A BEWDLEY country house with links to Rudyard Kipling, which could soon be converted into homes, has been sold for ‘a £3.5million loss’.
Ribbesford House, which was previously owned by the property guru and social media personality Samuel Leeds, sold last week for a reported £450,000.
An outline planning application to reconfigure the Grade II listed building to create 22 homes was submitted in 2023 and has been awaiting a decision since May 2025.
A planning application in 2023 revealed the site’s current use was for 10 apartments and 4 cottages.
Ribbesford House was originally built in the mid-16th century, partly rebuilt in the late 17th century, and remodelled in the early 1800s.
The property has been visited by former Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, ‘The Jungle Book’ writer Rudyard Kipling and General Charles de Gaulle, who led the Free French against Nazi Germany.
Samuel Leeds said the mansion was in an appalling state of disrepair after decades of neglect when he bought it for £810,000 in 2018.
He said the property had been sold to someone who specialised in English Heritage-listed buildings.
His post to his 400,000 Instagram followers said: “For me, it was not about squeezing out the very last pound.
“What mattered more was that it went to the right person who would continue looking after it properly.
“On paper, I lost about £3.5million – it sold for £450,000, bought it for £810,000 and then spent around £3million restoring it.
“So yes, financially it was a big loss. But when I bought the castle, I knew it was a high-risk project.
“Historic buildings are unpredictable. Costs spiral, timelines change, and sometimes the market simply does not value the work the way you hoped it would.
“When I first bought it, the building was in a terrible state.
“It was completely dilapidated. My focus was to stabilise it and save it.
“We made the structure airtight, put a proper roof on it and carried out major restoration work to bring it back from the brink. I am genuinely proud of what we achieved.
“You cannot win them all.”
Click here to view the application and comment on it.
