BARONESS Lydia Dunn and her husband, former attorney-general Michael Thomas, have bought a luxury house worth more than $9 million in the heart of the English countryside.
It stands in 2.4 hectares of pasture just metres from the River Thames in the picturesque village of Somerford Keynes, near Cirencester in Gloucestershire.
The Baroness and her husband bought the classic 18th-century vicarage last August for an estimated GBP800,000, after an 18-month search for a suitable home in the Cotswolds.
She already owns a house in London, and the latest purchase is known only to a handful of her closest friends.
But Lady Dunn said: ''We have no plans to settle there. My husband bought Somerford Keynes House for our use during holidays in England and for the use of two of his children who live and work in England.'' The house lies in the heart of a county which has been called the playground of the English aristocracy. Prince Charles' Highgrove Estate is 13 kilometres away near the village of Tetbury, and Gatcombe Park, home of the Princess Royal, is just a little further on, near Stroud.
Lady Dunn is also within striking distance of the Governor, Chris Patten, who owns a small stone cottage in Conkwell, about 40 kilometres further south, a throwback to his days as member of parliament for nearby Bath.