‘Why Do Famous People Move Out To The Country?’ The Beckhams Have Been Clashing With Neighbors, But Just Landed A Barn-Based Victory

Battling with neighbors is something that happens to a lot of people, whether it’s conflicts over fence locations or someone making too much noise. Living in close quarters can definitely lead to conflicts, and some like the non-working-class couple David and Victoria Beckham are able to move out to the country where having more land alleviates such issues. But that apparently doesn’t fix the problem entirely .

The Beckhams have, as of late, been battling their neighbors over the desire to build a barn on their property. The structure was discussed by local council members, leading some neighbors to start complaining about it. The Beckhams secured the win, however, and gained the ability to build the barn without additional approval.

Not everyone would call that a victory, though, with one unidentified local telling The Sun:

While not every celebrity ends up moving all the way out of the U.S., many certainly have, and still do. We’ve seen many celebrities leaving Hollywood, and while many end up in different domestic population centers — Ryan Reynolds lives in New York, and Mark Wahlberg lives in Las Vegas, for two examples — others do go looking for a quieter life in more rural areas.

The same sort of thing happens in other nations. Chris Hemsworth and his family moved to Byron Bay in Australia, while Pippa Middleton also moved to that same country in 2024. These sorts of moves are frequently unpopular with established locals, who fear celebrities in their midst will bring major changes and more attention to the places they call home.

Certainly, one barn won't drastically change the environment of the area, but it seems there’s a feeling among the local residents that this is part of an ongoing trend of development that they'd like to curb. Their reasoning is at least understandable. Most people who choose to live in the country do so because they don’t want to live amidst skyskrapers, minimalls and endless fast food joints, so seeing any new buildings going up can seem portentous.

That being said, some people move to less populated areas precisely because it allows the space to build that wouldn’t be accessible elsewhere. In the case of the Beckhams, it seems to be a little of both. The barn is apparently designed to be an “agricultural storage barn for hay/straw and agricultural equipment.” It seems David Beckham is something of a gardener and plans to do a lot of work on his property, probably not unlike his neighbors. He just needs a place to keep his tools.

The Beckhams' situation certainly isn’t the first time that famous people have clashed with neighbors, and it certainly won’t be the last. If the Beckhams do continue building on their property, this may only be the beginning.