Richard Hammond has said he "won't move again" as he spoke about relocating to Wales after his divorce. The former Top Gear presenter, 56, bought a manor house in Llanwenarth, near Abergavenny, for a reported £1.9 million in March.
Hammond moved following his split from Amanda, his wife of 23 years, with whom he shares two daughters. He has now spoken candidly about his attachment to the property.
'That's me done'
"One of the first times I went to see it, I just thought, 'Yeah, that's me, that'll do. I won't move again,'" he told The Daily Telegraph. "That's me done. I love it."
Llanwenarth is a small village in south-east Wales, with Cardiff about an hour away and Bristol a similar distance over the Prince of Wales Bridge.
Discussing his love for the area, Hammond said: "The Brecon Beacons National Park is the other side of my right-hand fence. I can walk up the Sugar Loaf [mountain] in an hour and 20 minutes, or I could be getting measured for a new suit or buying a coffee in 20 minutes."
New home and bat setback
Hammond moved to Wales after leaving Grade-II-listed Bollitree Castle in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, the marital home he shared with Amanda. His new home is a six-bedroom, four-bathroom Georgian manor with a tennis court, iron-and-glass domed orangery, wine cellar, boating lake, various rubble-stone outbuildings and a modern double. It also features a grand entrance hall with sweeping staircase, seven high-ceilinged reception rooms and 21 acres of manicured gardens within a larger parkland setting.
Despite the house's many features, Hammond has hit a snag in his plans to expand the property with a padel court and car showroom. A survey found various species of bat on the estate, which could cause major delays to planning works. Hammond will be forced to apply for a protected species development licence from Natural Resources Wales to carry out his proposed barn conversion.
It is an offence to kill, injure, take or disturb a bat, or to destroy, damage, obstruct or otherwise interfere with a bat roost, breeding site or resting place.
In response, Hammond told BBC News: "If I have to share it with the bats, I'll find a way of sharing it with the bats. You don't move somewhere as beautiful as this and expect to stamp out everything that already lives there... I'm sure there's room for the bats and me in Abergavenny."
