Latest news with #NigelFrieda
The Sun
10-06-2025
- The Sun
The UK's best seaside walks revealed including a secret celeb-loved island
IF you're looking for the UK's most beautiful beachfront walks, you're in luck. Conde Nast Traveller has revealed their top coastal strolls across the country. 4 4 One of the best named is Osea Island, a private island in Essex which has been visited by a number of A-Listers. Rihanna, Stormzy and Daniel Radcliffe have all been spotted there, although the public can stay by booking a night at one of the hotels or cottages. They said: "In the middle of the Blackwater Estuary, with faint echoes of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, sits 380-acre Osea, reachable only around low tide along an ancient Roman causeway." The island has been owned by Nigel Frieda for more than 20 years, a music producer behind The Rolling Stones and Sugababes. Earlier this year, the island went on the market for £25million which includes the entire island as well as all of the hotels on it. Also dubbed the English Necker Island, it is great for nature lovers due to the abundance of wildlife and fauna. Prices for the hotels start from £300, or you can splash out £35,000 to rent the whole island. Osea Island is not the only beautiful walking route that was praised by the experts. In regard to Lythe, Sandsend, they wrote: "There's something a bit magical about the place. "In these parts, it's possible to beach hang, fossil hunt, forage, rock pool, and explore more of the North York Moors." Scotland's West Highland Way: A Global Hiking Gem Ravenscar in Scarborough made the cut, for it's "huge, breathtaking views" and "prosperous wildlife". Studland Bay, in Dorset also made the list, with walks alongside the Jurassic Coast cliffs. They also listed Ynys Gifftan in Wales, praising the "lush uninhabited isle". You can only visit for a few hours a day, due to the ide, but the walk has views of the huge Snowdonia. 4 And in Scotland, St Ninian's Isle was listed for its "fine sand that slowly disappears as the tide rises," along with the "romantic" Erraid, also in Scotland. Last year, a 2,700-mile walking route was finally complete, making it the longest coastal path in the world. The King Charles III England Coast Path stretches from the Scottish border to the Cornish coast. There is even a walk that in the UK that people say looks more like Canada. Here are some other UK walks that all have a pub along the way. And we spoke to a man who has walked thousands of miles across the UK - here is his favourite. 4
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
This $33.2 Million Private Island in the U.K. Has Long Been an Under-the-Radar Creative Haven
In the Blackwater Estuary off the Essex coast just 40 miles northeast of central London, Osea is not your typical island escape. Accessible by boat, air, or an ancient Roman causeway that appears only at low tide, the sprawling 380-acre island compound is now on the market for £25 million (about $33.2 million) with Knight Frank and Fine & Country. It's an audacious offering, not only in its scale and seclusion but also for its cultural imprint and its rich, secretive past. During World War I, Osea served as a clandestine naval base known as 'SS Osea,' and during World War II a bomb hit the island when it fell short of its London target, adding a layer of intrigue to its already storied legacy. Osea was later owned by Cambridge University but returned to private ownership in the 1950s. Today, Osea is more than a private island—it's a stage, a studio, a sanctuary. Since 2004, under the ownership of music producer Nigel Frieda (best known for his work with English girl group the Sugababes), the village-like compound has quietly evolved into one of Britain's most discreet creative hubs. Stormzy wrote and recorded much of his This Is What I Mean album here, describing the process as 'a very surreal, spiritual experience.' Rihanna has stayed. So has Charli XCX, while Olly Murs chose it as the setting for his 2023 wedding, the Independent reported. More from Robb Report Inside the Edition's City-View Residences in Nashville's Gulch Neighborhood This Small Australian Distillery's New Whisky Is Finished in Chartreuse Barrels Meet Shard Place, a Gleaming Glass Tower With the Highest Outdoor Pool in London RELATED: What It's Really Like to Buy a Private Island There's a kind of magical, cinematic quality to the island, which hasn't gone unnoticed by the film and literary worlds either. The Woman in Black—both the 1989 TV adaptation and the 2012 Daniel Radcliffe-led version—used Osea as a haunting backdrop, as did HBO's The Third Day with Jude Law. Ellery Lloyd set his New York Times bestselling fictional drama The Club here, too. In many ways, Osea is like a village, its buildings being a patchwork of styles from a variety of eras. A grand Edwardian manor and the Captain's House sit along the waterfront, both styled for grand-scale entertaining, and a former orphanage has been reborn as luxury apartments. In all, there are 38 residential properties offering a total of 90 bedrooms and 61 bathrooms, plus a pub, a couple of swimming pools, a state-of-the-art recording studio, and a helipad. RELATED: This $15 Million Coastal Compound in South Carolina Includes a 450-Acre Private Island The infrastructure is surprisingly robust—think: water treatment facilities, electrical substations, dry docks, and orchards—and the business model includes event hosting, holiday lettings, music production, and retreats. But for all its celebrity pedigree and curated rustic charm, Osea is also a functioning enterprise. 'Osea Island presents an exceptionally rare, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire a private island of remarkable scale and historical significance,' says Georgie Veale, senior negotiator at Knight Frank. 'Offering extensive land and multiple properties, it affords the purchaser unparalleled exclusivity, privacy, and a wide range of potential uses.'Best of Robb Report The 10 Priciest Neighborhoods in America (And How They Got to Be That Way) In Pictures: Most Expensive Properties Click here to read the full article.
Times
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Private Essex island beloved by Stormzy and Rihanna for sale at £25m
It has been described as England's own version of Sir Richard Branson's Necker Island, an utterly secluded, totally escapist — and achingly beautiful — 380-acre private retreat connected to the mainland twice a day at low tide by a Roman causeway. Osea Island, which has been inhabited for more than 5,000 years and was once a retreat for Edwardian drunks, has in recent years become a renowned celebrity party destination. The private island, on the estuary of the Blackwater river in Essex, has in recent years been owned by Nigel Frieda, 72, a music producer. Under his ownership, singers including Rihanna and actors such as Jude Law have rented areas of the island and partied there. It was also the spot where grime artist Stormzy
