English country idyll or an eyesore that looks a bit…shhh, whisper it… suburban? Plans submitted by David and Victoria Beckham to super-size the ornamental lake in the grounds of their Cotswolds home is causing division among neighbours in Great Tew – a small village with a disproportionately high profile due to its high celebrity contingent.
The Beckhams want to create a 4,170sq m lake – that’s half the size of a football pitch – in the grounds of their Grade II listed house, complete with a 122sq m artificial island and an underground chamber, known as a hibernacula, to nurture creatures from reptiles to hedgehogs. The couple feel the watery addition will recreate a classic English meadow scene. Neighbours fear it will be a flood risk and look utterly out of place in the heart of the countryside.
But the naysayers may be on the losing side as lockdown has fostered a love of ornamental lakes among the country set, according to rural property agents. Charlie Wells, head of Prime Purchase buying agency, is firmly on Team Beckham, having bought several properties with ornamental lakes for his wealthy clients.
They include a lottery winner in Surrey, who built a carp lake for his friends to enjoy, and a recent buyer in the Cotswolds who is reinstating the 300-metre long, spring-fed lake in their £30m house (the previous owner had filled it in when he had kids). …..
“Having water on a property appears on a buyer’s wish list more often than not. Water is extremely therapeutic and days spent on the water are, to me, meditation,” says Wells. “It’s hard to see why neighbours of the Beckhams would object to a lake. If they were planning to jet-ski on it, that would be a different matter, but one would expect them to desire something beautiful. Size is also important, however. You don’t want to overscale.” ……
Houses with ready-made lakes are in high demand in sought-after rural areas such as Pembrokeshire, where the 93-acre Waundrgi Estate in the Llandewi Valley, which includes a Grade II listed house, separate holiday cottage and a perch-stocked lake, is on sale for £1.75m.
“We find clients escaping from the city to live in the country, and the image of a child standing knee-deep in a lake, catching tadpoles in a jam jar, is part of the idyll they conjure up,” comments Carol Peett from West Wales Property Finders http://www.westwalespropertyfinders.co.uk
“The lake must blend into the landscape and give the impression it has always been there,” she adds. “People want natural-looking, clay-lined lakes with a small pontoon for mooring a rowing boat and maybe a hide or summer house from which to watch the kingfishers and dragonflies.” ….
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/luxury/property-and-architecture/beckhams-arent-alone-wanting-ornamental-lake-home-just-one/ – The Daily Telegraph 8th January 2021
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