-term rental with her husband, Danish film producer Kris Thykier. When not hiding out in the countryside bolthole, Winkleman and her family reside in a townhouse near Marble Arch, occasionally venturing just outside the Cotswolds to enjoy shooting parties at director Guy Ritchie’s Ashcombe Estate in Wiltshire.

Beyoncé & Jay-Z

Though not official residents yet (as far as we know), last year it was announced that Beyoncé and Jay-Z were on the hunt for a Cotswolds bolthole to call their own. The A-list power couple are set to splash out on a 58 acre estate near Wiggington, a small village near Banbury. The superstars, who already count Los Angeles and the Hamptons among their homes, are said to have obtained planning permission for the site and are close to sealing a multimillion-pound deal.

Kate Moss

From a north London party pad to a West Village apartment, Kate Moss has lived in an array of luxurious homes. Today, her primary residence is a Grade II listed, 10-bedroom country pile in Little Faringdon, Oxfordshire. Having purchased the property more than a decade ago for a reported £2m, the supermodel made a permanent move to the estate in 2021. Sharing the home with her younger sister and fellow model Lottie during lockdown, this quiet country retreat is a dramatic 180 switch from Moss’ headline-making London life of the 90s.

Paul and Prue

Prue Leith

While the Cotswolds may be best-known for its higgledy-piggledy estates and quaint stone cottages, Great British Bake Off  star and Cotswolds native Prue Leith lives in a custom-built modern mansion in Moreton-in-Marsh near the Worcestershire border. Purchased with her husband (retired fashion designer John Playfair) during lockdown, the grass-fronted barn conversion is a far cry from the Georgian Manor she once called home in the nearby Chastleton Glebe. Much like Leith’s daring style, the house boasts bright primary-coloured interiors and a well-loved garden. In an interview with us she shared her favourite Cotswolds haunts and explained why she’s glad so many rich people are moving to the Cotswolds.

Patrick Stewart

Best-known for his roles in Star Trek and X-Men, Sir Patrick Stewart reportedly owns a Cotswolds mansion near the villages of Lacock and Chipping Norton, dividing his time between the area and his Brooklyn home. Strangely, for a Hollywood star, Stewart is firmly on the locals’ side when it comes to the influx of A-listers swarming the area, joining their fight against the celebrity set and even signing a petition in opposition to the development of new luxury homes in the area.

Ellie Goulding

A renowned lover of the famed Cotswolds farm shop Daylesford Organic, Goulding moved to the area in 2021 when the singer and her art dealer husband, Casper Jopling, needed a place to hide out during the pandemic. Their six-bedroom £1.3m manor house was renovated to restore the barn to its original state.

Alex James

Famed for his annual Big Feastival which is held in the area, Blur star Alex James owns a farm in Kingham, Oxfordshire, having bought the 200-acre property during his honeymoon in 2003 and transformed it from a ‘wreck’ to a functioning farm. He hosts the large food and music festival with Essex resident and chef Jamie Oliver.

Ben Miller

Looking to upsize to accomodate his growing family, when actor and comedian Ben Miller first started house-hunting in the Cotswolds he (like many celebrities) started off exploring the Chipping Norton area in Oxfordshire. Soon realising that he’d be stuck living in a shoe box sized home in the wealth-ridden area, he and his family instead located near Cirencester after they found their dream home in Country Life magazine. Made up of multiple cottages, the ‘bonkers’ home is connected across the ground floor and features a fake front door.

Calvin Harris & Vick Hope

The married DJ and broadcaster reportedly snapped up a Cotswolds property for over £3.5m around five years ago. Set in 10 acres of land, the Gloucestershire estate boasts its own vineyard, swimming pool and tennis court. Renovating the once ‘ugly’ post-war property into a grand Cotswolds country house, the stars employed the Royal Family’s favourite architects Ben Pentreath to do up the estate.

King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain

While not a celebrity per se, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain bought his Glympton Park estate from a fellow Middle Eastern royal (Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan) back in 2021 for over £120m. Alongside the 18th century Glympton House, the estate includes 39 cottages, a Norman parish church and 167 acres of parkland. 

Jeremy Clarkson standing next to a sign for Diddly Squat Farm Shop

Jeremy Clarkson

Bringing Cotswolds charm to the masses through his much-loved Clarkson’s Farm, the former Top Gear star first bought his 1,000 acre Diddly Squat Farm plot back in 2008. Living in a mansion on the Chipping Norton estate (reported to be worth around £12.5m) with his long-term partner Lisa Hogan, he gained planning permission for the property in 2013. While there were no objections from his neighbours then, Clarkson did later cause a local ruckus in 2016 when he blew up his old £4m farmhouse for an episode of The Grand Tour. While his fellow Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond is also reported to live in the area, he actually resides in the neighbouring county of Herefordshire just outside of the Cotswolds region where he owns the Grade II* listed Bollitree Castle in Weston-under-Penyard.

Amanda Holden

When she’s not running around Europe with Alan Carr, or living it up in London, the Britain’s Got Talent judge can be found in Chipping Norton. Having reportedly purchased her Cotswolds cottage plus half an acre of land for £860k, she is only just down the road from her fellow BGT star Simon Cowell.

Simon Cowell

In a bid for privacy, Britain’s Got Talent judge and millionaire media mogul Simon Cowell traded his £45m Holland Park townhouse for a sprawling £8m Cotswolds bolthole in 2021. The catalyst? A jewellery burglary at his London home which left Cowell £1m down. Relocating to the Cotswolds with wife Lauren Silverman and young son Eric, Cowell now reportedly enjoys activities like yoga and clay pigeon shooting in the privacy of the countryside. While we don’t know much about his West Oxfordshire farmhouse, the star reportedly submitted planning permission for a 793 sqft outhouse earlier this year.

Ian McEwan

Beloved British author Ian McEwan resides in the Cotswolds along the banks of the River Orwell with his wife, the author and journalist Annalena McAfee. The pair settled on the property in 2012 following an eight-year search for the perfect country home. Sat on the site of an earlier 17th century building which burnt down in 1920, the current limestone manor (designed in the 18th-century Palladian style with Arts and Crafts and Italianate influences) was built in 1923 by Scottish architect Andrew Noble Prentice. Set within nine acres of grounds, the writer and his wife have worked alongside landscape designer Mary Keen to bring their gardens to life. Now a botantical buzz of ‘colour and chaos’, among the roses and the vines the gardens boast a mirror pond, pergola and pavilion.

Damien Hirst

The UK’s richest living artist, Damien Hirst has made a home out of a Grade I listed Cotswolds pile by the name of Toddington Manor. Located near Cheltenham in rural Gloucestershire, Hirst purchased the 300-room Victorian Gothic mansion back in 2005, renovating it into a private residence and gallery for his art collection.

David Beckham

Netflix

David & Victoria Beckham

Of all the celebrities who have made the Cotswolds home, none are bigger advocates for the area than Posh and Becks. In 2016, the couple bought a £12m converted barn in the heart of the Cotswolds. Featured in their headline-making Netflix documentary Beckham, the idyllic estate can be regularly spotted in the background of the family’s various Instagram feeds and TikTok snippets.

From a football pitch, gym, swimming pool and tennis courts, to beehives, orchards, chickens and treehouse, this property even boasts an outdoor spa, sauna and BBQ tent. Located near Chipping Norton, their home is only a stone’s throw from the celebrity-loved Soho Farmhouse.

Speaking to Country Life about the area, David Beckham explained that he moved to the Cotswolds because it ‘brought him peace’: ‘It’s one of the most beautiful parts of the countryside. I’m never happier than when I’m here.’ Want to know where else the Beckhams live? Here’s a full round-up of their homes.

Hugh Grant

It seems that no one can make up their minds as to whether Hugh Grant does or does not actually live in the Cotswolds. While many claims circulate that the Notting Hill star has owned a home in the area since 2003, locals tell a different story. Though he has been spotted around the area multiple times, no one is quite sure whether the mysterious man is a Cotswolds local or not.

Ellen DeGeneres

In November 2024, Ellen and her wife – former Arrested Development star Portia de Rossi – swapped out the luxuries of LA life for the bucolic comforts of the Cotswolds. While they initially planned for their British bolthole to be a part-time residence where they would stay for three or four months a year, the re-election of Donald Trump prompted a permanent move to the region.

Setting up home in Kitesbridge Farm – a sprawling Cotswolds estate then worth £15m – the celebrity couple gave the historic home a mass makeover, upping the value to £22.5m. Set in the village of Swinbrook in Oxfordshire, the estate soon fell out of favour with the stars when they realised there wasn’t enough space to accommodate Portia’s horses year-round. Moving 30 minutes down the road, the comedian and her wife swapped out their farmhouse for a more modern hilltop mansion. Spanning around 10,000 sqft, the mansion is said to be complete with its very own infinity pool, theatre, gym and steam room.

Princess Beatrice

The royal and her property developer husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi put down roots in the Cotswolds in 2021 when they purchased a farmhouse there estimated to be worth around £3.5m. While little is known about the countryside abode, it has been reported that the home boasts six bedrooms, an outdoor swimming pool and multiple reception rooms. The couple have also renovated their guesthouse and have erected a six-foot security fence on their land for the sake of privacy.

Princess Anne

Princess Anne has lived at Gatcombe Park, just outside the village of Minchinhampton in Gloucestershire, since 1976, after being gifted the property by the late Queen Elizabeth II as a wedding present. Built in 1774 (but redesigned for economist David Ricardo in 1820), the Grade II listed house is believed to include five bedrooms, four secondary bedrooms, four reception rooms, a library and a billiard room.

Meanwhile, Anne’s daughter Zara Tindall and her family lives in a separate home on the 700-acre estate called Aston Farm.

Highgrove

Robert Smith Photography

The King

Last but not least, King Charles III famously shares a private residence with Queen Camilla in Tetbury. Highgrove dates back to the 18th century, but it didn’t fall into royal hands until 1980 when Charles purchased the property from Maurice Macmillan via the Duchy of Cornwall.

With gardens open to the public since 1996, Highgrove is the closest we can get to the Cotswolds celeb set without trespassing. Join the annual 30,000 visitors to enjoy the flourishing gardens, spot birds and wildlife and catch glimpses of the gorgeous neoclassical house itself.


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