KIRSTIE Allsopp's £3.5million childhood manor home is at the centre of a major planning row.
The 11-bedroom manor was previously owned by Charles Allsopp, 6th Baron Hindlip - the Channel 4 presenter's late dad.
Vern Leaze is a Grade II* building of "national significance", located in Calne, Wiltshire.
The expensive property has now been drawn into a planning row as it neighbours a site earmarked for 170 homes and a medical centre at Wenhill.
Mr Allsopp, who wielded the gavel in the record-breaking £24.75 million auction of Van Gogh's Sunflowers in 1987, is reported to have sold the property in the early 80s.
Developer CG Fry & Son has submitted detailed plans explaining how it will reduce the impact of a large housing estate on the setting of the historic house.
This has included setting the new homes back from the property and creating a "substantial green buffer."
A design and access statement said: "Grade II* listed buildings are considered to be of national significance and we have taken care to design the proposed development in such a way that it protects the building and its setting.
"A key part of this is the retention of a large area in the southern part of the development as a parkland-style open space.
"This was formerly an area of parkland around the historic house; however, it has lost many of the historic trees that were once part of it."
The plans have already caused a heated row in Calne with a petition against the development launched before a formal planning application was even submitted.
At the time, residents voiced concerns about the impact on traffic and the loss of green space.
Becky Amor said: "The town is already gridlocked most of the time due to the volume of traffic and Silver Street is particularly bad, so to have another 170 cars is complete madness."
Mellissa Freeman added: "This is far too many houses for this area… Calne is already bursting at the seams."
CG Fry & Son insists the site is "an ideal urban expansion to the west of Calne" that has been allocated in the Local Plan.
The firm added: "Our aim is to provide an individually designed scheme with a sense of place, which will cherish local distinctiveness, and provide an attractive, comfortable, and safe place to live for its occupants."
This comes after Kirstie secretly married Ben Andersen after the pair had dated for 20 years.
The Mail on Sunday reports that Kirstie and Ben kept their wedding a secret right up until the last minute.
Most of their guests didn't even know until it happened, with Kirstie keen to keep the ceremony as private as she could.
The location where she and Ben tied the knot was where a memorial service for her late father was held.
The couple tied the knot in January 2025.
The pair, who have homes in both Devon and London, first met in 2004 while attending a party for a prospective Conservative MP.
At the time, Ben and his ex-wife Theresa had only been separated for five months, with Kirstie forced to shut down rumours that she had "stolen" Ben from his ex.
"I did not [steal him]. I met Ben at a party for a prospective Tory MP friend of mine, Orlando Fraser.
"Ben's wife, whom I knew at school and whom he was already separated from, introduced us," she told the Evening Standard in 2012.
Kirstie and Ben have two sons, Bay, who was born in 2006, and Oscar, who was born in 2008.
