Sir David and Victoria Beckham adding woodland and meadow to country estate
Sir David Beckham and his wife Victoria have been given the green light to create a woodland and a wild flower meadow at their country estate in the English Cotswolds.
Sir David Beckham and his wife Victoria are creating a woodland and a wild flower meadow at their country estate.
The former footballer and the Spice Girls star bought their luxury home in the Cotwolds in 2016 for around £6 million and now they have been granted permission from the local council to move forward with plans to plant 79 trees - including 19 English oaks, eight field maples and seven Scots pine - as well as creating a site for wild flowers.
According to the Daily Mail newspaper, the couple were granted planning permission for the woodland venture by West Oxfordshire District Council after previously adding a new driveway, tennis court, treehouse and a pond.
The 50-year-old former footballer has devoted much of his time to gardening, growing vegetables and raising chickens at the family home in the Cotswolds in recent years but he previously admitted he didn't become fully immersed in country life until he was forced to stay at home during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
He told the Daily Mail: "I knew that once I had the country house, my love of the countryside would grow. But I didn't realise how much it would. What changed things for us – as it did for so many other people – was the COVID lockdown in 2020.
"I can remember feeling so lucky to have a place like this then. We based ourselves here and, when it got to the stage when only one family member was allowed to go to do the food shopping, I said to Victoria: 'Why don't we grow everything here? Why don't we have chickens?'
"And that's how it all started. I wanted my own carrots and eggs and to grow flowers that we could cut to have in the house, so I planned out my vegetable garden and the chicken area."
He has also credited his moviemaker pal Guy Ritchie with inspiring his love of the countryside because he is the "ultimate country gentleman".
Beckham told Country Life magazine: "[Guy Ritchie is] a modern-day caveman, who has made me fall far deeper in love with the countryside and helped me to understand it even more than I did before.
"Sometimes we sit for hours around a fire, just the two of us, and talk late into the night. Guy is the ultimate country gentleman, who absolutely loves his estate in Wiltshire.
"Spending time with him is one of the reasons I fell so deeply in love with the countryside. He’s a great and very close friend, who inspires me so much.
"I learn a lot from him - whether it’s about life, countryside management, people, politics, the monarchy or what it means to be British - all of the time."
