We live in the most beautiful village in Dorset, we're fighting to stop out-of-towners bulldozing it one house at a time for their millionaire mansions
Perched up high in glorious Dorset is a five-bedroom, three-bathroom, four-reception architect-designed luxury home with a huge glassy front, exquisite views of Poole harbour and a swimming pool in the south-facing back garden, just in case the walk to one of the four local sandy beaches feels a bit of a stretch on a sunny day.
The lucky owner is a very rich chap called Justin, from London, who snapped it up in December 2023 for £2.2 million. And you’d think Justin would have been down in a flash, wallowing in the roll-top bath in the master suite, luxuriating in the underfloor heating, sipping cocktails on the balcony as he watched the sun set.
But, instead, the property has been empty ever since and it all looks a bit sad. A section of the front hedge has been ripped out. Cardboard is plastered to the inside of some of the huge windows.
An ugly metal barrier with a rusty padlock and chain fences off the drive. And neighbours on the privately maintained Agglestone Road insist they have never once set eyes on him.
Because locals wonder if Justin ever had any intention of living in it. He just wanted to knock it down and build another, bigger, better, more expensive property as his dream holiday house. And, earlier this month, he got planning permission from Dorset council to do exactly that.
Which, is of course, par for the course in Sandbanks, the billionaires’ enclave that overlooks Poole harbour where houses on the waterfront go for squillions and five minutes later, the demolition crew move in, bulldoze it, and build something bigger.
Just last summer, a 117-year-old bungalow was snapped up for nearly £13.5 million. Plans have already been submitted for a 10,000 square foot replacement.
‘Most people when they buy a house will maybe redo the kitchen and bathroom and redecorate to make the property their own. But when really wealthy people don’t like a house, they’ll just say: “Let’s put a new house on there,” ’ explains Adrian Dunford of Tailor Made Estate Agency. ‘It’s a very normal thing to do here.’
Sandbanks has garnered a reputation for attracting millionaires buying properties and demolishing them to build mansions
A local estate agent said that the swanky properties on Sandbanks push all the surrounding prices up with the 50 per cent rule
A millionaire has upset his new Studland neighbours with plans to demolish his ££2.2million home (the white house in the centre) and replace it with a 'Sandbanks-style eyesore'
So Justin would fit in perfectly in Sandbanks.
And that is the problem.
Because while Agglestone Road has enviable views of Poole harbour and the properties are worth millions, it isn’t in Sandbanks.
It is perched high up in the village of Studland, three miles away on the Purbeck peninsula.
So while, on a clear day, you can see just about see the glitter and gloss and shiny glass of Sandbanks, this is another world. Another era. Another place.
Where the chat is about the recent wild beaver release, the rare bat population, the attendance at this week’s mobility Pilates class. And how people here wouldn’t dream of knocking down their houses and building them again, just because they can.
‘It seems such a waste. It’s a perfectly good house, a very fine house to live in,’ says Pippa Lightbown. She should know. She, her husband and their ten-year-old son rented the house for several years.
‘We offered to buy it, and if we had, we might have tweaked it a bit. But we wouldn’t have knocked it down. I’m amazed the National Trust didn’t put up more of a fight about it – I’m very surprised on an ecology basis.’
The real worry is that Dorset council's decision for the newbuild will set a precedent for the much-dreaded creep across the harbour of Sandbanks-style houses (pictured Studland Bay)
People in Studland talk about the recent wild beaver release, the rare bat population, the attendance at this week’s mobility Pilates class
On a clear day, you can see just about see the glitter and gloss and shiny glass of Sandbanks, three miles away from Studland
Another elderly neighbour describes it as ‘the beginning of the end – we’re turning into Sandbanks!’.
It goes without saying that Justin’s building project will be a nightmare for all the new neighbours.
Partly, from a personal view, because his shiny new house will stick out further at the back, blocking sunlight, and because Agglestone Road is more a bumpy potholed track than a road – owned by the National Trust but maintained by the residents – and not designed to cope with several years of builders’ lorries.
But the real worry is that this mad decision by Dorset council will set a precedent for the much-dreaded creep across the harbour of Sandbanks-style houses. And the owners’ jet-set lifestyle – motorboats, choppers and splashy money – and their ‘smash-and-grab’ mindset. Which villagers here are desperate to protect against.
‘Studland is Studland and it must remain that way,’ says Bonnie, a resident of 40 years tells me in the village shop. ‘We’ll never let it turn into Sandbanks.’
They are also fiercely proud.
‘It’s the most beautiful village in Dorset,’ says Tim Watton, the parish clerk, who makes time to chat while waiting for a thatcher to come and fix his leaky roof. ‘And a lot nicer than Sandbanks!’
They all seem to have strong views about Sandbanks here.
The minute you drive off the ferry to Studland, the hectic swirl recedes and your shoulders slip down
'It is the sort of place you dream of as a child and yearn for as an adult – a green sprawl of a village with the houses and 12th-century church all tucked away down leafy lanes'
‘Why would you go there other than to pass through on your way to Bournemouth?’ asks one local.
‘We think Sandbanks is absurd,’ chirps another retired couple. ‘If you had all that money, why would you live there with people on top of you with boats roaring past?’
To be fair, the two places couldn’t be more different.
In Sandbanks everything is on show. Your house, your jetty, your landscaped garden. Your artisan breakfast croissants on display through massive glass windows. And, most of all, your wealth.
But the minute you drive off the ferry to Studland, the hectic swirl recedes and your shoulders slip down. The air is suddenly thick with the scent of yellow flowering gorse and blossom. You can hear the birds sing, the lambs bleat, the sea lapping all around – and the light is extraordinary.
It is the sort of place you dream of as a child and yearn for as an adult – a green sprawl of a village with the houses and 12th-century church all tucked away down leafy lanes.
There are four miles of sandy beaches – with no houses on them, unlike Sandbanks – two pubs, a wonderful village shop, various coffee and ice cream huts, acres of woods and wild heathland and Harry’s Rock – a natural arch in the chalk cliffs – to explore. There’s even a shipwreck.
Enid Blyton used to stay at Knoll House – the charming but very shabby hotel on the way into the village. Thomas Hardy loved it here.
The Knoll House Hotel where Enid Blyton was denied permission to update the hotel with a very sympathetic eco plan
It’s all wonderfully discreet. In fact, the only thing really on display here are the very brave bodies on Knoll Beach, the world-famous nudist beach, a 900m stretch of sand which dates back more than a hundred years and is carefully marked with green-topped posts and signs so that ‘textiles’ – as the naturists call us fully clothed visitors – don’t stumble into dingly dangly embarrassments.
Today, most of the village and the surrounding heathland is owned by the National Trust and is classified by Natural England as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, which means that any development within 400 metres of the heathland is only allowed if it enhances the natural area around it.
So while other villages around the country are being bulldozed and built on – think of the hoo-ha this week about the crazy overdevelopment of the once quiet village of Mawgan Porth in Cornwall by Hollywood celebrities including actress Cate Blanchett and actor Jason Statham – Studland has always felt protected.
Just last month, and to the disappointment of most residents, the owners of Knoll House were denied permission to update the hotel with a very sympathetic eco plan, supported by the parish council.
So the Agglestone Road decision was a real shock.
‘I think they got this one badly wrong,’ says Nick Boulter, chair of the Studland parish council.
Of course nowhere stands completely still in time – and nor should it. So there has always been plenty of building work going on, but most of it is pretty modest. Updating. A new roof. A small extension. And in keeping with the quirky character of the village.
For a long time, any development was kept to the Glebe estate – a soulless enclave on the hill above the village proper, once a small estate of rather modest bungalows but now steadily replaced with Sandbanks-style glass and steel homes with pom pom trees and names like Serendipity and Bluewater.
The Pig on the Beach, the luxury five-star hotel in the old manor house favoured by celebrities wanting a countryside fix
Recently though, things down in the village proper have changed, too. So now – popping up among the pretty cottages and arts and crafts-style houses in the heart of the village – are expensive-looking gates bristling with intercoms and security cameras. Flat-roofed eco houses. A few stone and glass blocks. An EV charging station at The Pig on the Beach, the luxury five-star hotel in the old manor house favoured by celebrities wanting a countryside fix, leased from the National Trust.
And, of course, the prices have been going bananas – making it impossible for the young to buy. Or for the old families, who have lived here for generations, to stay.
Last year the six-bedroom Old Rectory went for £3.6 million. Justin’s purchase quadrupled in value between 2003 and 2023.
According to Adrian Dunford, it’s all driven by Sandbanks which, he says, pushes all the surrounding prices up with the 50 per cent rule. So if a plot on Sandbanks is worth £15 million, its equivalent in Purbeck will soon be half that.
‘Studland is lagging a bit, so it’s the place to buy now,’ he says.
So if you’ve got a couple of million burning a hole in your pocket at the moment you could pick up a modern glass and stone box on sale for £2 million on the road out of town towards Corfe Castle. And on the Glebe estate, a three-bedroom bungalow with fantastic views, currently on the market for £2.8 million. Though I’d bet my shirt it’s knocked down by the buyer before you can say the words Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
With the spiralling prices come the out-of-towners. When Nick Boulter bought here 20 years ago, second homeowners made up between 10 and 15 per cent of villagers. Now, he says, it’s about 50-50.
Jossy Parsons, 32, who runs the brilliant village Studland Stores and has lived here all her life other than a four-year stint at university in Plymouth – ‘I couldn’t wait to get back’ – has noticed a few changes.
Privacy rows have erupted in the posh Sandbanks neighbourhood over the proliferation of trendy roof-top gardens
A lack of young people – ‘We can’t afford it any more.’ More second home owners – ‘But that’s where my business comes from, so I’m happy.’ And some rather more niche grocery orders – ‘The other day it was Puy lentils!’
But the biggest change is how often they visit.
They used to be here most weekends and every holiday, but now they’re third, fourth, fifth, sixth homeowners, she says. ‘So we don’t see them so often which is a shame.’
Because, let’s be clear. No one here is anti-second homers. Studland has always been a holiday village and its businesses rely on visitors to keep afloat.
‘We just want them to contribute to the community. And lots do,’ says Nick Boulter.
On the local council, five of the eight councillors are incomers who have thrown themselves into village life. Others volunteer for the National Trust and embrace the community feel.
For a teeny village, there’s a lot going on – a community centre with its own popular bar; badminton, gardening, bridge and yoga clubs; Easter egg hunts and rambling groups.
‘It’s all about community here,’ says Nick.
Stopping in the street for a chat. Taking 20 minutes to buy your paper over a gossip in the shop. Discussing the best way to aerate your lawn. Something that, if he stays in London, Justin and the Sandbanks crew will never understand.
He certainly hasn’t done anything to smooth his path to future happiness here. ‘He hasn’t even offered to contribute to the road upkeep!’ says Pippa hotly. ‘It’s not a great start before he moves in,’ adds another neighbour.
Though, of course, it’s highly likely that he never will. Because, perhaps, like many owners, he’ll manage only a weekend or two a year at the very most.
