Ellen DeGeneres planning setback for Cotswolds property

The former US chat show host and her wife, Portia De Rossi, were recently refused planning permission to build a horse riding arena at their £15 million Kitesbridge Farm property near Burford.

The couple purchased the 43 acre property in 2024 and spent a reported £7.5 million on renovations.

They moved out after less than a month to find someone more suitable to endulge in Portia's passion for horses. Swinbrook, Oxfordshire. (Image: Tom Wren / SWNS)

However, they reportedly moved out less than a month later in the hope of finding somewhere more suitable to indulge in Ms De Rossi's passion for horses.

In planning documents, the couple indicated that if planning issues could be resolved, they would like to make the property their "long term home."

But the council's decision has put those intentions in doubt.

Their plans ran into trouble with West Oxfordshire District Council, which raised concerns about the scale and impact of the development on the protected landscape.

Council planners said the arena would represent "an intrusive and incongruous form of development within the open countryside and the Cotswolds National Landscape."

The council planners added it would result in an "unacceptable encroachment into the open and undeveloped Upper Windrush Valley", "would not protect or enhance the local landscape" and would " fail to conserve the intrinsic character and scenic beauty of the National Landscape."

They reportedly spent £7.5M on external and internal renovations (Image: Tom Wren / SWNS)

Representatives for Ms DeGeneres argued that the arena was necessary due to the flood-prone nature of the site.

They said: "The applicant’s horses are on site in temporary accommodation formed in the garaging in an existing barn pending the determination of the stables application.

"In order to provide a suitable flat all-weather arena for exercising the horses, this application has been made.

"The surrounding land does have some flat areas where the horses can be exercised in summer months, but it is also adjacent to the River Windrush.

Ellen DeGeneres has submitted plans for horse stables to stay 'long term' at her flood-hit Cotswolds home. (Image: Tom Wren / SWNS)

"So for the winter and other wet times, the opportunities for exercise are more limited.

"The choices then are daily movements to and from the site to exercise elsewhere, or to provide a modest facility on site."

Photographs taken during flooding in April 2023 were submitted with the application to illustrate how nearby fields become unusable for horse exercise in wet conditions.

Despite these arguments, the council concluded that the arena would "adversely affect the setting of the adjacent Asthall Conservation Area through its visual prominence, erosion of the traditional pattern of development and harmful impact on the area's rural setting."

The refusal is not the couple’s first planning hurdle.

An earlier proposal to build stables on the property was also met with objections, including concerns about the possible disturbance of Roman remains beneath the site.