Hell’s Kitchen star Gordon Ramsay angered some locals by building a massive modernist house in one of Cornwall’s most sought-after villages
13:22, 25 Jun 2026Updated 15:03, 25 Jun 2026
Gordon Ramsay showing off the incredible swimming pool at his £4.4m Cornwall home
(Image: gordangram/Instagram)
The old Cornish fishing village of Rock, on the opposite bank of the River Camel estuary to Rick Stein’s mini-empire in Padstow, has long been seen as a millionaire’s playground. The village has been described as “Britain’s Saint-Tropez” and “the Kensington of Cornwall” thanks to the sheer number of wealthy second-home owners who arrive by helicopter in the summer months.
But one Rock resident has made himself notorious with the village’s long-suffering locals thanks to his grand architectural designs. YouTubers Sarah and Andrew, who document their travels around the south-west on their Cornish Walking Trails channel, explain that the celebrity chef’s arrival in Rock raised its profile considerably.
“With Gordon Ramsay arriving at Rock, it’s kind of created a buzz about food in the area and a number of celebrity chefs have moved in,” Sarah explained. “Paul Ainsworth being one of the notable ones. He owns the Mariners Pub a bit further down the road.”
A little further along the coast is one of Gordon’s favourite restaurants, Four Boys. Prices for a main meal range between about £20 and £35, so it’s an occasional treat for most of us rather than an everyday occurrence, but it comes highly recommended. Gordon Ramsay raved about Four Boys’ smash burger when he visited the restaurant shortly after it opened back in 2023.
But while the restaurant’s owners would have been grateful for Gordon’s endorsement, the locals aren’t generally as pleased about the TV chef’s activities. “You might have noticed the construction noise in the background,” Sarah said in her video. “Seems to be the thing with the places that attract a lot of interest from celebrities and wealthier people. They come down, buy an older property, and the first thing they want to do is knock it down and build to their own specification.”
There was massive opposition to the build(Image: Greg Martin / Cornwall Live)
And Gordon is one of the most conspicuous offenders in that regard. Sarah explains that he bought a house in Rock, which he promptly demolished and replaced with a new modernist residence that has been described as looking like “a bunch of shipping containers.”
She explained: “He’s had lots of objections from people who did not want this monstrosity, as they called it. His neighbours were up in arms when they found out that he was going to demolish the historically impressive 1920s Arts and Crafts-style house and replace it with a modern villa with white walls and a zinc facade, comprising a gym, pool, cellar, and a guest annexe.”
The Hell’s Kitchen star built two adjacent homes in Rock on the site of the now-demolished 1920s five-bedroom property called Lanarth, which he bought for £4.4 million in 2015. At the time, it was the second most expensive sale ever recorded in Cornwall. Estate agents said the property needed modernising, and in July 2016 he won an eight-month battle to bulldoze the home.
The sale of Gordon’s previous property netted him millions(Image: ITV)
He eventually sold his Trebetherick home, where he and his family lived during renovations, in March 2021 for £3.5 million more than he first purchased it. The £7.5 million sale was the most expensive across all of Cornwall for 2021 and, at the time, was believed to be the most expensive ever recorded in the county.
Andrew joked that Gordon had managed to raise the money for his multi-million-pound property by dipping into his “swear jar.”
Sarah’s opinions on Gordon’s ultra-modern home are mixed. “We think warmly of [older properties] and when they’re knocked down, it kind of feels as though you’re taking away a part of us and then we’re building these bigger, almost LA-style houses,” she said.
“But surely they’re more environmentally friendly,” she added. “They take less energy to heat. They’re much more insulated than the thing that was there before. So is it just a British thing that we don’t like old houses being knocked down?”
Gordon angered some locals by spending lockdown in Cornwall(Image: UGC)
Gordon didn’t exactly endear himself to his new neighbours when he issued a blunt reaction to those locals who had opposed his planning application. Appearing on Zoe Ball’s BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show at the time, he said: “Trust me, I absolutely love Cornwall, it’s just the Cornish I can’t stand.” Offered a chance to retract his inflammatory statement by stand-in host Vernon Kay, he refused to apologise and doubled down, adding: “I promise I did mean it.”
Gordon’s comments sparked a huge backlash, with dozens of Cornish people condemning his words on social media. Dick Cole, leader of Cornish nationalist party Mebyon Kernow, spoke for many when he said: “I am really disappointed to hear Gordon Ramsay’s divisive comments and his lack of respect for the Cornish people.”
“It is shocking he deems it OK to make such a statement that he’d presumably not make about other national or ethnic groups. I sincerely hope he will reflect on his words and apologise.”
As yet, though, the famously foul-mouthed chef has made no further comment on his outburst and still lives, for at least some of the year, in the picturesque coastal village of Rock.