Sarah Beeny's £3million mini-Downton Abbey home is surrounded by dead grass (even though she DOESN'T have a hosepipe ban)

By MARK DUELL, DEPUTY CHIEF REPORTER (DIGITAL) Published: 15:43, 12 August 2026 | Updated: 15:56, 12 August 2026 TV presenter Sarah Beeny appears to be letting the grass go dry at her 'mini-Downton Abbey' estate despite the local area not being under a hosepipe ban. Aerial photographs of the Property Ladder star's £3million mansion in Somerset show only very small patches of green across the grounds of her 220-acre farm. The home, which featured in the Channel 4 series Sarah Beeny's New Life in the Country, includes a private boating lake including a custom thatched boathouse. But Beeny does not appear to be watering her garden with a hosepipe or drawing water from the lake, which would still be allowed even in the event of a hosepipe ban. Her rural property is supplied by Wessex Water, which does not have a ban in place despite the Environment Agency declaring a drought in Somerset on July 29. The utility firm has a 50-year record without a ban but has urged customers to reduce their water usage given local reservoirs are now at about 58 per cent of capacity. Some 45million people across England are now in drought-stricken areas, and 27million customers are under hosepipe bans as rivers and reservoirs run low. Reading-born Beeny, 54, lives on the huge estate with her artist husband Graham Swift, 53, and their four sons Billy, 21, Charlie, 19, Laurie, 17, and Rafferty, 16. Dry grass around Sarah Beeny's £3million mansion in Somerset, pictured this week Sarah Beeny, 54, at the home with her husband Graham Swift, 53, and their four sons Billy, 21, Charlie, 19, Laurie, 17, and Rafferty, 16 The home featured in the Channel 4 series Sarah Beeny's New Life in the Country Beeny does not appear to have been watering her garden with a hosepipe or drawing water from the lake She has previously worked with utility firms to offer advice on saving water, and once said she uses the same bath water as her husband and children to avoid waste.  The home has been at the centre of an eight-year planning row over an 'illegal' farmhouse, with Beeny initially told to tear down the outbuilding she had built. But last month it was revealed the presenter might now get to keep it after the Somerset Council planning chair gave her the green light in a dramatic U-turn. The row began soon after Beeny purchased the home for £3million in 2018 and began a huge overhaul - much to the anger of local residents and the council. In 2020, the couple agreed to knock down the original 1970s farmhouse – but four years later the building was instead extended without planning permission. They were refused retrospective approval in September 2024, and lost a Planning Inspectorate appeal in February last year, being told to tear the building down. But Beeny's planning team Avalon Planning & Heritage found a loophole after winning approval to build five new dwellings converted from agricultural buildings. They then submitted a new planning application in April suggesting that if they only converted four - not five - barns, then they could keep the original farmhouse. Last month, it was revealed the chair of Somerset Council's Planning Committee South, Jason Baker, had written to the planning team urging the application to be given the green light through 'delegated powers' - meaning a planning officer could decide its fate. Mr Baker said the 'retention of the farmhouse provides ecological and sustainability benefits when considering embodied carbon and biodiversity matters'. But neighbour Kevin Flint previously said the application had 'created a lot of bad feeling in the village', adding: 'She thinks she can move down here and ride roughshod over everybody but it's not going to happen.' The property is supplied by Wessex Water, which does not have a hosepipe ban in place Beeny appears to be letting the grass go dry at her 'mini-Downton Abbey' estate Your browser does not support iframes. Your browser does not support iframes. A Wessex Water spokesman told the Daily Mail today: 'If all customers can make small changes to their daily water use habits, this will make a big impact and help keep water flowing for each other, businesses and the environment. 'Throughout the summer our teams have been working around the clock to find and fix more leaks on our network, prioritising those that are wasting the most water and increasing the number of repairs we complete. 'We're also contacting larger business customers who are high water users to encourage them to avoid non-essential water use, but we need everyone to work together. 'If demand doesn't reduce, we will need to introduce more formal restrictions to protect water supplies, which is why we're asking customers to work with us now to help avoid this.' Beeny's representative was also contacted for comment.  Earlier this week, the Daily Mail revealed chef Jamie Oliver was keeping the lawns of his Essex mansion green by taking water from his own lake, which is permitted under hosepipe restrictions. Other photographs showed Sir Rod Stewart was keeping the gardens of his 18th-century Grade II-listed property in the same county gloriously green. Sir Rod's property is within the Affinity Water hosepipe ban area, but there is no evidence he has breached a ban, given there are many workarounds and he may have an exemption.