For chronic house flippers Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, the spoils of Hollywood have long been rivaled by the riches of real estate. Over the past two decades, the couple has bought and sold more than 30 homes in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, and Montecito, generally without much drama.

But then they came to the Cotswolds. When they purchased Kitesbridge Farm, in the summer of 2024, they intended to use it as a vacation home, hopscotching between the 16,600-square-foot estate and two palatial homes in California.

They were sufficiently taken with the place to pay $20 million—around $4 million over the asking price—for the 43-acre complex in Swinbrook, Oxfordshire, where neighbors include Kate Moss and David and Victoria Beckham. The estate included an 18th-century farmhouse, a guesthouse, and outbuildings that will look familiar to fans of Clarkson’s Farm—the hugely popular Amazon series fronted by Jeremy Clarkson, the pugnacious TV host turned unlikely agrarian—which is filmed nearby. Also close at hand is Estelle Manor, the stylish country-house hotel where, according to Tatler, Apple heiress Eve Jobs held her wedding reception last summer.

In keeping with their tradition of fast-tracked renovations, DeGeneres and de Rossi promptly enlisted more than 70 workers and spent another $10 million. They completed in just under 5 months what one architect estimated should have taken 12 to 18—a remarkable feat by any standard, but especially in red-tape-prone Great Britain, where even modest building works require approval from local authorities.

The result was a Hollywood-approved complex with a helicopter hangar, cinema, indoor pool, gym and sauna, and party barn complete with its own pub. But preservationists, fear not: the original wide-plank oak floors, stone walls, and beamed ceilings remain intact. They’ve been accessorized with contemporary farmhouse furnishings in a style that skews heavily RH catalogue.

DeGeneres and de Rossi, both prominent Democrats, moved in just in time for the final showdown between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump and eventually sold their remaining homes in California. “We got here the day before the [presidential] election and woke up to lots of texts from our friends with crying emojis, and I was like, ‘[Trump] got in,’” said DeGeneres at a speaking engagement in nearby Cheltenham last July. “And we’re like, ‘We’re staying here.’”

A Hollywood-approved complex with a helicopter hangar, cinema, indoor pool, gym and sauna, and party barn complete with its own pub.

But it wasn’t long before the troubles began. In late November 2024, Storm Bert pummeled western England and much of Wales with heavy rain and strong winds. The River Windrush, a tributary of the Thames that runs alongside Kitesbridge Farm, burst its banks and left DeGeneres and de Rossi marooned in their home like something out of Waterworld, especially unfortunate given that the Windrush has been plagued by high levels of E. coli from untreated sewage.

Nearby roads were buried beneath five feet of water, impeding access to basic services as well as to the Farmer’s Dog, Clarkson’s pub. When the pub opened in the summer, reported the Daily Mail, its water system immediately failed after DeGeneres and de Rossi depleted local reserves by emptying, cleaning, and refilling their 54-foot pool.

But relations appeared to remain cordial. Following the floods, Clarkson’s partner, Lisa Hogan, posted a video of DeGeneres and de Rossi socializing at the pub with fellow locals Natalie Imbruglia and James Blunt—although it was swiftly removed once the newspapers got hold of it. (Make of it what you will, but the two were soon seen visiting the Three Horseshoes, a gastro pub down the road in the tiny village of Batcombe.)

After just two months, DeGeneres and de Rossi decided to leave this chapter behind and moved into a much more Hollywood Hills–style setup 30 miles away—a single-story modern mansion on a hilltop with floor-to-ceiling windows and an infinity pool featuring a panoramic view of the countryside. Before long, reported The Wall Street Journal, they were letting their chickens free-range in its hallways. According to planning documents, it has a “sustainable drainage system” and is not “at risk of flooding.”

In July 2025, they listed Kitesbridge Farm for $30.5 million, justifying the markup with what the real-estate agents call a “restoration of rare artistry and scale” and providing a tidy explanation for their lightning pivot. “When we decided to live here full time, we knew that Portia couldn’t live without her horses,” DeGeneres said in a statement to Sotheby’s, which had the listing. “We needed a home that had a horse facility and pastures for them.”

When the pub opened in the summer, its water system immediately failed because DeGeneres and de Rossi had reportedly depleted local reserves by emptying, cleaning, and refilling their 54-foot pool.

But Kitesbridge Farm languished on the market—not unusual given the anemic state of British real estate, especially since one primary market for top-end Oxfordshire homes is now Americans. According to Savills, a real-estate agency, they are responsible for 13 percent of all sales over $2.2 million, which is remarkable given how long it takes to get there from, say, Los Angeles—11 hours by plane to Heathrow and another 2 by car. Unless you’re flying private, in which case Gloucestershire Airport, near Cheltenham, will do nicely.

Then the couple’s plans changed again. They doubled down on Kitesbridge Farm, de-listing the property last month and submitting a planning application to the West Oxfordshire District Council to build an “all-weather riding arena” outside the property’s flood zone.

If successful, they have vowed, they will make it their “long-term home.” But that’s looking dicey, given that the proposed arena could disturb Roman remains, including a bridge, road, villa, and bathhouse. Several artifacts have been found on the property, including Mesolithic-Neolithic flint flakes, a Roman quern (a grinding tool), and a Roman coin dating from the mid–third century.

They have now proposed a new location for the riding arena adjacent to the existing stables, which is likely to be less controversial. According to the documents, it “seeks to replace a modern farm building with a more vernacular structure that is more in keeping with the character of the remaining buildings on the land.” DeGeneres and de Rossi have also offered to hire an archaeologist to monitor construction and ensure that Roman stones go unturned.

After all this faff, they could be forgiven for feeling a little homesick. And so, very quietly, with another $27.4 million that was apparently burning a hole in their pocket, they bought a lovely traditional home in Montecito that once belonged to the producer Brian Grazer.

DeGeneres celebrated her birthday in Montecito in January—a damp and depressing month in Britain. But by spring, she was back in the Cotswolds, sailing through the verdant lawns at Kitesbridge on a lime-green mower and, in another great English tradition, wearing furry earmuffs and striped knitwear in April. And so the world turns.

Ashley Baker is an Editor at Large for AIR MAIL

Photo illustration: Chop Choppish Shop. Photos: Kenneth Cox/Moment/Getty Images (Cotswolds); Gregg DeGuire/FilmMagic/Getty Images (DeGeneres); Kingdom Sotheby’s International Realty (property, all); Sharon Suh (Baker)