Helen Davies
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This is not just any Cotswold village: this is Tetbury, an ancient market town where young royals rub shoulders with supermodels, bankers and farmhands. And these are not just flats above any old shop: they are flats above Highgrove, Prince Charles’s organic emporium.
Last month, the Prince of Wales opened his first retail outlet, possibly the poshest grocery shop in the world, with tasteful pastel-green signage, branded cloth shopping bags and shelves packed with Duchy Originals jams and chutneys, as well as vegetables from his Gloucestershire estate, two miles down the road. Now that the flap and flutter of the royal visit are over, estate agents are moving in, hoping to cash in on the interest as nine flats above the shop go on sale this week.
Prices start at £145,000 for a small one-bedder, rising to £495,000 for the largest, a three-bedroom, three-bathroom property over two floors, with original beams.
Edward Blake, a specialist Cotswold developer, has spent two years and £2m converting the former Lloyds Bank building, now renamed the Counting House, in the centre of the village. The properties all have fitted kitchens with granite worktops and white ceramic bathroom suites.
There will also be a royal gift in the fridge. “We always leave a bottle of champagne in the flats we sell,” says Jo Nettleton, managing director of Edward Blake. “This time, it will be a bottle of Duchy Originals sparkling wine.” The new residents will also get to share a private garden enclosed by a high wall made from Cotswold stone, with a patio, a lawn and a 100-year-old pear tree.
Prince Charles, who has signed a 15-year lease for the ground floor, and pledged to donate all the proceeds to charity, has yet to view the flats. He has, however, been an occasional visitor to the site, and was hands-on with the design for the shop, asking for local stone for the floor and oak felled from his Welsh estates. He also insisted on a water butt.
The Grade II-listed Georgian building, originally a brewery, has been shrouded in scaffolding since the project began and was unveiled only two weeks ago. The Duchy of Cornwall, of which the Highgrove estate is a part, has not funded the conversion, but the prince is known to be keen on regeneration projects that allow people to return to live in town centres.
New owners in need of sustenance can pop downstairs for Highgrove honey, made by the royal bees, or organic chocolate, cherry and almond biscuits (£3.50 for six) – although Charles is unlikely to be behind the counter. If you’re on a tighter budget, there’s a Somerfield supermarket directly opposite.
Flats at the Counting House are for sale through Butler Sherborn; 01666 505105, www.butlersherborn.co.uk www.edwardblake.co.uk
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