The Channel 4 presenter is in hot water with planners for building without permission – and she did it all under the eyes of prime-time viewers, writes Zoe Williams
Locals call Sarah Beeny’s house in Somerset “mini-Downton Abbey”, owing to its grandeur – and its treehouse, boathouse and greenhouse. I went there, to interview the presenter, just after she had made her documentary about having breast cancer in 2023. I liked her a lot, wished her well. I also thought her house was ridiculous: the space was absurdly lavish and ostentatious, before you even trained your eye on the cornicing, fabrics and whatnot. The boot room was the size of a primary school hall. But then she is the property expert; she is also a convincing construction expert, or at least a highly experienced dabbler. I figured she must know better than I do about what’s silly and what isn’t. Also, this was hardly news. The entire country had eyes on the place, as she built it in Channel 4’s New Life in the Country.
Other residents weren’t wild about it, which I knew thanks to not one but two taxi drivers, each of whom complained about something different. The first said more or less what I was thinking: what is that funny, gigantic thing doing there? There is something a bit old-school deferential about that objection, which ideally I would train myself out of: you wouldn’t give a second glance to a great big pile that had been built by an authentic aristo, back in the days when nobility meant something, so to object to ostentation just because it’s new is another way of objecting to new money.
The second guy objected to the Mendip stone; I can’t remember whether he thought she had used too much of it or not enough. Again, I figured, she is the expert; she will have thought of a way to charm her neighbours.
Anyway, it turns out she did some building work without planning permission, including adding an extension to a 50-year‑old farmhouse that, in her original plans, was slated to be demolished, as well as the aforementioned treehouse, boathouse and greenhouse.
Her retrospective application for permission for this work was denied and the council may well ask her to knock it all down (she is appealing the decision). It looks as though she didn’t just start building before she had applied; she probably inked the TV contract beforehand. This is a level of chutzpah far beyond “hiding in plain sight” – she was hiding on primetime telly. Anyway, I still like her. I can see that is naughty, but I still wish her well.