SPECULATION is growing over the identity of the star who has bought Little Marlow Manor for an estimated £2.25 million.

Rumours of the new owner have included Posh Spice Victoria Adams, who has been house-hunting with her England footballer fiancee David Beckham and Madonna, who is said to be keen on a move to Britain.

The eight-bedroom Elizabethan manor was sold recently and villagers have since reported sightings of a black Mercedes Benz with darkened windows near the property.

The Frost Partnership and Knight Frank, who were the joint selling agents, are keeping quiet about the identity of the owner. But other suggested names on the lips of Little Marlow villagers have included Terry Wogan, who already lives in Taplow, and Rula Lenska, who told Freetime in May that she was keen to move back to Bucks.

Nigel Briggs, of The Frost Partnership, said: "Any well known person, personality, in certain circumstances requires a confidentiality letter to be signed.

"I and my staff have done this. We have to adhere to that. That's part of the transaction and there is no way we will tell anybody who the purchasers are."

Although Mr Briggs kept his secrecy promise, he explained that the new owner fell into a certain category of buyer.

He said: "It's a beautiful, beautiful house. It does need work spent on it, but it is 26 miles from London and offers privacy."

He added: "Originally I thought it might have suited Sarah Ferguson. That is the sort of person I was looking for."

Brian Lee, landlord of the Queens Head pub, in Little Marlow, said there had been several rumours about the identity of the new neighbours.

He said: "The rumours are from Madonna to the Spice Girls. The general opinion is they hope whoever it is will also mix with the village, not necessarily on a regular basis, but at least acknowledge that there are people here."

From 1960, the manor was owned and occupied by the Weiss family. Lady Weiss died in January 1997, aged 91, and the house was put on the market in August last year.

The house, which dates back to the first Elizabethan age, was once the home of William Borlase, the man who left money in his will to found the Marlow grammar school.

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