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The Duchess of Cornwall will be living next to a building site while neighbour Phil Clayton renovates the interior and exterior of the house, builds an extension with a glass passageway, replaces the garage with the gymnasium and finally, constructs a new sewage treatment plant after getting his planning application pushed through.
The application had been previously refused after Camilla successfully opposed plans for him to build an outbuilding for his elderly mother in a bitter spat between the royal and her neighbour, who owns The Old Mill.
But Mr Clayton appears to have had the last laugh with the much bigger project submitted to Wiltshire Council in April and approved last month, despite fears from locals the works would cause “widespread disruption”.
Camilla bought the next door Ray Mill House in 1996 for the tidy sum of £850,000.
The sprawling property, is said to be a welcome retreat for Camilla and Prince Charles, going them a break from royal life when his Highgrove House estate opens its doors to the public every summer welcoming a flurry of 30,000 royal fans annually.
A source told the Daily Mail Online: “At Ray Mill she can sit down with a big G&T, kick of her shoes and watch Coronation Street, which Charles loathes.
“She also doesn’t have to bother about how the place looks – Charles is so fussy about tidiness, while she leaves her stuff all over the place. She doesn’t need her cushions plumped all the time.”
Mr Clayton’s original plan for building works was refused following the concerns of neighbours about a potential flood risk and fears he was trying to turn a garage into living quarters.
Camilla said in her letter of objection that the work could have a “negative affect on the flow of water from the river during any periods of flooding” an that “this should therefore be subject to a detailed survey by the Environment Agency”.
She added: “I am concerned about the proposed garage. The design is not conducive to a normal garage.”
The new planning application was submitted in April and saw no objection from Camilla this time around.
Mr Clayton, who will also renovate the bedrooms of The Old Mill to make them larger, bought the property from Ralph Adams, who died last year.
Mr Adams was also involved in a row with Camilla over the size of his hedge in 2006.
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