Even by celebrity standards, an £8.1million ‘impulse buy’ is extravagant.
And
Robbie Williams may be regretting the rash purchase of his Wiltshire estate... as he stands to lose up to £1million on its sale just a year after he bought it.
The 36-year-old singer, who is estimated to be worth £80million, has decided he ‘can’t afford’ to maintain the 71-acre country retreat, which comes complete with a seven-bedroom 18th century mansion, indoor swimming pool, helicopter hangar, library, two staff flats and a cottage.
Williams has put the sprawling country pile on sale for £7.5million with estate agent Savills, but would be expected to settle for an offer of around £400,000 less – leaving him with a £1million loss 15 months after buying the house.
And it seems the impulse purchase is not the only ill-advised decision the former Take That star has made.
His modifications to the estate, which was once owned by architect Lord Foster, have raised eyebrows among neighbours in Compton Bassett.
He has created a full-size football pitch in the grounds, and a dirt track for quad bike or ‘rage buggy’ racing through the estate’s parkland.
These additions were conspicuously absent from a two-page advertisement for the house that appeared in Country Life last week.
A source revealed: ‘Robbie used the grounds for his own interests, not really considering the impact on the picturesque estate.
‘It is, though, no wonder they haven’t been used in the pictures to sell the house in the magazine.
‘After all, football pitches and dirt tracks don’t really appeal to your average Country Life reader with millions of pounds to lavish on an estate.’
Williams – originally from Stoke-on-Trent – completed on the property in February last year after deciding to return to the UK from California, where he had been living for more than three years.
He admitted it was an impulse buy but was believed to have been enamoured with its location in the heart of crop circle country because he has an interest in the supernatural.
At first he seemed happy, saying: ‘It’s lovely down there and the people have been great with us.’
But one English summer later, he and his fiancée, American actress Ayda Field, 31, decided to sell-up and move to Los Angeles, blaming the weather.
Gemma Rochester, 19, a barmaid at local pub The White Horse, said: ‘It’s a close community and Robbie has never been part of it.’
Another villager added: ‘It’s a lovely house but he just hasn’t settled there.’
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Ayda Field has reportedly forced the singer to hire a trainer so he can shed the pounds he has piled on in recent years. She hopes a new toned physique will inspire Robbie to finally set a wedding date, something he has been resisting.