Inside Rod Stewart's quiet life in leafy town with £4.6m mansion near famous neighbours
The quiet town of Sawbridgeworth is home to Sir Rod Stewart's family estate and also boasted the Beckham's 'Beckingham Palace' in the early noughties.
Following his thrilling legends performance at Glastonbury, Sir Rod Stewart may be looking forward to a well-deserved break, especially considering his recent recovery from the flu. The severity of Sir Rod's illness led to the cancellation of five shows in America - a decision that reportedly left him heartbroken.
Happily, the 80-year-old hitmaker has quite the bolthole to retire to to recuperate. According to The Guardian, he enjoys a tranquil life with his third wife, Penny Lancaster-Stewart, 53, and their two sons, Alastair and Aiden, in a 10-bedroom, Grade II-listed mansion on the Hertfordshire and Essex border, near Sawbridgeworth village. Sir Rod purchased the property in 2013 for an estimated £4.6million and moved in in 2016 after extensive renovations.
The couple's residence is an 18th-century property near Harlow, dating back to 1712. It boasts 46 acres of land and woodland, complete with self-contained cottages, a walled garden, a swimming pool, a football pitch, and a croquet lawn.
The charming town of Sawbridgeworth is steeped in history, with buildings harking back to the Tudor, Stuart and Georgian eras.
And the leafy parish has seen another globally famous family take up residence in its quiet surrounds - local landmark Rowneybury House was bought by Victoria and David Beckham in 1999 for £2.5m. The extensive grandeur of the property was so impressive that the media quickly named the 24-acre estate 'Beckingham Palace', with the couple selling it for a cool £11.3m 15 years later.
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Those looking for something slightly more manageable than a 24-acre multi-million pound mansion may be pleased to learn that homes sell for an average of £481,288, according to Rightmove. The majority of properties sold in Sawbridgeworth during the last year were detached houses, fetching an average price of £704,776.
Flats were sold for an average of £219,445, while semi-detached properties commanded £481,727.
In general, the historical sold prices in Sawbridgeworth over the past year were six percent lower than the previous year and six percent higher than the 2021 peak of £453,934.
