Photos of Jennifer Saunders ' stunning £2m mansion show the Dartmoor National Park property at the heart of a bitter planning row.
The Absolutely Fabulous star is currently locked in a dispute over improvements she wants to make to the home and land, as well as the separate two-bedroom cottage on the five-acre estate. Although her Ab Fab character Edina is a city girl through and through, Saunders, 66, opted to move to the countryside in 2002, which she and husband Adrian Edmonson originally bought for their three daughters as a holiday home.
Deciding the quiet life was the way to go, they moved to the isolated farmhouse - but their plans for it have been rejected by officials, who say their proposals would have a "negative impact". Some of the ideas they put forward included a new oak-framed pavillion for outside dining, a glazed balustrade and raised wall - which the council dismissed as harmful for the setting of the building.
As part of the estate, as well as the cottage, there are workshops, a marguee lawn and a walled garden. Although the couple still own their £2.2m townhouse in London, they are planning on renovating the country house as their retirement home.
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Dartmoor Crosses)But it seems they will have to go back to the drawing board, after the building conservation officer at the local council gave a scathing report of their proposed changes. As reported by the Mail, they wrote: "The interior and exterior of the building are of high significance architecturally, historically and archaeologically. As the application currently stands, the impact of the proposals on the significance of the listed building and their setting has not been minimised. There is also insufficient justification for the works and minimal public benefit."
Jennifer rose to fame with her long-time best friend and work partner, Dawn French, on their sketch show French and Saunders back in the 80s, and went on to receive acclaim in the '90s for writing and starring in Absolutely Fabulous. The mum-of-three lives with fellow comedy actor Adrian Edmondson - known for starring in TV sitcom The Young Ones. They share three daughters and five grandchildren. The pair tied the knot in Cheshire in 1985, where Jennifer hails from, in a ceremony at her parents' house.
Although the celebrity duo tend to keep their relationship largely private, Adrian did share a rare glimpse into their early days in a 2018 interview with the Guardian: "When we were first going out, whenever I went round to Jennifer's place, she'd open the door and we would snog for 10 minutes before even saying hello. It was amazing."
Speaking to the same publication the year before, he spoke about the hilarious way the couple met. "I met my wife, Jennifer Saunders, in a strip club when I was 23," he revealed. "It was a comic strip club, so you could perform alternative comedy on one stage while there were strippers on the other. Needless to say, she was one of the comedians, not one of the strippers."
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