Ugh, I still hate this fug Sonia Rykiel jumpsuit.
Soon after George Clooney and Amal got engaged, he bought a giant mansion in Berkshire, England. It was to be their “country estate” where George could putter around while Amal did casework in her office, I would assume. Amal has a place in London, and George notably owns a bachelor pad in LA plus his amazing Como, Italy mansion. A country mansion in England fits with that lifestyle. The problem? For months now, the country mansion and estate has been undergoing a massive renovation and it’s driving their neighbors crazy.
George Clooney has been labeled “the worst neighbour you could have”. The 54-year-old actor and his lawyer wife Amal Clooney, 37, are due to move into their £10million British riverside home – situated in Sonning Eye on the outskirts of Reading, Berks – at the end of July.
However, construction on the property has been going on “for months”, and the roar from heavy machinery, sanders and drills has been upsetting the locals. One of George and Amal’s future neighbours told The Sun newspaper:
“Half the locals love having a celebrity in town, others think he’s the worst neighbour you could have. The construction’s been going on for months and will be lucky to finish before the year is out.”
The married couple’s luxury home is due to include a new annex with 12-seater cinema, a pool house and staff quarters, but is currently littered with skips, diggers, portaloos, temporary fencing and scaffolding, and work has not even started on the 15-metre swimming pool. Construction on the site has been held up, as the architects were told to take special measures to prevent flooding in case the Thames bursts its banks, as well as searches for bats, voles and otter habitats, in case of any environmental concerns.
Rich people problems. The reno, not that the neighbors’ complaints. It drives me crazy when my neighbors light firecrackers on summer nights, but I thankfully have thoughtful neighbors who don’t do major renovations for months on end. Of course, I also don’t live in a ritzy area in Berkshire. So, George and Amal: worst neighbors ever?! Eh. George, I believe, probably feels bad about the neighbors’ complaints. He’s always been known as a good neighbor in Como and LA. And I still think that if and when George and Amal divorce, she’s the one getting this Berkshire estate and these renovations are being done to her specifications.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
“Portaloo” sounds so much classier than “Johnny on the Spot”.
ETA: Props to the Brits who care about voles and bats. If there was a rich developer or home owner in the US, they’d allow the complete razing of a forest.
One of my favorite tag lines, seen on the side of a cargo truck transporting Royal Flush porta-potties:
“It all smells like money to us.”
Ha! (and gross)
Depends on the state. Some have laws similar to the federal National Environmental Policy Act.
And I agree about that jumpsuit! Yikes!
Why a swimming pool in England? Seems there’s not much of a season for that!
Probably indoor, and heated.
We do have summer too, you know! It just… comes and goes! Today, for example, is FAR too hot for my liking.
I dont follow their story and find their relationship (or what theyre selling to us more like it)kind of bland. But goodness, every pap photo I see of her looks like shes reveling in all this attention/adores being followed and a celeb
THERE’S AN UNDERSTATEMENT. AND DOES THE WOMAN EVER, REPEAT EVER, STAND UP STRAIGHT? SHE’S ALWAYS LEANING SIDEWAYS…HEAD COCKED…SLUMPING. UGH. I’M OVER THIS WOMAN. TAKE OFF THE SUNGLASSES ALREADY…WE GET IT. YOU’RE A CELEB WANNA-BE.
That jumpsuit makes her pelvis look square and enormous.
If it wasn’t them, it would be someone else. When anyone buys a 10 million pound mansion, they will be renovating it for months. Sucks, but it’s true.
Yikes! My first reaction when I opened the story to the full pic of Amal was, “What the HELL is she wearing?”
When Paltrow & Martin were renovating, they were said to be the “worst neighbors ever,” with all the same complaints. Truth is, no one like having construction noise & mess nearby, but once it’s over & the finished product increases the average property values, everyone’s happy again & brags about the fancy digs the neighbors have.
Horrible outfit!
That´s it.
This outfit looks terrible on her. And even if it was fitted, it would look worse since she is so thin.
I’m taking this whole story with a grain of salt. Most of the houses in that sort of area are super isolated – it’s not as if they’re joined on to each other – and so far from any main road that it would be hard to see all the skips etc unless you were actually in their garden. I also find it hard to believe that the ‘locals’ are excited about celebrities moving in, as most of the people in that area will be either crazy rich or celebrities themselves. Not exactly starstruck villagers.
This.
Actually, Google Earth and other photos show the Mill Trace and House to be rather close to other buildings–it’s only isolation is that it is rather on an island in the Thames. That said, I wonder why all the building, as the property already has a gorgeous pool building, plunge building, sauna, AND cinema.
“Half the locals love having a celebrity in town”.
Hmmm. Sonning is full of celebs. It’s the fashion to have a house on the Thames if you’re rich.
Pls someone tell her to stop wearing those kind of shoes!! And explain to her how to by the correct size shoes!!!
Girl has bunions, people. One has to wear this type of shoe to prevent pain and cover the ugliness. (I know all too well).
Buy..not by
OMG she is skin and bones. I am sorry that is not normal.
Kim K. wears clothes that are two sizes too small.
Amal wears clothes that are two sizes too big.
If Amal actually wore fitted clothes, we would see how much weight she has lost and the fact that she is literally almost skin and bones now.
Something nice: I’m glad that the construction crews are checking to make sure that environmental concerns are being followed.
In my neighbourhood there’s construction regularly. Old houses torn down, new ones put up. They don’t magically appear. It takes months and it makes noise (at reasonable hours) but only the major stuff like excavation carries. Well, maybe when they’re hammering the frame. But you don’t hear every little thing. Much ado about nothing.
Forgot to mention the house in Mexico..I get a feeling that he is in no hurry to finish this place..
She is too thin.
Ugh. These people are complaining about months of renovations. Our next door neighbor took 3 1/2 years to build his home! To top it off, even though we both have over 2 acres of land, he placed his home 50 feet away from the side of our home. The noise form hammers, drills and power saws started each and every morning at 8AM. Those neighbors in England should consider themselves lucky if this only takes months.
I doubt they have any direct neighbours. But I’ve seen pics where they are building high fences around their property, also alongside the river- I could imagine that that’s not really appreciated in this area.
Know the area (friends). It is neither a locale of isolated Estates nor an elite & exclusive ‘gated’ style community. It remains very much a Community (of mixed capital & resource – despite its attractive location and out-of-The-City draw).
Also, even to those more ‘elite’ the understanding is such that preservation of authenticity of property is important, and conservation re River is tantamount. As my connection is through rowing/sculling, I know.
Planning application regs are tight.
Locally, there is a general sense the Clooneys have over reached and tried to take liberties; their disregard as to the riverbank particularly.
This is not a clichéd Them v Us (although Amal in particular seems to be pushing for inauthentic nouveau development), it’s that much appears too demanded or demanding, in the face of form applying to everyone else in the area, simply because they think they’re stars.
On the whole, across the community board, it’s not going down too well.
Becoming part of a Community is more than simply plugging a Pub you’ve very rarely been to.
Yeah, these fancy shmancy snobs should spend a week in my apartment with the drug dealers and daily brawls, drunken, doped out fights where the F word is the nicest word in the screaming matches, children who are never supervised and run rampant doing God knows what, police visits, and the oh so considerate loud booming techno music we seem to be destined to listen to at least 17 hours out of every 24, and THEN tell me who the “worse neighbour you could ever have” is. Asses.
Her toes scare me. Worst toes ever!
My granmother is eighty eighty and has nicer feet than her. I agree with Keiser this house is part of her pre-nup , I will be very surprised to see George spending much time there, he hasnt been there since last October, and when he was pictured in the Uk he looked miserable and like a duck out of water.