Hollyoaks star Davinia Taylor 'wins planning battle to give her £1.7million rural mansion a luxury makeover after bio hazard discovery'
Hollyoaks star Davinia Taylor has reportedly won a planning battle to give her £1.7million a makeover.
The actress, 47, bought the rural retreat with her husband Matthew Leyden four years ago.
And now she has got the go ahead to transform the mansion into a gym and health spa amid her move to a bio-hacking lifestyle.
Davinia is set to convert a derelict barn at the sprawling property into a mini wellness treat featuring a gym, sauna and two spa treatment rooms.
The barn, which used to be stables, will also be kitted out with a lobby for checking in guests, staff areas and even an en-suite bedroom for one employee who will help run it.
But there could be a problem to contend with, after a bat survey held before the development kicked off found that a protected species of bat, pipistrelle bats, had flown into the barn.
The Wildlife and Countryside Act says it is an offence to intentionally or recklessly harm or disturb pipistrelle bats, so Davinia will have to install bat boxes on the barn and nearby trees if she wants to go ahead with the development.
According to The Sun, an ecologist report read: 'Due to the transient nature of bats, their presence can never be entirely ruled out and a precautionary method of working should be adopted.
'Therefore if bats are found during any stage of the development, work should stop immediately and a suitably qualified ecologist should be contacted to seek further advice.'
It comes days after Davinia revealed that if she had 'one more drink, she could have died' as she opened up about her former party life.
The former actress, who ditched the party scene to live a healthy life style, has confessed that she kept drinking through her 20s until she hit rock bottom.
Davinia was famed for her position in the notorious Primrose Hill party set, where she joined her then-husband Dave Gardner in partying through the Nineties with pals including Kate Moss, Sadie Frost and Jude Law.
And now, Davinia, who has been sober for 17 years after battling alcohol addiction, has become a fitness guru and credits 'biohacking' for her 'biological age of 20'.
Chatting to the Sun, Davinia explained that she 'flatlined' and was drinking to survive rather than for enjoyment.
She told the publication: 'I was constantly hungover, riddled with anxiety, and alcohol didn't work for me any more.
'Not even a glass of red wine would lift me.
'I was shown these awful videos of myself drunk, and numerous times I was told by doctors, 'one more drink will kill you'.
Biohacking involves making small, strategic scientific-backed changes to habits and behaviors to improve things like cognitive function and weight management.
Davina ditched her party girl ways in favour of a cleaner existence, after a 12-week rehab stint in South Africa where she was eventually able to kick her habits.
The former actress described her battle with alcoholism as a an 'eternal hell', because she knew she shouldn't be drinking but was in a heavy period of withdrawal
Once she got clean, Davinia said she became addicted to other areas of life, such as eating when she gained 'stones', before eventually finding a happier balance.
She shares son Grey, 17, with Dave, and Luxx, 13, whose father has never been revealed, and Asa, six, and Jude, seven, with her partner Matthew Leyden.
Davinia recently told The Sun how she wishes her mother, who died in 2013, could see the woman she has become.
She said: 'For her to see me now, as a mother – happy, settled and not needing the fineries to support my ego – would have made her really proud.'
At one point in her life, Davinia faced a custody battle and was suicidal, however, now she said her old self would not have been able to recognise the woman she is today.
Explaining why her younger years were so wild, Davinia said that she has a high dopamine drive, meaning the impulsiveness to do things to feel alive was stronger.
She said that this is a classic symptom of ADHD, but that it is not as widely diagnosed in women as it is in men.
'A girl with ADHD will be referred to as 'Dolly Daydream', and that was me,' she said. 'I'm hoping over the next few years that a lot of women my age realise they can get help for it now – it's not too late.'
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