Yorkshire stars in Channel 4's Britain's Most Expensive Houses

Britain’s Most Expensive Houses is all set to be a Christmas time TV hit and, along with a £40m pad in London and former Liverpool FC CEO Peter Moore’s luxurious home on the Wirral, a house and an apartment in Yorkshire are also stars of the show.

The programme, which airs on Channel 4 at 8pm on December 28, has exclusive access to property for sale via UK Sotheby’s International Realty and opens the doors into some of the UK’s most incredible homes. It tails the estate agents as they set about trying to sell the multi-million pound houses in the final months of the year.

Up in Yorkshire, the spotlight falls on well-known, top-end agent Toby Cockroft, founder of Croft Residential, who raises a laugh by describing himself as “a match maker and the Cilla Black of property”. He is filmed helping the founder of a luxury travel agency to relocate from London to God’s Own Country.

He shows her a York penthouse plus a 5,000 sq ft rural property near Easingwold, which is a country lover’s dream with seven acres and all mod cons. The country house has six bedrooms and five bathrooms and outside there is a tennis court, terraces with outdoor speakers and a barbecue shack.

Toby, who specialises in selling top-end homes in Yorkshire, has a higher than usual chance of securing a quick sale for the rural home, as the pandemic has seen a surge of wealthy buyers leaving towns and cities.

All will be revealed when the show airs. It is already being seen as the UK’s answer to Selling Sunset, a reality TV series based in California that features mega mansions and agents with glamourous good looks and super sharp brains. This comparison has, apparently, alarmed Sotheby’s International Realty, but there is a world of difference between the London-based firm and L.A’s Oppenheim Group real estate brokerage business.

Guy Bradshaw of Sotheby’s says the firm agreed to feature in Britain’s Most Expensive Homes because “We are not afraid to try new things. As a group we challenge the status quo of traditional agency. We don’t see ourselves as a 9am-5pm suited and booted agency.”

He adds: “Our clients see that we do things differently in our approach and network. This TV series is aimed at showing some of the different people we have in our team. This is a way to promote some of the top end houses so, business wise, it makes sense.”

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