'They're not the Beckhams, they're at the bottom of the celebrity list': Sarah ... trends now
Families living near Sarah Beeny's 220 acre country estate have spoken of their relief after the TV star dropped plans to renovate two barns into five new homes.
Beeny has repeatedly clashed with neighbours over developments on the former dairy farm in Somerset - including a seven-bedroom mansion dubbed 'mini Downton Abbey' which one neighbour told MailOnline looked 'absolutely ghastly'.
The presenter still faces potential enforcement action over unauthorised earth bunds after reportedly dumping tonnes of soil from an excavated lake. But the decision to pull the plug on the plan has stunned locals.
Bill Heath, 77, who has lived opposite the estate for 10 years says earth piled along the boundary by Beeny is making his life a misery.
He said: 'When they moved in they dug a lake and dumped all the earth in large embankments along the boundary which acts as an acoustic lens and reflects all the road noise back on us. It's made the road noise about a third worse for us.
Sarah Beeny scrapped plans to turn two barns into five new homes at her sprawling 220-acre former dairy farm in Somerset
Aerial view of the property at Stoney Stoke in Somerset owned by Sarah Beeny
Bill Heath, 77, who has lived opposite the estate for 10 years says earth piled along the boundary by Sarah Beeny was making his life a misery
Sarah Beeny snapped up the estate in rural Somerset for £3million in 2018
'I think they have delusions of grandeur, they're not the bloody Beckhams, they are at the bottom of the celebrity list.
'If I was a multi-millionaire I would still act as part of the community but they don't seem to want to. They are just interested in making a TV show around it.
'It's good they have been made to climb down, she needs that lesson. Just because you think you're somebody, you can't muscle in and do whatever you want.
'It's a shame because we'd rather get on with them but things started to go wrong from about a year after they moved in.'
The Property Ladder star had previously got the green light to turn old agricultural buildings into five separate properties but has not done so within the three-year timeframe granted.
Sarah and her artist husband Graham Swift have clashed with neighbours over failing to demolish a 1970s four-bedroom old farmhouse, despite it being a specified condition of building her mansion four years ago.
Last year, an ecological survey found a 'substantial' roost for rare serotine bats in the roof of the former farmhouse, with the star submitting revised plans to keep the old farmhouse and refurbish it while reducing the number of new homes from five to four.
Sarah snapped up the estate near Wincanton for £3million in 2018 and soon after she and Mr Swift permanently moved from their London home with their children, Billy, 18, Charlie, 16, Rafferty, 14, and Laurie, 12.
Sarah Beeny had previously got the green light to turn old agricultural buildings into five separate properties
The presenter has documented the refurbishment of her country mansion on her show New Life In The Country
Back in 2020, Sarah, 52, and her husband, Graham Swift, decided to move from their London home with their children, Billy, 18, Charlie, 16, Rafferty, 14, and Laurie, 12, to the estate
The presenter, 52, who has documented the refurbishment of her country mansion on her show New Life In The Country, resubmitted plans for the conversion from five to four new homes, but now is said
