Ellen DeGeneres and her wife Portia de Rossi have put Kitesbridge Farm, a 43-acre Cotswolds estate they bought in June 2024, on the market with an asking price of £22.5 million — £7.5 million more than the couple paid last year. Sotheby’s, which is handling the sale, and DeGeneres have attributed most of the price increase to a year of renovations.
The four-bedroom main house and ancillary buildings include a sweeping kitchen, bespoke solid-wood furniture, marble-clad en suites, dressing rooms, a two-bedroom guest cottage, an indoor swimming pool, a helipad and a five-car garage in a converted granary barn. DeGeneres has said the property was reconfigured in part because Portia de Rossi required stables and pasture for her horses.
DeGeneres has publicly described the couple’s attraction to the English countryside and said the farmhouse had been "beautifully reimagined over the past year to an exceptional standard," according to a statement released via Sotheby’s. She also told audiences that the pair decided they "needed a different house" and were therefore selling the property. Sotheby’s listing agent Andrew Barnes has said the house sits on high ground and that there were never any flooding issues at the property, responding to reports that it had been affected by Storm Bert late in 2024.
Design and colour psychology specialists and property stagers quoted in British media coverage say the house’s aesthetic — a mix of stark whitewashed walls and natural wooden tones that fuses contemporary Californian minimalism with traditional Cotswolds features — may be narrowing the pool of potential buyers. J. Nichole Smith, founder of creative agency Joy First, described the interior as psychologically inconsistent, saying rooms lacked a clear mood and that the overhaul produced what she called a "beige void of vibes." Liv Conlon of The Property Stagers said the property felt "luxurious without being ostentatious" but warned that strong Los Angeles design cues around the pool and in entertaining spaces risked erasing the "warmth and soul" many British buyers expect in an Oxfordshire farmhouse.
DeGeneres told media that she had spent roughly $9 million (about £6.6 million) on renovations. If the house sells at the listed price, that figure would leave an estimated pre-tax gain of about £900,000 compared with the couple’s original £15 million purchase price. DeGeneres has a long public history of buying, refurbishing and selling homes; analysis published by the Wall Street Journal and reported in other outlets has said she and de Rossi have owned dozens of properties over the past two decades and realized significant gains on multiple sales.
Reports indicate the couple moved to the UK in November 2024 and occupied Kitesbridge only briefly before commissioning a substantial refit. Some accounts said workers were at the property for several months to complete the renovations before the estate was relisted in July 2025. DeGeneres has made a business of furnishing and selling houses: she often markets properties fully furnished, a practice that can appeal to international buyers seeking turnkey homes but can dissuade purchasers who prefer to preserve a property’s original character.
The house has also been the subject of public scrutiny over events that followed the couple’s arrival in Britain. DeGeneres denied that the farmhouse itself flooded after Storm Bert, posting imagery and commentary to social media to clarify that water had entered adjacent river meadows but not her home. Sotheby’s reiterated that there were no flooding issues at the site.
Market observers say the Cotswolds has become increasingly attractive to wealthy overseas buyers in recent years, with some high-profile American names reportedly scouting the area. That interest, analysts say, does not guarantee a sale at the highest asking price: buyers in the region often prize historical authenticity and traditional rural finishes, and some may be hesitant about a property with a strong Californian design stamp.
For now, Sotheby’s has not disclosed whether it has received formal offers. DeGeneres and de Rossi have moved to another new-build property locally, according to the couple’s statements, and the Kitesbridge listing will determine whether the renovation premium is realised in the Cotswolds market. Media enquiries to Sotheby’s for further comment were not immediately answered.