Harry’s home from home
He may get more Californian by the day, but from crazy property prices to trendy hotels, and polo hunks to A-list neighbours, Montecito is a mirror of the Cotswolds he left behind
PRISTINE beaches and majestic mountains. A world-class wine and dining scene. Architecture that’s Instagram gold. Spa culture good enough for Gwyneth. And lots of beautiful people. Montecito, where Prince Harry and Meghan are living ‘authentically’ with their rescue chickens in a mega mansion, is almost improbably perfect. A pocket- sized community of just nine square miles, it lies to the east of Santa Barbara, between the Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean.
Yet the Sussexes’ new home is not worlds away from the Oxfordshire countryside where they lived close to private members’ club Soho Farmhouse in the first few months of Meghan’s pregnancy with Archie. Indeed some have even dubbed Montecito the Cotswolds of California, on account of this picturesque setting within easy distance of LA being home to a stellar celebrity neighbourhood which likes to think of itself as low-key.
Brit Richard Mineards, who now lives in Montecito and has a column in the local magazine, says: ‘I can quite see the comparisons. The Cotswolds are 100 miles from London and Montecito’s about the same distance from Los Angeles. They’ve both got great architecture and natural beauty — though we have the sea and the mountains ains rather than the pastoral scenes of Gloucestershire. stershire.
‘And it’s the same mix of celebrities, ebrities, wealthy people and royalty. There’s Prince rince Charles at Highgrove and Princess cess Anne at Gatcombe Park and now we’ve got Harry and Meghan.
‘This is a bucolic setting, idyllic, yllic, a haven. We’ve got hiking trails, rails, beaches and beautiful country ntry lanes. We’ve seen Harry whizzing zing around those lanes on his electric ctric bike and he’s been spotted d on East Beach, where there’s volleyball. lleyhem I think we’ll see more of them once the pandemic is over.’
So what will life be like for the couple in the Cotswolds of California liforlift? when Covid restrictions lift? And with whom will they y be sharing perfectly mixed martinis tinis and just- so vegan brunches? hes? ALISON BOSHOFF reports...
HAVENS FOR THE WOKE AND WEALTHY
MONTECITO is said to be enjoying a ‘crazy’ property boom as the woke and wealthy flee crimeridden and fume- choked LA for somewhere far lovelier.
Retired British property developer Nigel Gallimore says: ‘I’ve heard the property prices have gone up as much as 20 per cent since the pandemic and with Harry and Meghan moving here.’
Sandy Stahl, a Sotheby’s estate agent, believes that the couple’s nine-bedroom, 16-bathroom home has doubled or even trebled in value since they bought it for £10 million just nine months ago.
Similarly, property prices in the Cotswolds are among the most expensive outside the capital, with searches for houses in the area increasing by 100 per cent since lockdown as wealthy Londoners seek refuge from the city.
Although best known for its pretty stone cottages, it’s not without its sprawling estates and mega mansions. One plot of land in the village of Ramsden went on the market for £20 million with planning permission for a 68,000ft Palladian-style mansion in place.
Inevitably, the Cotswolds has long had a celebrity connection.
The ‘ Chipping Norton Set’ includes former PM David Cameron, and famous secondhomers the Beckhams, who are still in a planning war with neighbours over their bid to instal a lake at their £6 million bolthole.
Other long- standing residents include TV’s Jeremy Clarkson and novelist Jilly Cooper, alongside newer blood such as musician Gary Barlow and Fifty Shades Of Grey star Jamie Dornan.
The Sussexes’ new neighbours are a mix of mostly like-minded entertainment stars with millions in the bank. However, the Californian crowd are also united by liberal passions and tastes which are apparently shared wholesale by the Sussexes — from rescue dogs to chai lattes.
Among them is chat-show host Ellen DeGeneres, who is already a friend of Harry and Meghan’s and lives a five-minute drive from their front door with her actress wife Portia De Rossi. In September last year, she bought a £36 million compound in an off-market deal. The Cape Dutch-style main house spans over 9,000 sq ft. There is also a guesthouse, a pool house, a barn, an infinity- edge swimming pool and a lily pond.
Ellen visited the couple at Frogmore, Windsor, soon after Archie’s birth, fed him and described Harry and Meghan as the ‘cutest couple’. She and Meghan text each other.
Other close new neighbours are actor Orlando Bloom and his pop star fiancee Katy Perry. They know Harry and Meghan through British chat- show host James Corden, who is a mutual friend.
The couple bought a six-bedroom home close to Harry and Meghan last year for £13 million from the boss of Chrysler. Sitting on a nine-acre plot, it has expansive ocean views, multiple terraces and rolling lawns, plus a pool, cabana and tennis court.
Singer Ariana Grande is another Montecito resident. She spent £4.8 million on a historic house, bought from DeGeneres.
Actress Natalie Portman has a £5 million ultra-modern home in the hills as a holiday residence.
And music producer David Foster, said to be a ‘father figure’ to Harry, is house- hunting in
Montecito with wife Katharine McPhee and their baby son.
SO LONG SOHO, HELLO GWYNNIE’S VIP CLUB
ACTRESS and Goop founder Gwyneth Paltrow has a huge family house in LA but spent £3.5 million on two plots of land in Montecito in 2016. she is building a massive property here to be a family vacation home for her, children Apple and Moses plus second husband Brad Falchuk and his two children.
She has set up a Goop shop, sundries, at the rosewood Miramar Beach Hotel in Montecito which sells everything from signature moisturisers to coconut dental floss. the hotel is a 161bedroomed luxury resort which includes a private members’ club for 200 or so of the area’s bestconnected locals. More exclusive than Meghan’s beloved soho Farmhouse, where she hosted her hen party, visitors are collected from the airport in one of a fleet of rolls-royce Ghost motors.
the Biltmore, which neighbours Oprah Winfrey’s land and has wonderful ocean views, is another luxe hotel with the soho Farmhouse vibe. Biltmore guests get free membership of the the coral casino Beach and cabana club on Butterfly Beach, a private club with ocean-front dining.
Harry and Meghan have been seen at Lucky’s steakhouse, a Montecito institution and Oprah’s favourite place to eat out. Its martinis are legendary.
PLAYING POLO BY THE PACIFIC
HARRY is an avid polo player and will be able to enjoy the sport at the santa Barbara Polo & racquet club, visited by Prince William in 2011. richard Mineards met him that day and Wills said: ‘My father and brother will be green as grass that I’m here.’
He recalled: ‘It was one of those idyllic santa Barbara afternoons, lots of sunshine and breezes wafting in from the Pacific and terrific polo. Kate presented the tiffany trophy . . . so it’s very amusing that Harry’s come to live here.’
His friend Nacho Figueras and his wife Delphina are regulars at the club. eton and sandhurst-educated financier Andrew Bossom says that Montecito is an ideal place for the horsey set.
His wife is a former horse trainer and both his teenage sons play polo. He said: ‘When my boys aren’t on horses, they’re fishing or going surfing. there’s an amazing outdoor lifestyle here.’
The cotswolds is home to two leading polo clubs — cirencester Park and the Beaufort where Harry was a regular fixture with Wills and Kate in happier times.
CHATS IN THE BAR WITH BATMAN
ERIK HASKELL, an estate agent who grew up in Montecito, says: ‘the people who live here have made a conscious choice. For glitz and glamour, you have Beverly Hills. to live an anonymous existence, you have Montecito. It’s a gathering of like-minded people.’
Nigel Gallimore, who was raised in Marlborough, Wiltshire, agrees. ‘It’s a small community, safe and everyone’s friendly. We don’t make a fuss about famous people, and celebrities feel comfortable here.
‘I found myself talking to Michael Keaton, the Batman actor, in a bar one night and a friend said: “I had no idea you were friends with Michael Keaton.” I wasn’t — we were just two guys having a drink and talking.’ In his novel Black Money, ross Macdonald had a more jaded view, writing: ‘residents play at being simple villagers the way the courtiers of Verme Versailles pretend to be peasants.’
Rob Lowe, who has lived in Montecito for 20 years with wife sheryl, can walk around undisturbed. sheryl said: ‘the locals are so used to seeing rob, his fame is not an issue here. He knows everybody at starbucks. We don’t have paparazzi up here unless there’s some kind of big event.’
Ex- pat richard Mineards concurs: ‘We’re accustomed to celebrities here. you’ll see Oprah or Orlando Bloom at Vons the supermarket. Nobody bothers them. People might give them a nod of recognition but nobody’s going to ask for a selfie or autograph. And it’s certainly not like Beverly Hills where paparazzi pursue you down rodeo Drive — people do not approve of that.
‘Celebrities have been here much longer than the cotswolds, starting with charlie chaplin way back in the 1920s and 30s, so we’re accustomed to famous faces.’
THE PERFECT PLACE FOR A FLYING VISIT
MOST visitors arrive by road. It takes around 90 minutes from LA. Private jets can use santa Barbara airport (not dissimilar to the small airport at Kidlington, which serves the cotswolds) and it is a 30minute flight from LA, costing £3,900. you can also whirl in by helicopter, a 45-minute flight from the city costing £1,300.