Knoll Hill House, the Edwardian country house Paul O’Grady bought from Vic Reeves for £650,000 in August 1999 and lived in for almost 24 years, is on the market at £2.4 million with 25.5 acres overlooking Romney Marsh

Knoll Hill House, the Edwardian country house at Aldington, near Ashford, that Paul O’Grady bought from fellow comedian Vic Reeves for £650,000 in August 1999, is back on the market at £2.4 million, KentOnline reported on 4 November.

The estate, where the entertainer lived for almost 24 years, is advertised by the agents Moveli with about 25.5 acres and views across Romney Marsh to the sea. It was taken off sale earlier this year and has been relisted with a new agent and a fresh set of photographs.

O’Grady died in March 2023, aged 67, from heart arrhythmia, and left the house to his widower, Andre Portasio. Portasio, a former ballet dancer, first put it up for sale in September 2024 at £3.5 million. That figure was reduced to £2.65 million four months later, in January 2025, then cut again. The asking price is now £2.4 million, more than two years after the property first went on the market.

From Vic Reeves to Lily Savage

O’Grady, best known for his alter ego Lily Savage and for ITV’s For the Love of Dogs, took on the house in the summer of 1999. He wrote in his book Country Life that on his first night there “I couldn’t sleep I was so excited”, the Daily Mail reported. Past and present neighbours include the comedians Julian Clary and Alan Carr.

He planted a wildflower meadow in the grounds and bought a patch of nearby land to stop it being used for motorbike scrambling and paintballing. The separate dance studio on the site was built for Portasio.

Framed photographs of O’Grady with Buster, a Shih Tzu-Bichon Frise cross, and Olga, a Cairn Terrier cross, still hang in the mirrored dance studio and appear in the marketing pictures. Both dogs appeared with him on The Paul O’Grady Show. Buster died in 2009 and Olga in 2018.

British Heritage has covered comparable purchases by entertainers: George Harrison paid £140,000 for Friar Park in 1970, and John Lennon £145,000 for a 72-acre estate at Ascot in 1969 that he later sold to Ringo Starr. In Kent, Winston Churchill bought Chartwell the week Mary was born.

What the listing covers

The Moveli listing describes an Edwardian country house with five bedrooms, two guest cottages, a swimming pool with a retractable roof, equestrian facilities, parkland, paddocks and woodland. Its summary gives seven bedrooms, eight reception rooms, six bathrooms and 5,859 sq ft.

The main house has an entrance hall, drawing room, dining room, garden room, study, kitchen/breakfast room, two larders, utility, cloakroom, a principal bedroom with dressing room and en suite bathroom, four further bedrooms, one of them en suite, a family bathroom, an attic and three balconies. Its EPC rating is D.

The Cottage holds a dance studio and gym with a kitchen, a steam room and bathroom, an open-plan kitchen, sitting and dining room, a bedroom and a shower room. The Timber Cottage has an open-plan sitting area and kitchenette, a galleried bedroom and a shower room. Outside there is a gated driveway with security and entry systems, gardens with a pond, a barn, stables, outbuildings and an orchard. The tenure is freehold, the council tax band G and the local authority Ashford. The particulars give Ashford International as 7.6 miles away.

The acreage has changed since the earlier marketing. The estate is now given as approximately 25.5 acres, almost five acres more than the 20.62 acres previously advertised, with “additional land by separate negotiation”. KentOnline said the reason for the difference is unclear. The stated floor space has risen from 5,655 sq ft to 5,859 sq ft, and the particulars now count eight reception rooms rather than seven. The Daily Mail said the new pictures are “more moody, interiors magazine-style shots” in place of the “bright, wide-angle snaps of the old listing”, and that O’Grady is not named anywhere in the sales material.

Planning applications and the neighbours

The latest attempt to sell follows several planning applications that drew objections from neighbours. Ashford Borough Council rejected plans to convert an outbuilding into a two-bedroom home. Separate proposals to turn a lodge into a holiday let were approved, despite objections from residents who feared a “constant stream” of visitors.

Neighbours quoted by the Daily Mail have been critical of the handling of the estate since O’Grady’s death, one accusing Portasio of “cashing in” when the price was reduced in January 2025. Fred Jaeger, who lives opposite and has called it the best house in Kent, told the paper last year: “I just wish Andre would decide what he wants to do with it.”

The view is where the particulars begin. Moveli lists “Romney Marsh sea views” first among the property’s features, looking out over the marsh whose smuggling stories British Heritage has traced in the country of the Scarecrow. The listing is handled by the Moveli agent Peter James, who covers the Weald of Kent.