Latest news with #NigelFrieda
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
This $33.2 Million Private Island in the U.K. Has Long Been an Under-the-Radar Creative Haven
In the Blackwater Estuary off the Essex coast just 40 miles northeast of central London, Osea is not your typical island escape. Accessible by boat, air, or an ancient Roman causeway that appears only at low tide, the sprawling 380-acre island compound is now on the market for £25 million (about $33.2 million) with Knight Frank and Fine & Country. It's an audacious offering, not only in its scale and seclusion but also for its cultural imprint and its rich, secretive past. During World War I, Osea served as a clandestine naval base known as 'SS Osea,' and during World War II a bomb hit the island when it fell short of its London target, adding a layer of intrigue to its already storied legacy. Osea was later owned by Cambridge University but returned to private ownership in the 1950s. Today, Osea is more than a private island—it's a stage, a studio, a sanctuary. Since 2004, under the ownership of music producer Nigel Frieda (best known for his work with English girl group the Sugababes), the village-like compound has quietly evolved into one of Britain's most discreet creative hubs. Stormzy wrote and recorded much of his This Is What I Mean album here, describing the process as 'a very surreal, spiritual experience.' Rihanna has stayed. So has Charli XCX, while Olly Murs chose it as the setting for his 2023 wedding, the Independent reported. More from Robb Report Inside the Edition's City-View Residences in Nashville's Gulch Neighborhood This Small Australian Distillery's New Whisky Is Finished in Chartreuse Barrels Meet Shard Place, a Gleaming Glass Tower With the Highest Outdoor Pool in London RELATED: What It's Really Like to Buy a Private Island There's a kind of magical, cinematic quality to the island, which hasn't gone unnoticed by the film and literary worlds either. The Woman in Black—both the 1989 TV adaptation and the 2012 Daniel Radcliffe-led version—used Osea as a haunting backdrop, as did HBO's The Third Day with Jude Law. Ellery Lloyd set his New York Times bestselling fictional drama The Club here, too. In many ways, Osea is like a village, its buildings being a patchwork of styles from a variety of eras. A grand Edwardian manor and the Captain's House sit along the waterfront, both styled for grand-scale entertaining, and a former orphanage has been reborn as luxury apartments. In all, there are 38 residential properties offering a total of 90 bedrooms and 61 bathrooms, plus a pub, a couple of swimming pools, a state-of-the-art recording studio, and a helipad. RELATED: This $15 Million Coastal Compound in South Carolina Includes a 450-Acre Private Island The infrastructure is surprisingly robust—think: water treatment facilities, electrical substations, dry docks, and orchards—and the business model includes event hosting, holiday lettings, music production, and retreats. But for all its celebrity pedigree and curated rustic charm, Osea is also a functioning enterprise. 'Osea Island presents an exceptionally rare, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire a private island of remarkable scale and historical significance,' says Georgie Veale, senior negotiator at Knight Frank. 'Offering extensive land and multiple properties, it affords the purchaser unparalleled exclusivity, privacy, and a wide range of potential uses.'Best of Robb Report The 10 Priciest Neighborhoods in America (And How They Got to Be That Way) In Pictures: Most Expensive Properties Click here to read the full article.
Times
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Private Essex island beloved by Stormzy and Rihanna for sale at £25m
It has been described as England's own version of Sir Richard Branson's Necker Island, an utterly secluded, totally escapist — and achingly beautiful — 380-acre private retreat connected to the mainland twice a day at low tide by a Roman causeway. Osea Island, which has been inhabited for more than 5,000 years and was once a retreat for Edwardian drunks, has in recent years become a renowned celebrity party destination. The private island, on the estuary of the Blackwater river in Essex, has in recent years been owned by Nigel Frieda, 72, a music producer. Under his ownership, singers including Rihanna and actors such as Jude Law have rented areas of the island and partied there. It was also the spot where grime artist Stormzy
