LOOK WHO ELSE HAS DONE AN ED SHEERAN
Just like pop star, billionaire Christian Candy’s bought up the whole neighbourhood
WE MARVELLED at the sprawling estate made up of five properties that pop star Ed Sheeran has put together at a cost of £3.7 million.
But even ‘Sheeranville’ – featured in last week’s Mail on Sunday – pales in comparison with the jawdropping opulence of property magnate Christian Candy’s home.
He and his wife – former It Girl Emily Crompton – live with their four children in a £30 million Surrey manor house. Over the past four years, they have spent a further £ 20 million buying up four neighbouring properties.
In February, Mr Candy, 45, paid £ 9 million for the mansion next door – only to flatten it and turn the land into a sweeping, tree-lined driveway, which is being built.
Planning documents reveal he also demolished two mock-Tudor mansions and replaced them with palatial red-brick super-homes – complete with swimming pool, underground gym and car park – that a source said serve as guest houses for visiting friends and family.
Then there is a swanky £1 million pad for servants and staff, a floodlit tennis court, a two-storey treehouse for the children to play in, and artwork dotted about t he sprawling grounds.
But Christian and Emily haven’t quite managed t o buy up t he entire neighbourhood, with their estate surrounding a waterworks site and a £2 million cottage owned by a couple who are staying put amid t he huge expansion. Mr Candy bought the Surrey manor house in 2015, but the £30 million price tag made only a small dent in the estimated £600 million fortune he amassed during London’s property boom with brother Nick, who is married to Australian pop singer and former Neighbours star Holly Valance.
The brothers, from a middle-class
family in Epsom, Surrey, launched their business in 1995 with the renovation of a one-bedroom flat in Earl’s Court, London, which they bought with the help of a loan from their grandmother.
After 18 months, they turned a £ 50,000 profit and their empire blossomed as London’s property prices rocketed, fuelled by a flood of investments from Russian oli garchs and oil - ri ch sheiks. Now, Christian Candy appears to have settled into the quiet life in the country.
One source said: ‘He said he had had enough of living in London.
‘ He wanted t o get out somewhere that was quieter, safer and had more space for his kids to grow up in and do things like horseriding.’