Sarah Beeny has been ordered to tear down her £3million home – dubbed a ‘mini Downtown Abbey’ – after she built it without permission.
The property expert has faced a six-year conflict with local residents and the Somerset Council over her plans to transform a rural estate in Stoney Stoke, Somerset, which she purchased in 2018.
After initially receiving approval four years ago to replace the existing 1970s farmhouse with a seven-bedroom mansion, Ms. Beeny, 53, proceeded to expand the structure without authorization and then sought retroactive approval, including new French doors and a first-floor balcony.
When she sought approval later, it was denied, and her appeal was also rejected in March, even though her design team submitted a 125-page document to support their case.
Currently, there is an active enforcement notice for the demolition of the home, and Somerset Council is planning a site visit with Ms. Beeny and her husband, Graham Swift.
The council, which has been in a prolonged dispute with the Property Ladder presenter, is expected to arrive with a team of enforcement officers and ecological specialists.
A spokesman said: ‘A site visit is due later this month or early October.
‘The Council will be attendance with the appropriate specialists and next steps will be determined after that visit has taken place.’
Sarah Beeny, 53, has been ordered to tear down her £3million home – dubbed a ‘mini Downtown Abbey’ – after she built it without permission
Four years after agreeing to knock down an original 1970s farmhouse, Ms Beeny went ahead with extending the building without permission instead
The renovations featured on Sarah’s Channel 4 series New Life in the Country
Local residents, including the Charlton Musgrove Parish Council, are displeased with Ms. Beeny, strongly opposing all the unauthorized work she has undertaken.
They say that after having being given approval to knock down the farmhouse, the current application to extend it is contradictory.
What has also caused concern is bats that were found present in the farmhouse, and the parish council previously asked that ‘they build a roost for the bats’.
Neighbour Kevin Flint told The Sun: ‘It’s created a lot of bad feeling in the village.
‘She was given permission to build the new house on condition she knocked down the old one which she extended and refurbished, it’s just not on.
‘She thinks she can move down here and ride roughshod over everybody but it’s not going to happen.
‘I think the fair thing would be for anything unauthorised on the site to be demolished like Captain Tom’s daughter[‘s house].’
Hannah Ingram-Moore built an illegal spa at her house in Marston Moretaine, claiming it was partly being used by her late father’s charity, but the council ordered her to tear it down.
Ms Beeny previously won a two-year battle to keep an alpine winter wonderland treehouse built without planning permission
Ms Beeny’s renovations featured on Sarah’s Channel 4 series New Life in the Country.
It follows a lengthy two-year battle Ms Beeny had in 2022 to keep a James Bond-style treehouse at her sprawling estate.
She built the plush log cabin using deadwood from the former dairy farm with her children lending a helping hand.
She also built a thatched boathouse and greenhouse without the council’s go-ahead and was facing possible enforcement action to demolish the unauthorised structures.
She applied for retrospective consent and was granted a ‘change of use’ of the former agricultural land to extend her garden.
Officials at the local council gave the green light despite objections from the local parish council who said the extension was too big.
Meanwhile, last year, she was forced to make a U-turn on plans to convert two barns into four new homes after local objections.
Six complained about the proposed development, accusing her of ‘riding roughshod’ over planning laws.
They also said she had ‘blatantly ignored’ an enforcement notice ordering her to remove earth banks built without planning permission.
Sarah Beeny’s representative has been contacted for comment.
