Cashing in the dough! Hollywood upgrades to £1.5m home
WHEN Paul Hollywood announced he will stay on the Great British Bake Off as it moves from the BBC to Channel 4, he was accused of ‘following the dough’.
But the judge’s decision, said to have led to his salary doubling, appears to have paid off. For the 50-year-old chef has upgraded from a £745,000 family home to one worth twice as much – a sprawling £1.45million Grade II-listed mansion.
The 16th century house in Kent has five bedrooms and is set in more than ten acres of grounds, which feature a swimming pool, summer house and log barn.
His previous home was in a village, with only a limited garden, so Hollywood is likely to be pleased with the extra land, with orchards and raised vegetable beds where he can grow his own produce. There is also a paddock, although quite how Hollywood – a keen motor racer who has competed in championships including at Silverstone – feels about horses is not known.
The presenter, who earned an estimated £200,000 for each Bake Off series at the BBC, is believed to be receiving £400,000 to be the main judge when the show moves to Channel 4 – or £1.2million over three years.
Hollywood, his wife Alexandra and teenage son Josh helped removal men pack up their belongings from their old four-bed home, where they lived for 12 years, before moving to the new one at the end of last week. One local said last night: ‘Paul and his family will be made to feel very welcome here. We’re quite a close-knit community, but there’s so much countryside that he won’t feel claustrophobic; I imagine it’s the perfect escape from all his commitments in London.’
Hollywood’s fellow judge Mary Berry, 81, and Bake Off hosts Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc chose not to follow the show to Channel 4. But Hollywood’s decision to do so does not mean he has quit the BBC for good. He has accepted terms on a six-figure contract for a new show, believed to be about cars.
Speaking at the BBC Good Food Show in Birmingham on Friday, he acknowledged he received ‘a bit of stick’ for staying on Bake Off, but said he loves being a judge, adding: ‘I felt so lucky to get the job in the first place, and I didn’t want to leave.’