Planners approve Winslet's plans (From Tewkesbury Admag)

Planners approve Winslet's plans

THE finishing touches to a Cotswold manor house owned by a celebrity couple have been approved by Cotswold District Council.

Planners have given the thumbs up to architectural changes to the 22-acre garden of Church Westcote Manor, the home of Titanic star Kate Winslet and her film director husband, Sam Mendes.

After nearly three years of building work to renovate and improve the Grade II listed home, the couple started thinking earlier this year about what finishing touches would be needed in the over-grown grounds.

They made two planning applications for changes to the garden architecture so that a landscaping makeover could go ahead.

Now the proposals have been approved by planning officers and the final hurdle to the creation of their perfect rural idyll has been crossed.

"There were no objections to either application so officers have made the decision themselves," said planning officer Lucy Wilson.

One of the applications was for the repositioning and alteration of existing accesses to the mansion grounds, including the repositioning of existing gates and walls and the addition of new walls.

The second was for the 'addition to and adaptation of existing screen walls and addition of stone planters'

The go-ahead means that 29-year-old Kate and her 39-year-old husband can carry on with a landscaping scheme that includes restoring the existing water garden.