GOOD NEIGHBORS

Rent From the Queen and Be William and Kate’s Norfolk Neighbors for Just $850 a Month

A new property has just come up on the royal website, offering a cute and cozy English cottage just yards from the entrance to William and Kate’s home.

A house just yards from Prince William and Kate Middleton’s palatial country home, Anmer Hall, is available to rent from the queen for a mere $850 a month.

20 Cherry Tree, in the village of Anmer, is located just a few paces from the entrance to Anmer Hall, and forms part of the queen’s extensive Norfolk property portfolio.

The house is one of several being advertised on the Sandringham Estate website, which specifies that cats are banned entirely from all of the properties available, while dogs are accepted on a discretionary basis.

Other properties advertised on the site range from a splendid, Aga-equipped farmhouse available for $3,400 per month to a one-bedroom bungalow for $700. They are all within a short drive of the Sandringham estate and the village church where the queen and her family traditionally celebrate Christmas.

That the thrifty queen is renting out properties on her estate will come as no surprise to observers; she has long been known to explore all avenues to maximize income from Sandringham, which she owns privately. At Christmas, passers-by can purchase Christmas wreaths for a few pounds from the garden and during the summer the estate often sells bunches of cut flowers and fresh vegetables.

Norfolk is around a three-hour drive from London, and some of the seaside villages near Sandringham are popular with affluent Londoners as holiday homes, however the Sandringham website makes it clear that locals will be favored over outsiders, although newcomers settling in the area are considered.

Unfortunately for any paparazzi planning to move in opposite William and Kate, the website specifies that, “Properties are not let on a first come, first served basis, but rather on which prospective tenant is best suited to the property.”

Blending in might also be a problem as the village has a population of just 63.

Of the 29 homes in the community, nearly half are owned by the royal estate and would previously have been used to house staff who worked on the estate or as domestic servants at the Hall.  

William and Kate were given the Hall by the queen as a wedding present and spent £1.5 million upgrading the home before moving in during 2013.

They lived there full time for several years but now live primarily in London, where Prince George is at school and use Anmer Hall as a holiday home.

Should Cherry Tree—which has a big garden but ‘steep stairs’— have been snapped up already, those looking for a base in Anmer might also consider the Old Studio, which has previously been used as an office and storage space, where a commercial lease is available.

Royal WeWork, anyone?

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Tom SykesEuropean Editor at Large

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