Paul O’Grady’s husband knocks almost £1m off price of star’s mansion as it fails to sell amid row with neighbours

PAUL O’Grady’s husband has knocked almost £1M off the price of the star’s mansion, after it failed to sell amid an ongoing row with his neighbours.

The much-loved TV presenter, who died in 2023 aged 67, lived in the seven-bedroom farmhouse in Kent with husband Andre Portasio.

Last June, The Sun revealed Brazilian ballet dancer Andre had lost his battle with neighbours to turn a security hut at their home into a separate two-bedroom house THREE times bigger.

However, he was later granted permission to turn it into a holiday let instead.

Then just five months later in October, Andre decided to put the posh pad up for sale for £3.5M.

However, The Sun can now exclusively reveal that the price has now been dropped.

According to Rightmove, Paul’s beloved home is now on the market for £2.65M.

The house boasts four reception rooms, a large kitchen and breakfast room and a master bedroom with dressing room and en suite.

It also has four further bedrooms with an en suite and a family bathroom.

A cottage on the grounds has been turned into a dance studio and gym with a kitchen and steam room.

A second timber cottage is described as a “charming and whimsical building … where carved woodland creatures keep watch and fairy doors are accommodated”.

Outdoors is equally as spectacular, with a swimming pool, a barn, stables, orchard and paddocks.

The 1910 mansion – which is located in the sleepy Kent village of Aldington – is also surrounded by woodland.

Four years ago, Lily Savage star Paul was given the go-ahead for a groundkeeper’s outbuilding, gym and dance studio at his rural estate.

But following his death in March 2023, his widower inherited the estate and launched a bid to turn the security hut into a separate two-bedroom house.

He applied to the local council for a “change of use” of the security lodge which has an office, kitchen and shower, and lies next to the family pet cemetery.

But neighbours blasted his plans and accused him of trying to build a new home “by the back door”.

In a letter of objection, a neighbour said: “The present application is in direct contravention of the original planning conditions and in my view amounts to an attempt to gain planning permission for a significant residential development by the back door, and one which will no doubt be sold on separately to the main building.

“Given that the estate is very large, there surely must still be a need for a groundskeeper and gardeners and, indeed, for the workshop that was constructed for them.”

Andre later applied to transform the lodge into a holiday let and received the go-ahead by Ashford Council.

Planning officer Sally Hodgson said: “Central government guidance supports sustainable business, enterprise and tourism in rural areas, both through the conversion of existing buildings and well-designed new buildings.

“This is endorsed by the Local Plan which seeks to encourage the sustainable growth of tourism.”

For the Love of Dogs presenter Paul bought the seven-bedroom farmhouse for £650,000 in 1999.

The sprawling 50-acre estate lies in a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and also comes with four acres of woodland in the so-called Garden of England, where past and present neighbours include comedians Julian Clary and Alan Carr.

Paul passed away at the home in March 2023 due to sudden cardiac arrhythmia.

He had previously suffered two heart attacks.

Paul and Andre tied the knot in 2017 after first getting together in 2006.