It can easily be argued they need another multimillion-dollar high-maintenance home about as much as a butterfly needs a submarine, but the French press is nonetheless breathlessly rife with rumors and reports that A-list citizens of the world George and Amal Clooney are interested in the purchase of a historic estate in a particularly scenic area of the South of France.
Known as Domaine de Canadel, the estate in question is about an hour’s drive outside of glitzy Saint-Tropez, in the medieval commune of Brignoles, and just a dozen or so miles from Château Miraval, the vast compound in Correns owned by Clooney’s friend and “Ocean’s” trilogy cast mate Brad Pitt.
Though the purchase remains unconfirmed, even the mayor of Brignoles, Didier Brémond, has weighed in, telling the radio network France Bleu the couple and their family have come to the profoundly picturesque region “to seek peace” and “rest.”
However, it seems the not-quite-signed-on-the-dotted-line deal faces some complications and potential legal issues. Local residents and news outlets have been buzzing about the pending purchase for weeks, but a recent report in Le Figaro indicates the Clooneys’ bid to acquire Domaine de Canadel may in fact be thwarted by another buyer, a local investor who claims the estate’s owner has already entered a binding agreement to sell the property for “the sum of 6 million euros.” So the story goes, it is possible the sellers, reportedly a couple from Australia, can override the first sale and sell it, presumably at a higher price, to the Clooneys. Alas, should the sellers proceed in that manner, an attorney for the unnamed investor promises to call for the “cancellation of the fraud-related sale” and thus “creating legal uncertainty for the purchaser for a long time.”
Given the complications, it makes sense the Clooneys might opt to back out of the deal rather than engage in would could be a long and costly legal battle. Still, whatever the outcome, there’s no question why the Clooneys would be drawn to the profoundly beautiful Provençe region, and more specifically to Domaine de Canadel.
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Image Credit: Leading Estates of the World According to various still available digital listings from years past, including one from 2018, when the estate was priced at €7.9 million — almost US$9.8 million at today’s rates, the 425-acre property is anchored by an imposing 18th-century bastide, the Provençal term for a manor house, with formal gardens gorgeous enough to be featured in two books.
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Image Credit: Leading Estates of the World -
Image Credit: Leading Estates of the World Publicly available marketing materials do not indicate how many bedrooms and bathrooms there are, but surely there’s room for plenty in the nearly 10,000-square-foot three-story mansion that was extensively remodeled and updated in the mid-1990s by restoration specializing architect Bruno Lafourcade.
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Image Credit: Leading Estates of the World -
Image Credit: Leading Estates of the World -
Image Credit: Leading Estates of the World A serene and pin-drop-quiet private idyll, the estate’s myriad leisure and recreation options include pea-gravel patios bordered by shin-high boxwood hedging, a dining terrace under a vine-lined arched trellis and, beyond the 72-foot-long tree-shaded swimming pool, a pétanque court and a tennis court with a vine-shaded viewing patio.
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Image Credit: Leading Estates of the World -
Image Credit: Leading Estates of the World -
Image Credit: Leading Estates of the World Surrounded in pristine woodlands with pastoral views across rolling hills, the estate also includes a caretaker’s cottage, an ornamental lake, a lavender garden, a 1,000-tree olive grove and a 10-acre vineyard.
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Image Credit: Leading Estates of the World -
Image Credit: Leading Estates of the World Whether or not they succeed in the purchase of Provençal estate, the two-time Oscar winner, who has been nominated in various categories a total of six times and will next appear on the silver screen opposite Julia Roberts in the upcoming rom-com “Ticket to Paradise,” and the global-minded human rights attorney already preside over a bulging portfolio of homes across the United States and Europe.
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Image Credit: via Patch STUDIO CITY, CALIF.
Clooney has owned a secluded estate of more than three densely wooded acres in the rustic Fryman Canyon area of L.A.’s Studio City since 1995 when he scooped it up from Fleetwood Mac star Stevie Nicks.
Though it’s likely had some updates and renovations since, Clooney gave an extensive interview and tour of the Tudor-style residence in 2012, during which there were some tantalizing glimpses around the heavily fortified spread that includes an approximately 7,500-square-foot main house with screening room, a swimming pool and an outdoor basketball court. More recently he sat for a socially distanced interview in the driveway to promote the post-apocalyptic thriller “The Midnight Sky.”
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Image Credit: StreetEasy NEW YORK, N.Y.
About four and a half years ago, the Clooneys were widely reported to have secured a high-floor condo in a slender 63-story glass skyscraper near the United Nations complex in Midtown Manhattan designed by the illustrious architecture firm Foster + Partners. Not much is known about the unit they acquired, though some have speculated it may be a nearly 3,400-square-foot unit that was last listed at $14.75 million.
Shortly after their purchase was reported around the world, Vogue Australia revealed that the Clooneys’ b.f.f.s Rande Gerber and Cindy Crawford bought the apartment directly upstairs. While it seems a bit fantastical to think besties drop millions on neighboring pieds-a-terre, the Clooneys and the Crawford-Gerbers previously owned nearly identical side-by-side oceanfront villas in the exclusive El Dorado Golf and Beach Club in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, that they collectively dubbed Casamigos and had photographed for Architectural Digest before both houses were sold to the same Mexican billionaire in 2016 for a widely reported $100 million.
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Image Credit: Sotheby’s International Realty SONNING-ON-THAMES, U.K.
Not long after their lavish, celeb-attended 2014 nuptials in Venice, the Clooneys planted some serious real estate roots some 40 miles outside of London, in tiny Sonning-on-Thames, where they dropped an undisclosed amount for what’s known as Aberlash House, a stately Georgian manor house that was last listed at £7.5 million — about $US10 million — and occupies on a semi-private island in the middle of the Thames.
Extensively renovated since their 2014 purchase, the scenic estate sprawls out over more than four acres with a 9,000-square-foot main house that boasts nine bedrooms and a state-of-the-art home theater. The property, which has twice been flooded since they bought it, additionally offers a soccer-pitch sized lawn, a 60-foot swimming pool, a tennis court and a charming boathouse.
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Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons LAKE COMO, ITALY
In 2001, in the middle of his long stretch on “ER” and around the time “Ocean’s Eleven” was released, Clooney splashed out somewhere in the neighborhood of $13.5 million for his most well-known home, Villa Oleandra, a 25-room villa on the stunning and insanely ritzy shore of Italy’s Lake Como. The elegant waterfront estate includes a private dock, a waterside swimming pool, a tennis court and a gym. Clooney, who later acquired a neighboring property, Villa Margherita, is known to host his laundry list of famous friends at Lake Como, including Jennifer Aniston, Matt Damon and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.