The American comedian Ellen DeGeneres bought a house in the Cotswolds last year: Kitesbridge Farm.
It's a spot so beautiful that it moved the great John Betjeman to pen a few lines:
How often memory brings me from Asthall up to Asthall Leigh:
The sound of cartwheels in the lane, the smell of wallflowers after rain.
The River Windrush winding back upon itself,
The grassy track to Kitesbridge Farm.
DeGeneres and her wife, the actress Portia de Rossi, fell so hard for the place that they paid £15 million — after a bidding process for a home which was being marketed by Savills at £12.5 million — and set about revitalising the place. While they initially bought it as a 'part-time' home, the couple have since decided to move full time to the UK, and quickly bought a new house as de Rossi needed more stabling for her horses. Thus Kitesbridge Farm is on the market once more, this time at £22.5 million.
It's not hard to see why they loved the place. Penny Churchill wrote about Kitesbridge in Country Life last year, noting that 'the reality is every bit as magical as the pastoral scene evoked by Betjeman', and praising a house that 'nestles gently on the slopes of a tucked-away and secluded part of the spectacular Windrush valley', according to the agent at the time, and which had been 'ingeniously transformed into an enchanting and secluded rural retreat’.
As ingenious and enchanting as it might have been, it is now even more so, because the new buyers set about spending months, and many millions, transforming it afresh.... and after moving in last November, they bought another house nearby in April, and put Kitesbridge Farm up for sale.
If the timeline seems extraordinarily quick, it probably shouldn't: DeGeneres and de Rossi have a well-earned reputation for 'flipping houses', having done so many times (reportedly as many as 50), mostly on the other side of the Atlantic. It's telling that the agent's Instagram post refers to it as their 'latest masterpiece':
Why the constant need to move? It seems somewhere between a hobby and a passion. 'I don't really travel a lot. So, house flipping is my version of travel,' DeGeneres told People. 'With house flipping, the scenery changes though I stay in the same general area. Only in a new place and from a new perspective.'
With the farm now being marketed for significantly more than it was bought for in June 2024, it's entirely fair to wonder whether £7.5m of value could have been added in the space of a just a few months.
That is, of course, a matter for any prospective buyer to ponder, but the timeline shouldn't put anyone off. Apparently, the architects originally estimated that this 'restoration of rare artistry and scale' (in the agent's words) would be a 12- to 18-month project, but DeGeneres and de Rossi expedited things by bringing in a team of 70 builders and craftspeople to do the work in a fraction of that. In doing so, they changed it from a place they felt was 'quite tired, with a quite basic finish' to a home that looks like it belongs 'in Malibu', as Sotheby's Andrew Barnes described to the Wall Street Journal.
The house, which sits centrally within its 43 acres, is loosely arranged as an L shape, with further buildings creating a sort of central courtyard garden, and pretty much every room linking directly to the outdoor spaces that surround the 14,400sq ft home.
At the apex of the home is a huge kitchen-diner, with — as you'd expect of a couple who made their fortunes on the small screen — a TV large enough to be measured in square feet, rather than diagonal inches.
The decoration and furniture is elegant, simple and neutral throughout, with flooring alternating between stone slabs and ancient timber, while exposed beams and brickwork add plenty of character.
There are a few dashes of flair with the wallpapers chosen in some of the rooms — notably a gorgeous green boot room, with floral paper on walls and ceiling.
For exercise and leisure, there's a fully-equipped gym and a pool, and the agents also suggest that a helicopter hangar on the site could be converted into a padel court. There's also a party barn with its own pub that sits above the heated five-car garage.
The gardens have been landscaped to keep a feel that is as natural and organic as possible, with a kitchen garden, lawns and paddocks as well as a series of outdoor spaces for al fresco dining and living.
And while the seclusion and privacy on offer is a key part of the appeal at Kitesbridge Farm, people aren't far away: the village of Asthall is a just a few minutes' away, while Soho Farmhouse, Estelle Manor and more of the highlights of this corner of Oxfordshire are within easy reach.
Kitesbridge Farm is for sale at £22.5 million — see more pictures and details.
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