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What do you think of Sarah Beeny's mega-mansion?

211 replies

StrychnineInTheSandwiches · 30/11/2021 21:01

A new programme has started on Channel 4 following Sarah Beeny and her husband (and their four kids) as they build their ginormous new house in Somerset.

The house looks like a Lego version of a Georgian country pile. It's naff looking I'm being honest. (yes I can say that. no it isn't a very mean thing to say). The kind of house a Russian oligarch who fancied being an English country gent two weekends a year might have built.

I think we're supposed to worry along with them as to whether their Lego mansion runs over budget and doesn't get finished on time.

Their dog Maple is gorgeous though. No grumbles about Maple.

What do you think of Sarah Beeny's mega-mansion?
OP posts:
RevolvingPivot · 06/01/2022 23:20

Also they keep saying that are so busy. Yet waste their time making a bee hive. Tree house. Nettle beer. A zip line etc. I know it's for the show but why make it so obvious.

CoolShoeshine · 06/01/2022 23:28

I like all of the family, the boys are particularly nice but I’ve no idea why on earth they’d want to be on this TV show, especially the teenagers, unless they’re like their parents and love the limelight?
I have to admit the moulding around the rooms and how they are decorated is very clever, the rooms come together well. If I was a suspicious person I’d think that perhaps there was a team of designers and decorators behind the scenes. It just looks too well put together.
Also, their current temporary home is very “lived in”, bordering on messy. They’ve definitely got alternative plans for that mansion, no way is that going to be a family home.

SoonbeSpringtime · 07/01/2022 10:07

I agree @CoolShoeshine they've been in that farmhouse for quite some time now and it looks chaotic. Such a stark contrast with the formality they've chosen for the new mansion. Although I cringed when they got the Indian takeaway and just dumped it unceremoniously on that high polished antique dining table.

The decorating too. Would you really build something like that and then dab the paint on yourselves by torchlight? and let the kids do their own rooms? It looks far too well done.

BalladOfBarryAndFreda · 07/01/2022 12:06

I’m just catching up on the last two eps. I agree with the sentiment that they seem a nice family overall. I don’t think the boys seem badly behaved, having had two teenaged sons myself (who’ve grown into functioning, decent adults).

The sitting room with the red wallpaper. Hmm. Overall ok but the seating way too formal and more about the aesthetic than comfort and the wallpapering was absolutely awful. That paper will have been expensive, though presumably there will have been a PR discount involved, but it didn’t look like they took shrinkage into account when they put it up as there were white gappy bits everywhere on the finished room.

I assume the driveway as it stands is a temp solution whilst the house and landscaping are still in transition.

Is that 70’s farmhouse on their land or are they renting it separately? I assume it was the original farmhouse for the land they bought and built on.

The kids rooms are very mature and traditional. The DIY shop ceiling shades and plastic ceiling roses looked really awful against the antique furniture. Loved the bookcase secret door to the youngest’s bathroom though, whimsical and well executed.

newyear1 · 07/01/2022 12:51

I like Beeny and family. They don't take themselves too seriously. The house interior isn't to my taste at all but life would be boring if we all liked the same.

I also think the boys come across really well (I dread to think how my teenage sons would behave on camera). They seem quite natural and the older two are funny. Such praise is unlike me, usually I have a very cynical view of people in the public eye. I must be getting soft.

CoolShoeshine · 07/01/2022 22:11

I shouldn’t be at all surprised if the driveway is temporary. We’ll probably be treated to series 3 where they landscape - formal rose gardens, fountains, perhaps a maze?

SwedishEdith · 11/01/2022 20:06

Whoever said they would be putting this on the market asap is spot on, I guess - each of the boys having an en-suite. Hmm, sure.

TheSpottedZebra · 11/01/2022 20:45

And of course her cat had a surprise pregnancy.

SwedishEdith · 11/01/2022 20:47

Lads' bathrooms (if they really were having one) would be showers over baths.

SwedishEdith · 11/01/2022 20:52

@SwedishEdith

Lads' bathrooms (if they really were having one) would be showers over baths.
I mean showers instead of baths.
Fetchthevet · 11/01/2022 20:58

The family crest ... well we've all got one of those on the bath, haven't we.

CoolShoeshine · 12/01/2022 14:35

Those lads would never have chosen “gentlemen’s club” bedrooms and bathrooms. My son is a similar age to the younger teen and in his bedroom he stipulated an electric guitar, a marvel poster and a shelf to display lego.

BalladOfBarryAndFreda · 12/01/2022 18:33

@TheSpottedZebra

And of course her cat had a surprise pregnancy.
No such thing as spaying in Somerset, apparently Hmm.

I think the house will be a boutique hotel/b&b with events licence, rather than sale. Beeny seems to like a going concern rather than a flip. I hope they do live in it as a family though.

The baths they used were lovely but not very practical in every bathroom, in a small room I’d definitely have put a generous shower rather than a bath, I agree @SwedishEdith. At least the youngest’s one had a shower over the bath. They obv got a job lot of those basin units. I hope there is another bathroom elsewhere with an actual shower cubicle/shower unit in.

Hen2018 · 12/01/2022 18:56

I had to laugh at her 17 year old. He sounded like Jeremy Clarkson, could have passed for 35 and wanted his bedroom to look like a gentleman’s club!

Twospaniels · 12/01/2022 19:05

Sarah mentioned about en suites with every bedroom and future proofing, yes as an event venue or boutique hotel.

CoolShoeshine · 12/01/2022 21:12

@Twospaniels

Sarah mentioned about en suites with every bedroom and future proofing, yes as an event venue or boutique hotel.
Definitely l! They’re not fooling anyone Grin
Whitney168 · 18/01/2022 20:33

@TheSpottedZebra

And of course her cat had a surprise pregnancy.
I cannot believe how they allow these kids (who are perfectly pleasant lads) to handle these puppies and kittens - shoving puppies down makeshift ramps from windows, manhandling 4 week old kittens outdoors. I would be clipping their ears, not filming and laughing.
Puffinhead · 18/01/2022 20:58

I’ve been watching this wondering why none of the rooms seem to have any window coverings! Where are the curtains?!

Twospaniels · 19/01/2022 11:03

The music room

So did The Entitled Sons finish those cork boards themselves? I think they would have got bored quite quickly. Also their messy painting of the skirting I think would have to have been tidied up by professidecorators.

They’re lucky boys for sure.

Hope the ducks stay on their lake. My neighbour hatched ducks and once out on their large pond, they stayed for about a week and then flew off to live on a neighbours pond

gogohm · 19/01/2022 11:19

I went to have a nose Grin while walking ddog. Looks better (from outside obviously) in person than I expected. It's only about 10 miles from my work. Apparently she's nice if you bump into her, I haven't though she's been in the shop I go to, they had a clipping on the wall about the show.

nokidshere · 19/01/2022 12:09

. I have a suspicion they're more of serial property developers/entreprenneurs rather than building a family home.

That's funny! You do know they've been in the property renovation business for over 25yrs right?

I quite like the programme. The house decor wouldn't be my choice but I would love to have so much space. My 'lottery win' wish would be to have a house where each room has its own bathroom, what bliss! And who wouldn't like to have enough money to stop what you are doing and raise a few animals, or learn how to make honey, or whatever your particular interest is. Or to be able to give their children a pond with a zip wire over it?

They acknowledge how lucky they are. The boys can't help that they were born into that particular family, they don't know any different lifestyle but again they seem to acknowledge how lucky they are and accept that they are (sadly) going to get slated for it.

Like it or not, money brings freedom to follow your wants and not just your needs. It's not their fault the world is so unequal.

RevolvingPivot · 19/01/2022 12:15

I'm enjoying in

itwasntaparty · 19/01/2022 12:17

I don't like the house personally but I'd love the space and it is perfectly 'future proofed'.

The vu got enough land to build again, if it was me I'd build a smaller (still big!) more to my taste home and use the square house as a venue / business. It does look a bit like a conference / away day venue.

I do like how the boys get on so well, or at least look like they do.

Tigresswoods · 19/01/2022 13:14

I have really enjoyed this show & I do "like" all the people in it but last night I just sort of felt we've watched a show about 4 kids. Graham is barely in it now. Sarah is a bit more but basically it's about the boys.

LadyEloise1 · 21/01/2022 09:29

Could someone please tell me what are the 2 added on bits on either side of the house please ?
They look wooden and don't match the lovely bricks.
Totally out of keeping aesthetically
Imo.
Could they be temporary accommodation for contractors- kitchen/ loo ?