Jane Seymour’s former mansion – dubbed the ‘most lovely house’ in Britain – and used as a recording studio by bands together with Radiohead goes up on the market for £12.5million

Hollywood icon Jane Seymour’s former home which has been used as a recording studio by some of the UK’s biggest bands has gone on the market for £12.5million.

The former Bond girl in Live and Let Die owned the 13-bedroom Tudor mansion for a decade alongside her then husband David Flynn.

She fell in love with the property and the grounds of St Catherine’s Court while filming on location for the British TV series Jamaica Inn in the early 1980s.

The couple renovated the stunning Grade I listed manor house, in Somerset, after buying it for £350,000 and lived there together until their marriage broke up in 1992.

It was subsequently rented out as a recording studio with the likes of Radiohead, The Cure and New Order recording music there.

Radiohead recorded most of their classic album OK Computer, which went on to be a multi-platinum seller worldwide after being released in 1997. The Cure recorded their 1996 album Wild Mood Swings in the property’s vast ballroom.

Thom Yorke, the band’s lead singer, claimed to have encountered the supernatural when he lived there for several months during the album’s production.

He told Rolling Stone: ‘Ghosts would talk to me while I was asleep. There was one point where I got up in the morning after a night of hearing voices and decided I had to cut my hair.’

Another music icon Robbie Williams went on to pass the home off as his own when he appeared on MTV show Cribs in the early 2000s. He later apologised to Ms Seymour for pretending it was his.

Ms Seymour and her third husband Mr Flynn spent millions of pounds renovating the property after buying it.

However, she only lived in it for a few months of the year and rented it out when she was abroad. 

One of the most important garden designers of the twentieth century, Gertrude Jekyll, described St. Catherine’s Court as the most beautiful  houses in the country.

She wrote: ‘Many are the beautiful houses, but there is hardly one within its own borders, or, indeed, within the length and breadth of England, whose charm of ancient beauty and of lovely, restful pleasure-ground, can rival that of this delightful place.’

The property, which is set in 15 acres of grounds, boasts a carved ceiling, minstrel’s gallery and a host of reception rooms.

The heart of the home is its magnificent ballroom, which features two bay windows looking out onto the manicured gardens.

There is a professional kitchen, boot room and wine store, whilst a five-bedroom lodge and a 15th-century grade-II listed sit in the grounds.

Outside there is also a Jacobean bowling green and an orangery.

Henry VIII gave the property to his tailor, John Malte, after the dissolution of the monasteries in 1536.

Scholars believe that Malte’s daughter Ethelreda was actually the king’s illegitimate child.

Ethelreda went on to marry John Harington, who served Thomas Seymour – the brother of Henry’s third wife – the ‘original’ Jane Seymour.

Seymour the actress, who sold the property in 2007, told the Mail in 1983: ‘When I first saw this house, I thought it was spectacular, far too grand for us. We were filming Jamaica Inn here.

‘Afterwards I walked around all the rooms the crew hadn’t been allowed into. We were on the point of buying a four-bedroom Georgian house in Wick.

‘David and I looked at each other and said: “We must be crazy !”

‘We can only come a few weeks at a time from America and we won’t be back until October.

‘I’ve given the two cottages to my parents and two sisters. They can come and go as they want. It’s like a family enclave.

‘We’ll be here for the rest of time to come. This house has become a lifelong passion for us.’  

Estate agent Savills describes it as a ‘wonderfully idiosyncratic family home’ but also one that is ‘equipped to entertain on a truly grand scale.’

The listing from Savills read: ‘Architecturally imposing, St Catherine’s Court sits magnificently in an elevated position, with views over its gardens, meadows and stunning sylvan valley below.

‘Once inside, the timeline and history are evident. The rich tapestry of its history merges gracefully, woven through a labyrinth of staircases and corridors.

‘Ornate plasterwork ceilings with intricate carvings, ancient wood panelled rooms, stone mullioned leaded light windows (some with stained glass detail), coffered ceilings, ancient oak floors and staircases and huge fireplaces all feature and speak of the stories this house has to tell.

‘Now restored to its former glory, St. Catherine’s Court not only represents a wonderfully idiosyncratic family home, but one that is equipped to entertain on a truly grand scale.’

The gardens are said to be of great historical interest and are listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.

The listing added: ‘With its ancient timbers and vast barn doors all intact, it presents infinite opportunities and possibilities. There are new oak walled storage rooms and staircase to an enclosed mezzanine to one end.

‘Situated at the entrance gates to the manor, Serenity Lodge is a five-bedroom lodge house. This was formerly used as two independent staff cottages.

‘Situated on the perimeter of the land, The Old School House is a three-bedroom cottage with its own private gardens.’