Celebrity homes: to him, to you? Chuckle brother sells all to build greek home

Paul Elliot, one half of the legendary children’s TV comedy duo, is willing to play “To Him, To You” with any of his homes to fund his dream property on the Greek island of Kefalonia.

Before 2003, Elliot only had one home, a five-bedroom property in Doncaster that he bought for £249,000 in 2002.

Since then, though, he has built up a mini portfolio, owning two estates on Kefalonia as well as a flat in Italy’s Calabria and France’s Brittany. He has previously put all four of them up to rent, reports The Daily Mail, but now is prepared to part with any of them permanently to construct his ideal Greek getaway.

“At first, I didn’t want to see so many,” the 63 year old told the paper. “But now I’m prepared to do whatever it takes - I’m going to start marketing more than one of them at a time to keep my options open.”

The French property, a three-bedroom cottage in the village of Boderel, was snapped up five years ago by the comedian as a buy to let investment. The building cost £140,000, plus another £34,000 to repair the roof. But after limited success, he placed it up for sale for £190,000.

“Now I think I chose the wrong area,” he commented. “The weather isn’t different enough from England so the cottage only lets for six or seven weeks a year, which would be fine if we used it a lot ourselves, but we prefer Kefalonia.”

Now, even his Doncaster house could be up for the chop if it funds his new venture. Elliot and his wife, Susan, spent £150,000 on renovating the building, including converting the second kitchen into a snooker room. It was value at £850,000 four years ago.

Why Kefalonia? The Daily Mail cites its current popularity stemming from its role in the film Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. The 300 square mile area is a tourist hotspot in the summer. Paul spent around £350,000 on a plot in the harbour village of Scala to build a five-bedroom villa. It now generates an income of up to £34,000 every eyar.

Elliot then added an off-plan two-bed apartment in Argostoli to his group of properties, a £120,000 investment that increased in value to almost £180,000 by the time it had been completed. A builder made him an offer to buy it back.

“I wish I’d taken that offer now,” he admitted. “We bought the apartment because there is more to do in Argostoli in winter, but we’ve gradually realised we much prefer the scenery in Scala so we don’t use the apartment enough.

“I tried asking €230,000 for it at the beginning of the year, but the market is now flat so I reduced it to €190,000 and still had no response.”

Now, though, Paul has his sights set firmly on another Scala plot, which he plans to build only for his own personal use.

“I want to sell something soon and if it has to be our home in Doncaster, then I’d rather do that and rent for a while than to carry on feeling stuck,” he added. “I am open to offers on any of my other properties – it seems to me my best strategy in a slow market is to see which property receives most interest.”

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