Great British Bake Off star Paul Hollywood has had his plans to build a walled kitchen garden at his Grade II-listed Kent home rejected by Ashford Borough Council. The celebrity baker and his wife purchased the farmhouse in Ashford for £810,000 in 2019.
The proposal involved demolishing the property's conservatory to create an open-plan space intended for 'ad-hoc filming'. However, the council deemed the plans would not be a 'sympathetic or appropriate addition' to the historic residence.
The refusal document stated that the 'scale, bulk, design and massing' of the plans would 'detract' from the current 'special interest' of the property. The extension was to be clad in Flemish bond brick with plain clay, housing a kitchen-diner, and also included the removal of the existing kitchen.
Externally, a kitchen garden with patio, raised beds and a brick wall connected to the extension were proposed. The initial proposal argued that the existing kitchen was too narrow for filming purposes and that the new space would enable filming of a documentary of Hollywood cooking from home.
To overturn the decision, Hollywood would need to go through the council appeal process.
