BOYCOTT’S OUT!
Cricket hero to quit Yorkshire as he puts £2.85m pad on sale
AS the greatest living Yorkshireman, it was only right that Sir Geoffrey Boycott have a palatial home in the county that worships him.
But at 79, the cricketing legend has decided to up stumps and leave his magnificent mansion in God’s own country.
His daughter Emma, 31, has recently had a son and he and wife Rachael want to be nearer to them in Cheshire.
The Boycotts bought Boston Hall, a Grade II-listed Georgian mansion dating g from 1807, for £1.5million six years ago.
It’s just a short drive from the cramped d National Coal Board terrace house where e the sporting hero lived as a young boy.
The property in Boston Spa, West Yorkshire, - had fallen into disrepair – having g previously been used as offices – and the e couple ploughed a small fortune into o renovations. Today it has 11 bedrooms, , reception rooms dripping with gold and a beautifully manicured garden, complete e with an artificial putting green.
However, having created their dream m home, the property is now on the market t for £2.85million.
Sir Geoffrey makes no secret of who the e owner is – with his name on a blue plaque e on the front gate – but it was his wife who masterminded the renovations.
The couple bought the house only after ensuring the ‘ feng shui’ was right. A highly respected feng shui master is said to have inspected the property to ensure it would be beneficial to the former Test batsman’s health.
Having beaten cancer and last year undergone heart bypass surgery, Sir Geoffrey has apparently embraced the ancient Chinese concept of harmonising people with their surroundings.
But it took 14 months of building work before they could move into the main house and enjoy the opulent surroundings complete with Versace furniture, chandeliers and marble kitchen worktops. The property has a separate West Wing, along with a cottage and a staff flat.
Speaking about the transformation from a company headquarters to a palatial mansion earlier this year, Lady Boycott said: ‘This has been an amazing house but we can’t be of any use as grandparents here in Yorkshire, unfortunately, so we have decided to sell up and move to be close to Emma, where I will be able to help with the baby and with her business.’ Estate agents Croft Residential have described the house as ‘one of the finest historic houses in the area’. Sir Geoffrey was knighted earlier this year in former prime minister Theresa May’s resignation honours list.
The award was strongly criticised by domestic abuse charities as he was convicted of assaulting his girlfriend Margaret Moore in France in 1998. Miss Moore, 67, said in a newspaper interview: ‘He doesn’t deserve a knighthood. It’s disgusting.’