A bigger splash: The rise and rise of the status lake

It was September when the diggers finally arrived. David and Victoria Beckham had initially put in the planning application for improvements at their Cotswold estate in July, having spent the preceding months of lockdown there. The plans seemed, on first glance, pretty run-of-the-mill for this celeb-heavy bit of West Oxfordshire. There was to be a gatehouse for security, a wine cellar and an extension to their garage, the better to house their enormous car collection. But something else, too, something quite surprising: the couple wanted to build an enormous 3,000 square metre lake which would dominate their estate in the village of Great Tew.