Goggleboxer’s battle over Rothschilds’ luxury barn

GOGGLeBOX star Giles Wood entertains viewers with his armchair bickering with his agony aunt wife Mary Killen — and now he’s given his Wiltshire neighbours Lord and Lady rothschild a piece of his mind.

Artist Giles (pictured) has accused the financier and his wife, serena, of planning to build an ‘inappropriate’ luxury barn conversion down the road from his and Mary’s thatched cottage in the village of Huish.

The rothschilds, whose fortune is estimated at £735million, have won planning permission to create a 2,540 sq ft fivebedroom house in an area of outstanding natural beauty on their West stowell Farm near pewsey.

But Giles says the twostorey barn conversion is ‘run-of-the-mill’ and quoted poet edward Thomas in a letter asking the council to block the plans.

‘To grant permission would diminish the local distinctiveness of the area, which edward Thomas described as “a beautiful, a quiet, an unrenowned and a most visibly ancient land”,’ he wrote.

‘The main issue is one of inappropriate development, leading to the erosion of local character and distinctiveness.’

The controversial plans were filed under Lady rothschild’s name, but locals believe the luxury house is meant for their son nat, 46, a reformed playboy who splits his time between Wiltshire and Klosters in switzerland. ‘everyone knows it’s for nat,’ says a source.

A flint-clad house designed for Lord rothschild at his Waddesdon estate in Buckinghamshire won a royal Institute of British Architects House of the Year award in 2015.

But Giles says the rothschilds’ barn conversion sets a precedent for other owners looking to ‘cash in’, and that it will change the Vale of pewsey into ‘just another suburb complete with inappropriate swimming pools and helicopter pads’.

The Campaign For rural england also opposes the house, because it will harm the ‘remoteness and tranquillity’ in the ‘magnificent panorama’ of the north Wessex Downs, and create light pollution.

If nat and new wife Loretta Basey, a former topless model, don’t enjoy the barn’s three en-suite bathrooms, perhaps nat’s good friend Lord Mandelson might take the plunge.

In 2014, I revealed the former Labour Cabinet minister and his Brazilian boyfriend, reinaldo da silva, rented a cottage on the estate, so Mandy could realise his dream of a farming life.

‘My lambing and milking skills will soon be tested,’ he said. ‘Baa and moo.’ A spokesman for stowell Farms says the occupant of the barn conversion has not been determined.