Edited by JANE SLADE

The man who markets mansions to royals, celebrities and Russian billionaires is now trying to sell the swanky house he built for himself on the leafy, litter-free, super-prime Wentworth estate. CHERYL MARKOSKY went for a viewing

WITH electric gates, grand dining hall, gigantic gym and baronial hall you would be forgiven for thinking that Wilton, on the upper-crust Wentworth Estate in Surrey, belonged to a rock god or bonus-busting banker. Yet the three-storey pile is actually owned by an estate agent, James Wyatt.

Wyatt, 46, has lived in Surrey most of his life and has sold many luxury homes through his agency Barton Wyatt. His clients include the former boxer Naseem Hamed, racehorse owner Clive Smith and golfers Retief Goosen and Ernie Els.

The agent admits he is no shrinking violet when it comes to moving multi-million-pound properties, particularly on Wentworth, one of the country’s most exclusive estates, where most of the residents have three or four other homes so are not there all the time. “I’ve never seen anyone actually walking on the paths,” he says. “I suspect they only walk when on the golf greens or when taking their pedigree dogs for a run in the Trust-controlled woods.”

The Wentworth Estate, originally a cluster of weekend cottages built for stressed-out city gents in 1923, is now an enclave of expensive mansions for the mega-rich and although some well-known names still live on the estate, including McLaren owner Ron Dennis, Sir Bruce Forsyth and director Bryan Forbes (with his actress wife Nanette Newman), they are being eclipsed by Russian businessmen.

FORMERLY based around the home of the Duke of Wellington’s brother-in-law (his house was called Wentworths and it is now the golf clubhouse), the average price of a property sold by Wyatt is £3million. He says homes range from £1.5million to £30million and some houses are probably worth £80million if their owners were to put them on to the market.

Wyatt is a member of Wentworth Golf Club, which is useful for networking with existing clients and sourcing new ones. He also has a motorboat moored at Hythe Marina Village on the Solent where he owns a second home.

However, selling homes to oligarchs and the super-rich is not all plain sailing. Wyatt recalls taking a challenging member of the Royal Family (whose identity he won’t disclose) on a viewing. “They travelled in a 10-car convoy and