Anneka’s challenge... leaving her £4m home
IN HER heyday, she’d pull on her jumpsuit before completing a set of crazy challenges.
But it was a different – and more poignant – set of tasks for Anneka Rice as she moved out of her riverside home which has sold for just over £4million.
After more than 35 years, the TV presenter has said goodbye to the six-bedroom property in Barnes, south-west London, which overlooked the River Thames.
Ms Rice, 64, said she felt ‘wrenched’ as she was pictured overseeing a removals team packing up eclectic possessions including huge paintings, an elephant sculpture, a framed collage of family photos and a vintage cabinet.
She shared a video of one empty room that she had used as her studio.
‘Feeling a bit sad,’ she said in an Instagram video. ‘When I say “bit” I don’t mean a bit, obviously I feel wrenched. It’s like Lyra leaving her demon behind, if you like, from His Dark Materials.
‘This has been where I painted. I’ve had writing sessions in here. Production office. So much creativity. All that’s left is some cows on the wall and that f*** of a view.’
Ms Rice bought the Grade II listed, property in 1987 with her now ex-husband Nick Allott. The Georgian home, which was listed by Savills last June for a reported £4.9million, has three bathrooms, two large reception rooms, a wood panelled billiards room and a dining area overlooking a courtyard garden.
The house was recently listed for £4.25million and described as ‘sold, Subject To Contract’ on Rightmove. It is unclear whether it sold for asking price.
Ms Rice started the mammoth task of clearing out the house back in August by selecting 17 items to go under the hammer for TV show Yorkshire Auction House.
A George Smith Howard-style sofa and a Georgian bookcase were among the lots up for grabs as well as an 18th century walnut side chair, a Regency-style cabinet, a 17th century style oak wake table, a billiards table and a croquet set.
‘ Filming for the Yorkshire Auction House,’ she wrote on Instagram at the time. ‘The wondrous Angus Ashworth and his team are stripping the house! A big emotional gulp to lose my plans chest.
‘Piles of artwork all over the place now. “Let it go, let it go. Can’t hold it back any more.” This is only the first room. I’m going to be a wreck when the truck drives away with 35 years of stuff.’
She also joked that she would buy back the items herself.
Ms Rice will return to our screens later this year for a revived Challenge Anneka on Channel 5. The reality show, which first aired on the BBC in 1989 after she shot to fame in Channel 4’s Treasure Hunt in 1982, saw her tasked with completing a charitable challenge over a period of days.
She said that the new series will ‘shine the light on everyday heroes and deserving communities’.
‘I’ll be a wreck when the truck drives away’