Little Chalfont home once owned by Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne on sale

Adding to its appeal for buyers in the theatre industry and other headline professions looking for a base in a central location, Beel House, in Little Chalfont, couldn’t be better placed.

It is less than half an hour by limo from Marlow where plans are afoot for a state-of-the-art TV and film studios but when you’d rather let the train take the strain, it’s no more than five minutes walk from the local Chiltern line station.

Previous owners of the Grade II* listed mansion include actor Dirk Bogarde, also ”the wild man of rock” Ozzy Osbourne and his wife Sharon, song writer Matt Aitken and film director Basil Dearden.

According to John Coldstream’s authorised biography of Dirk Bogarde, the actor paid £4,000 for the house when he bought it in the mid-50s. He owned it for more than 20 years.

One of its appeals for the star who played the lead part in Doctor in the House was the privacy he hoped his new home would provide.

He reckoned the grounds of thirteen and a half acres of parkland and long drive leading to the house would deter snoopers.

Unfortunately for him, he hadn’t bargained for his fan base at the neighbouring girls grammar school that was built after he moved in.

The expansive grounds

It wasn’t long before he discovered wide eyes watching him through holes in the hedge that formed the shared boundary. He called in landscapers to create a grass mound topped with a line of trees to block the view. In showbiz circles it was nicknamed Bogarde’s Bastion.

The actor was at the height of his fame when he moved to Little Chalfont. He loved entertaining.

According to Bogarde’s authorised biography written by John Coldstream it was like a night at the Oscars when his friends rolled up.

Michael Wilding, Glynis Johns, Denholm Eliot, Judy Garland, anyone who was anyone in the world of entertainment in that era came out to party at Beel House.

To his theatre chums he was Squire Bogarde and by all accounts excelled in the role particularly when he hosted the annual horse show and gymkhana in his grounds.

The house was originally built in the 1600s for the Duke of Buckingham. When Bogarde took over, he immediately set about a programme of renovation.

As soon as the legal documents had been signed he hired a local builder to knock down 11 rooms in the servants wing to enable him “to start from scratch.”

The house comes with a tennis court

It still left him with 15 rooms to play with. The one he was most proud of was the 19th century 30ft conservatory. When Kay Kendall stayed at Beel with Rex Harrison prior to their opening night in the 1958 London production of My Fair Lady she christened it “the out-patients department.”

Eventually the London-born actor with the name most people couldn’t spell got tired of playing the country squire. He disposed of Beel House “in a swift and private sale” to Basil Dearden.

The film director’s sojurn in Little Chalfont was cut short when he was killed in a car crash in 1971.

The next famous incumbents were Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne who bought the house in the mid-80s, then came Matt Aitken, followed by Kilroy Silk and his wife Jan. They sold the house in 2014 reportedly to an international buyer who is the present owner.

Hugh Maconochie at Savills Country House department describes Beel as “the archetypal country residence.” It was completely refurbished in the 1980s – swimming pool complex, games block and garages all date from then – but it could do with another re-fit.