Kirstie Allsopp's 11-bedroom £3.5million former childhood manor house at centre of row over plans to build 170 homes on the site

Daily Mail​

05-08-2025

Kirstie Allsopp 's childhood manor home is at the centre of a major planning row.
The property named Vern Leaze is an 11-bedroom, Grade II* listed building of 'national significance' in Calne, Wiltshire, that was last valued at £3.5million in 2021.
The mansion was once owned by Charles Allsopp, 6th Baron Hindlip, the later father of Channel 4 's Location, Location, Location presenter Kirstie, 53.
The expensive property has now been drawn into a planning row as it neighbours a site earmarked for 170 homes and a medical centre at Wenhill.
Mr Allsopp, who wielded the gavel in the record breaking £24.75million auction of Van Gogh's Sunflowers in 1987, is reported to have sold the property in the early 1980s.
Developer CG Fry & Son has now submitted detailed plans, explaining how it will reduce the impact of a large housing estate in the area.
This has included setting the new homes back from the property and creating a 'substantial green buffer'.
A design and access statement said: 'Grade II* listed buildings are considered to be of national significance and we have taken care to design the proposed development in such a way that it protects the building and its setting.
'A key part of this is the retention of a large area in the southern part of the development as a parkland style open space.
'This was formerly an area of parkland around the historic house; however, it has lost many of the historic trees that were once part of it.'
A petition opposing the development was launched before a formal planning application had been submitted.
Residents voiced concerns about the impact on traffic and the loss of green space.
Becky Amor said: 'The town is already gridlocked most of the time due to the volume of traffic and Silver Street is particularly bad, so to have another 170 cars is complete madness.'
Mellissa Freeman added: 'This is far too many houses for this area - Calne is already bursting at the seams.'
CG Fry & Son has described the site as 'an ideal urban expansion to the west of Calne' that has been allocated in Wiltshire County Council's Local Plan.
The firm added: 'Our aim is to provide an individually designed scheme with a sense of place, which will cherish local distinctiveness, and provide an attractive, comfortable, and safe place to live for its occupants.'
Estate agency Rightmove previously described Kirstie's former childhood home, where her family lived for 30 years until the early 1980s, as 'a very appealing Georgian family house'.
It is said to feature a cinema room, a butler's pantry and expansive wine cellars, with a listing adding: 'The property is situated to the south of Calne and overlooks beautiful countryside.
'The neighbouring picturesque villages provide both Gastro and village public houses and local amenities.'
Kirstie's auctioneer father Lord Charles Hindlip died aged 83 at his home in Dorset in June last year.
The TV presenter, the eldest of four children, grew up in Wiltshire before the family moved away from the property in Calne in the 1980s.
Her father bequeathed an inheritance valued at £6.113million to be shared between Kirstie and siblings Henry, Sophie and Natasha Allsopp, whose mother Fiona died in 2014 aged 66.
Charles was a renowned auctioneer who was previously the chairman of the iconic Christie's auction house between 1996 and 2002.
In 1997, he acted as auctioneer for 79 of Princess Diana's dresses, which raised £2.8million for cancer and Aids charities, just two months before her death.
Charles was also a hereditary peer and businessmen, inheriting the title of the 6th Baron Hindlip and was a member of the House of Lords from 1993 until his seat was abolished in 1999.
Kirstie shared tributes and family photos online when revealing he had died in June last year, saying: 'This is my Dad, Charlie Hindlip.
'He was a great auctioneer, the best of his generation, an artist, a gardener, a father of four, and grandfather of eight, a loving husband to a wife he lost too soon.
'He was a real star, he worked hard, played hard and went further than anyone ever expected.
'He died at home yesterday, surrounded by love, flowers & photographs, in a house he built, looking out over a stunning garden he created from scratch.'