A huge HS2 building site? No, Murdoch daughter’s sprawling new country home
FROM the air it resembles one of the many HS2 construction sites dotted across southern England.
But this huge compound on the fringe of the Cotswolds is the site of what is set to become one of the most expensive properties in the country.
And like many grand designs, it also seems to come with a spiralling budget.
The sprawling development will become home to media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s second daughter Elisabeth and her husband Keith Tyson, at a cost believed to be in the tens of millions.
The proposed plans show it will become the perfect place to entertain guests.
It will have an indoor, zinc-clad swimming pool, spa, tennis court, three terraces, two dining rooms, a double-height entrance hall and nine bedrooms – each with their own bathroom.
A vast basement, dubbed a ‘bunker’ by one local, will house a cinema, gallery and plant room, while the house will have enough parking for 15 cars. There will also be a studio for Mr Tyson – the Turner Prize-winning artist – in a wooded area, and formal fruit, flower and vegetable gardens.
The site is already screened by mature trees on all boundaries.
Miss Murdoch, 53, made £151million a decade ago when she sold her TV production company Shine – which makes hit shows including the BBC’s MasterChef – to her father’s company News Corp.
Now worth around £1.2billion after the sale of her father’s 21st Century Fox to Disney, Miss Murdoch is known for throwing extravagant New Year’s Eve gatherings.
One local said: ‘This (construction) has obviously altered feelings in the village but people with money like to spend it.
‘We have lived with them digging out this basement, the towering cranes and the lorries. We just have to get on with it. Elisabeth Murdoch can be quite distant but from time to time she will ask if there’s anything she can do for the village. We could have worse neighbours.’
The resident added: ‘The last I heard the estimated construction cost was heading towards £100million, but that was some time ago now. As far as I’m aware, Elisabeth has bought two other properties in the vicinity too.’ Miss Murdoch and Mr Tyson, 51, are thought to be staying at one of those properties as the work is done.
Another man who regularly passes the site, for which the land alone is worth an estimated £10million, said: ‘The builders wouldn’t talk about who owned it but they did say they were digging eight metres down for a basement.
‘It’s a staggering build – the place will be like something out of Dallas when it’s finished.’
It is understood construction staff have signed a contract agreeing not to talk publicly about the development or who owns the site, which will retain a existing gatehouse as staff accommodation.
When the Mail visited last week security guards were manning access points to the compound, with staff quick to approach anybody who pulled up outside.
Miss Murdoch married Mr Tyson, her third husband, in Oxfordshire in 2017. Planning consent for the new home was granted in January 2019, with plans for a basement approved three months later.
Last year, an application to enlarge the basement was granted, with a revised plan for the main house being given the green light this January.
Planning applications concerning an associated estate yard, ground source heat pumps, gardens and landscape design remain under consideration.
Britain’s biggest home is thought to be owned by Phones4U billionaire John Caudwell, a mega mansion in Mayfair worth £250million.
A spokesman for Miss Murdoch declined to comment.