Changing Rooms star Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen says he’s “no longer lord of the manor” as his wife Jackie have decided to hand over the deeds to their Cotswolds estate
TV star Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen has shared that he no longer owns his Cotswolds estate.
The 60-year-old Changing Rooms star lives in a Grade II listed home with his family – which he says is “haunted”. However, the design guru has revealed that he’s handed over the impressive Oxfordshire estate to his sons-in-law – meaning he no longer owns the 17th century home.
Laurence lives in the main house with his wife Jackie, also 60, their youngest daughter Hermione, 27, her husband Drew, and their two young children. His eldest daughter Cecile, 30, lives on the same grounds with her husband and their two kids.
The TV icon has revealed he’s “no longer lord of the manor” as he’s handed over much of the estate to his two sons-in-law. He told The Sunday Times: “One of the most amusing things was having to sit down with a solicitor for them to assess whether Jackie and I were being coerced into this by our bullying sons-in-law.
“Our friends just can’t believe it. They go, ‘what happens if you all fall out?'” He went on: “We’re not going to be those old people sitting on a great big pile of cash. Terribly unhappy, terribly lonely.”
“Owning a lot of stuff but not actually having the benefit of it. We are very, very privileged, but we have made this decision. We have manifested this life.”
The property deeds have been placed in the names of his daughters’ husbands, with Hermione commenting: “Hilariously, Cecile and I aren’t on the deeds, because we inherit it anyway – it’s actually the husbands.'”
Llewelyn-Bowen opened up about the terrifying experience he had on Bear Grylls’ Netflix survival show Celebrity Bear Hunt, which aired in February. He’s still reeling from the moment he almost drowned during a task.
He said in January that he was grappling with an “end of life crisis” after his time on the show. The TV star was participating in a water stunt where he became unconscious after being pulled under a boat.
During the task in Costa Rica, Laurence had to jump from a boat. Unfortunately, he became stuck in a bungee line and was dragged underwater beneath the vessel, but luckily the production’s safety crew rescued the unconscious television star from peril.
Before his stint on the show, Laurence said his wife reckoned it was a “midlife crisis”. He said: “She feels it’s got midlife crisis written all over it, although, as I keep telling her, I’m too old to have a midlife crisis, this is more like an end of life crisis.
“She’s actually, frankly, incredibly jealous. She would love to do it and has always been mildly irritated that no one’s ever asked her to do something like this.
“Because she literally has always had in her handbag, a SAS Survival Guide, to get herself out of all sorts. I meant to bring it actually and again, how foolishly, I completely forgot.”
According to the Mail, Llewelyn-Bowen invited his daughters and their families over to his Cotswolds estate after he and Jackie realised they “were rattling around the house like dried peas in a luxury tin.”
He said of the move: “We certainly aren’t sliding into our sixtieth year with boredom calling. We want to use our time wisely and valuably. The way you design your world helps the way you feel.
“We have our big manor house filled with children and pieces of brightly coloured plastic and Peppa Pig again. I think its something that more and more people should be doing, for us boomers generation we’re all sort of surprised we’ve made it to 60.
“I think everyone thought we would live fast and die young rather than live very, very slowly and die really quite old.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
