Rows over David’s new bachelor pad
VB’S Cotswolds dream has turned into a ’mare
If you’ve ever watched Escape To The Country, you’ll know husbands across the UK are obsessed with having a “man shed”. But, if you’re David Beckham, you get a £9m “man house.”
After months of renovations on the family’s new Oxfordshire mansion causing rows, heat can reveal that Victoria’s told David he can have it as a lad pad all to himself. “The house was originally bought by David,” says heat’s insider of the £6.1m barn conversion, hidden away in the Cotswolds. “It needed a total overhaul, and Victoria said the only way she could live there was if they put in separate living quarters and a special kitchen for her personal chef, as well as a gym. But renovations have dragged on for so long now, Victoria told David he could do what he wanted and make it his own country pad.”
Now, the latest planning applications are in David’s name, and don’t include any of the £3m extensions Victoria, 43, had requested to make life in the country bearable for her. “There’s no mention of Victoria on any of the planning forms,” says the source. “And it looks like it’s been designed for proper country lovers – even the exterior’s being done by Chelsea Flower Show winner Marcus Barnett. David’s made a huge effort with the garden, orchard and surrounding meadows to make them as rural and wild as possible. Instead of a fitness studio or extra kitchen, there’s a home cinema and an outside office with storage, probably for David’s hunting guns.”
The former footballer, 42, has embraced country living in recent years, recently going partridge shooting with his director pal Guy Ritchie. He also claimed his dream day would be “a Sunday lunch by a big log fire – I love going to pubs in the countryside”. None of which is exactly the fashion designer’s cup of tea – especially since her business empire is based in central London.
“Victoria does not want to live in the country,” says the insider. “She might visit when it’s finished, but she loves her family home in London and is so busy with work, she won’t be there much.” ■