Because this made me wonder..
Because I'm worth it
Liz Hurley to buy £2.7m Barnsley mansion
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
Barnsley is not the first place where you would expect Elizabeth Hurley to buy a house, especially a mansion costing £2.75 million.
However, this is not the Barnsley of Arthur Scargill and urban regeneration, but a village in the Cotswolds.
If Hurley's purchase of the eight-bedroomed farmhouse goes through, the country retreat will complement her normally urban existence in London and Los Angeles.
She is understood to be negotiating to buy the three-storey mansion, a former arable and dairy farm with 72 acres of land, which lies on the edge of the village near Cirencester, Glos.
The property, surrounded by farm buildings, is reached by a private road.
It was not known yesterday whether contracts had been exchanged. Local reports said the property had been sold to Hurley but a source close to the property said of the reports: "Half of them are right, half of them are wrong."
Adrian Sellars, chairman of the parish council in Barnsley (population: 150), said: "I have not set eyes on this lady myself but she has been seen in the village and in the pub.
"Barnsley is a small, unspoilt village and a very welcoming place. There is a mixture of people who have worked here for years and a lot who have retired."
If she buys the property, Hurley, 37, who has a nine-month-old son, Damian, from her former relationship with the film producer Steve Bing, will be near her friends Henry Dent-Brocklehurst and his wife, the model Lilli Maltese.
Hurley has previously spoken of her yearning for a life in the country.
She said: "I love growing plants and seeing flowers bud from seed.
"One day I hope to own a farm with lots of land so that I can have animals and grow things.
"That's my dream."
A spokesman for the estate agents Knight Frank, who have been handling the sale, declined to confirm that Hurley was the buyer, citing a policy of "client confidentiality".
A local estate agent in Cirencester said yesterday: "It is well known that Miss Hurley has been looking at properties around here for some time and has now bought a very important property.
"It is a lovely house in a lovely area and I am sure she will be very happy there."
Hurley was unavailable for comment yesterday.
― Gatinha (rwillmsen), Saturday, 29 March 2003 02:34 (twenty-three years ago)
ten years pass...