News that two-time Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett is buying a house in a small town in East Sussex, a rural county in southeast England, has drawn barely a yawn from the locals. She’s just the latest A-list star from the world of movies, music and fashion to arrive in East and West Sussex, counties rapidly becoming known as Britain’s “Hollywood Triangle.” Paul McCartney, Kate Winslet, and Keith Richards, among others, have country homes in the area, while Adele has a seafront home. “Famous people really don’t have much novelty value around here,” said Philip Harvey, managing partner at Property Vision, who lives in the village of Bignor, within this star-studded triangle. “There is an initial wave of gossip when someone buys a big house, but it dies down quickly and they are totally left alone.”
Ms. Blanchett and her husband, Andrew Upton, are in the process of paying £3.25 million, or about $4.68 million, for Highwell House, a seven-bedroom Victorian property set on 13 acres in Crowborough. (The actress, like the other celebrity homeowners, declined to comment.) Crowborough is in the county of East Sussex, where the landscape of heathland and downs is dotted with ancient forests. (Ashdown Forest was the setting for the Winnie-the-Pooh stories.) This swath of southern England, which also encompasses West Sussex, is blessed with beautiful historic towns, villages and hamlets. While all this sounds like life deep in the sticks, Crowborough is only about 35 miles from Gatwick Airport and less than 60 from Heathrow. Central London is 50 miles away. In rural Sussex, a pretty period cottage would list for $725,000 to $850,000, estimates Charlie Warner of Heaton and Partners. For a family home, expect to pay at least $1.44 million. Currently on the market is a creeper-clad Queen Anne house in the coastal village of Lancing for offers over £1 million. The house measures 3,061 square feet and has a large backyard, according to Robert Luff & Co. estate agents. Mr. McCartney was one of the earliest adopters of the area. He and his late-wife Linda brought up their family on their 1,500-acre estate in Peasmarsh, 28 miles from Crowborough, and he still spends much of his time there. Ms. Winslet, another Academy Award winner, lives close to the seaside village of West Wittering with her children and husband, Ned Rocknroll. Their home isn’t far from Redlands, the Elizabethan mansion that is home to Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. The pop star Adele owns an art deco-era beachfront home just outside the town of Hove, while 20 miles inland, vocalist Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music has a country house near the village of Fittleworth. Representing a younger generation, Lottie Moss, the 18-year-old model sister of Kate Moss, lives with her parents close to the town of Haywards Heath. Sussex is also known for its historic country estates. Currently listed is Woodmancote Place, a medieval manor listed in the Domesday Book, Britain’s 11th-century record of land ownership. The 10 bedroom, 11,873-square-foot house is set on 149 acres and includes stables, two cottages, a deer park, orchard and lake. The house, close to the village of Henfield, is listed with Strutt & Parker for $11.44 million. Serena Strange, negotiator at Strutt & Parker, particularly likes East and West Wittering, two adjacent villages with 7 miles of sandy beach to enjoy. “It is an area which really steps back in time,” she said. “It is very relaxed, but we do have quite a lot of surfers and some nice beach cafes so there is a bit of that culture too.” Most of the homes in these villages are post-World War II, but developers and owners are increasingly buying up plain bungalows on good lots, then razing and replacing them with large homes, either modern or New England style. A newly built property in a good location, with around 5,000 square feet of living space, would cost around $4.25 million to $5.75 million. Farther inland, John Fisher, head of country office at Sotheby’s International Realty, recommends the village of Washington, located within the South Downs National Park, more than 630 square miles of gently rolling hill country. Unlike other villages, Washington hasn’t been blighted by traffic or a sprawl of modern homes; here, pretty former farmworkers’ cottages are interspersed with manor houses and the odd farmhouse. Despite its charms, the market in Sussex has struggled to rebound from recession. Mr. Fisher blames nervous buyers, still burned by memories of the recession and fearful of future interest-rate rises, and sellers with too high a degree of “optimistic expectation” about what their homes might be worth. This means that while a good-looking, immaculate historic home in a desirable location might be worth 15% more than before the recession, a home that needs work or is close to a busy road or modern housing, will still be worth less—if it sells at all. This article originally appeared on The Wall Street Journal.