Jamie’s for-beaver home
JAMIE Oliver’s new £6million Essex country pile boasts a six-bed Elizabethan mansion, three-bed lodge and a converted cart shed.
But the superstar chef ’s 70-acre estate also comes with something else – two very wellprotected sitting tenants.
The dad-of-five, 43, snapped up the North Essex site last month.
But when he moves in he’ll have no choice but to share with the existing residents – two rare Eurasian beavers.
The animals were set to be intro-
duced to the grounds in December by the former owner to help stop localised flooding. The scheme, backed by the Environment Agency, is the first time beavers will have lived in Essex for 400 years.
The agency’s Matt Butcher said at the time: “The beavers bring another exciting dimension, as we can assess how effective they are as flood engineers.”
Jamie’s reps have not commented on his house-share situation. However the tenants are noticeably longer in the tooth than he and his family.
As for the beavers, it is understood they won’t give a, er, damn, about living with him and wife Jools, 44.
The chef did their species a huge favour in 2011 when he exposed food companies for using very private beaver parts as a vanilla food flavouring.
Jamie told a shocked David Letterman at the time: “More to the point, who found out that the beaver anal gland tastes good?”
Sounds like they’ve found a pukka housemate to me.