Victoria and David Beckham turned the Cotswolds into a ‘hugely fashionable’ Hollywood hotspot

With its picturesque rolling hills, honey-hued chocolate-box cottages and cosy pubs on quaint country lanes, the Cotswolds was England’s idyllic quiet corner – the ultimate unspoiled weekend retreat.

But now, with the arrival of A-list names such as David and Victoria Beckham and Princess Beatrice to join residents Kate Moss, Zara Tindall and Simon Cowell in this beautiful area of the West of England, the formerly under-the-celebrity-radar location is being transformed into the countryside playground of the elite – and the UK’s stealth wealth HQ.

From hedge funds to hedgerows, some of the country’s most famous residents are decamping to Cotswolds villages with increasingly sought-after postcodes. The crème de la crème of the jet set has turned the likes of Chipping Norton and Burford into the most exclusive rural region in the UK.

And now, with Hollywood star Ellen DeGeneres and her wife Portia de Rossi moving to the area, this billionaire’s playground has gone global.

The lives that David and Victoria lead during regular retreats to their £12m estate in Great Tew, near Chipping Norton, where they stay with their children Brooklyn, 25, Romeo, 22, Cruz, 19, and 13-year-old Harper.

The property has everything from its own lake to a football pitch and a swimming pool, as well as a sauna, a plunge pool, a gym and a £50,000 barbecue tent in the grounds for entertaining.

Traditional rural pursuits are represented by a cottage garden, a vegetable patch and a brood of chickens that live in their own coop, while David’s beloved beehives have featured regularly on the family’s social media accounts.

Last week, the former footballer told the Queen how much he loved the Cotswolds while attending a dinner at nearby Highgrove House.

“It’s beautiful there, so beautiful,” he said. “We love it. We are very happy there. We’ve got chickens…” Her Majesty replied: “I’ve got chickens too,” before David added that his wife of 25 years wasn’t a keen gardener but that he “loved it”

And fashion designer Victoria is also a big fan. “It’s so nice; we try to go there at the weekends as much as we can,” she has said. “When not spending time in Miami, where the football team he co-owns is based, David can occasionally be spotted browsing local shops”.