Cate’s great estate
She follows Ed Sheeran by buying up neighbouring farm with 100 acres to create her own ‘mini village’
WHAT’S an Oscar-winning actress to do when her multimillion-pound Victorian mansion is not enough?
Take a leaf out of Ed Sheeran’s book, of course.
Cate Blanchett has been busy turning her English home into East Sussex’s answer to Sheeranville, the Suffolk ‘mini village’ owned by the pop star.
Just as the singer famously bought multiple properties around his country home, Miss Blanchett, 52, has paid close to £1.5million for a farmhouse set in almost 100 acres near her home of more than five years.
She has also secured planning permission to demolish a rundown oast house and stable in the grounds of her mansion and to create an art gallery and studio.
‘Blanchettville’ lies on the edge of a village in the Sussex Weald near Crowborough.
Her seven-bedroom Victorian house is a short stroll from the modern farmhouse, which is built in a historic style with timber framing, an oak front door and staircase, a brick-floored hall and stone fireplace.
Naturally, there is an Aga in the kitchen with a stable door
to the outside and galleried landing. Two of the three bedrooms are en-suite and a terrace boasts countryside views.
More importantly for Miss Blanchett’s seclusion, the farmhouse came with close to 100 acres of pasture and woodland, and is reached only by a long access lane with gates half-way down.
It is not clear what the actress’s long-term plans are for the land but it had been used commercially for a pedigree herd of beef shorthorn cattle, which moved on before the purchase.
The only snag, if Miss Blanchett wanted friends and relatives to stay in the new house, is that there is an agricultural occupancy restriction on the property – meaning only those farming the land are allowed to live there. She would have to apply for planning permission to move in.
But her latest buy is, in any case, dwarfed by her mansion nearby. Perhaps the real point is to ensure no one else can move in and spoil the panoramic views she has been enjoying for years. A neighbour said: ‘Cate didn’t hang around. She wanted the vendors out as soon as possible. We heard she wanted the property because of the land.’
Further plans may meet resistance. The parish council opposed moves by another resident to turn a barn into a house, saying it was ‘unacceptable for the countryside location’.
Miss Blanchett lives with Australian playwright husband Andrew Upton, 55, and their four children. They paid over £3million for the house. The actress, who won Oscars for roles in The Aviator and Blue Jasmine, told friends she ‘loved the green’ of the area.
‘She didn’t hang around’