Ed Sheeran makes £3.7m Suffolk estate eco-friendly

Ed Sheeran has allegedly made his sprawling £3.7 million Suffolk estate eco-friendly by getting a £36k hi-tech upgrade.

According to a report from The Sun on Friday, the singer, 29, and his wife Cherry Seaborn, 28, are keen to make their home, dubbed Sheeranville, as energy-efficient as possible. 

To do so, the happy couple are said to have decked the buildings with ground-sourced heated pumps, which use the natural heat from the earth to provide hot water and heating in the property, and cost £18,000 each.

But that’s not all Ed and Cherry are reportedly doing to decrease their carbon footprint, as they have also begun growing their own fruit and vegetables, and also keep chickens on the estate.

A source speaking to the publication claimed: ‘They are both passionate about reducing their dependence on things like fuel and food.

‘They grow vegetables, fruit and flowers and have chickens and are also introducing beehives for honey.  

‘The plan is to see just how much they can produce themselves and the goal is to become self-sufficient.’

The source added that the couple did not see themselves as ‘eco-warriors’, but they were just keen to source as much of their own food as possible. 

It was also claimed by the publication that Cherry has quit her job at Deloitte to start growing her own fruit and vegetables, and she is said to have enrolled on a course at Cambridge University on sustainable business.

MailOnline has contacted Ed’s representatives for comment. 

It was reported in July that Ed intends to buy out the owners of three houses that sit on the edge of his estate because their gardens encroach on his land. 

The singer, who owns a total of 27 properties both within and outside London worth £57million, has slowly been accumulating the land around his home in Suffolk, turning it into what has become known as ‘Sheeranville’.  

Worth around £200million – Ed owns five of the properties on the land, but the homeowners [of the remaining three houses] know that Ed will give them the best price if and when they decide to move on. 

A source told The Sun: ‘The homes are right in the middle of Ed’s land on the main road, so it will just neaten everything up if he can get his hands on all three over the coming years. 

‘The gardens of the homes jut into the middle of fields owned by Ed and mean that he must take the long way round if he wants to visit a lake on at the far edge of his property.’

The publication claims that the houses in question are two bungalows and a larger property. 

Ed has been building and adding onto his estate for the last five years, and now has a pub, swimming pool and hot tub, orchard, walled kitchen garden, greenhouses, an underground cinema, a gym, a recording studio, a wildlife pond and an area for goats, sheep and chickens.

MailOnline approached the singer’s rep for comment at the time.

Sheeranville is not without controversy with Ed clashing with his neighbours in the past as the star has been involved in several legal disputes over his rights and his neighbours’ rights to expand their respective landmasses.

This year Ed’s neighbour, Anthony Robinson, won a battle against the superstar who rejected Mr Robinson’s plans to extend his back garden.

Mr Robinson, who lives three houses along from the pop star’s estate, was given permission to make his back garden 160 feet bigger despite Ed’s objections.   

Mr Robinson already owned the field behind his four bedroom home – which is worth £550,000 – and wanted to incorporate some of it into his private garden.

But Ed, who had undertaken his own vast building project just a few hundred feet away, did not want the space to be domesticated.

He claimed it would ‘extend the village into the countryside in an unplanned and artificial way’.

Although the council objected to Mr Robinson’s proposal initially many neighbours wrote in to support him and his plans were eventually approved.    

Last June the singer had to fight to be able to keep the 16ft pub sign he had hung outside a barn converted into a drinking den. 

Although he had been given planning permission for the pub in 2017 he had not been given permission for the sign which caused locals to question why it was there. 

Sheeran was also told he could not swim in his wildlife pond after he was granted permission to build it under the condition that it was used to provide a natural habitat for frogs, newts and dragonflies.

The council visited his property and specifically forbade ‘recreational leisure such as swimming’. 

He was also forced to remove his outside sauna, in a caravan next to the pond, after neighbours complained. 

Ed bought his first home in the site, a new build, for around £900,000 back in 2012.  

The most recent addition to the estate came in April when the star spent £875,000 buying the home of neighbour Sharon Jest, who had previously opposed some of his plans. The price was considerably higher than for similar properties in the area.

Meanwhile, work on a Victorian-style greenhouse and kitchen garden, an orchard, mini-paddock and copse of American sweetgum trees is being overseen by Sue Townsend, a former gardener for the BBC’s Blue Peter.

Last year the singer was granted planning permission to create a place of worship in his back garden which he has yet to build.        

The new building was described in the application as ‘novel and modern’, but designed not to conflict with the parish church of St Mary.  

This follows the news that Ed’s sprawling estate is the most Googled celebrity home in the UK with almost 47,000 searches a year. 

Data gathered in May shows that Britons look up the singer’s 16-acre village more than any other celeb. 

The data shows that after Ed, Britons are most interested in Katie Price’s estate with 38,400 searches and Kim Kardashian’s home with 14,400 searches.

Ed was also the only Brit to be featured on a different global Top Ten list where Kim Kardashian’s home had the most searches worldwide with over 168,000 searches a year. 

The data, compiled by Ratedpeople.com, said Ed’s estate is searched 80,400 times a year worldwide. 

Ed has been doing his bit to help his community during lockdown and has reportedly donated more than £1million to local charities in Suffolk amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The generous donation has gone toward several good causes in his home county including the children’s hospital ward in Ipswich.  

Ed is reportedly enjoying time spent in isolation with his wife by tending to their land and growing organic fruit and veg.  

The Shape of You star has developed a passion for gardening during the lockdown as well as keeping his chickens. 

With so much room on the sprawling land, the musician is reportedly planning on adding sheep and goats to his livestock collection. 

For now he is enjoying growing his own fruit and veg in the onsite green house including strawberries, spuds, lettuce and carrots.