'Neighbour from hell' Jane Seymour sells mansion after row with residents

Jane Seymour has thrown in the towel and sold her country mansion after a long-running battle with villagers over late-night parties.

The 56-year-old former Bond girl was described as 'the absent neighbour from hell' for the traffic and noise problems caused by revellers.

Miss Seymour only lived at St Catherine's Court near Bath for about three months of the year.

At other times, she rented out the 13-bedroom Elizabethan manor house for private parties and corporate functions, which neighbours claim repeatedly disturbed their tranquillity.

She has now sold the Grade I listed property through an agent for an undisclosed sum, despite recently winning a court fight with residents over her 24-hour alcohol licence at the mansion.

Precisely what prompted the sale remains unclear, but some believe that she may have tired of the dispute with locals.

Others think the cost of running the 700-year-old estate could have been a factor.

The manor has recently been linked with the luxury hotel chain von Essen and a reported £10million offer by a Russian businessman, but the buyer remained a mystery last night.

Estate manager Hein van Vorstenbosch, who will now find himself out of a job, refused to discuss details yesterday.

He would only say: "We can't really comment on the details but I can confirm that the property was recently sold."

News of the sale was welcomedby those who have complained about the parties.

Mark Strutt, 59, a retired major who organised local opposition to the entertainment licence, said he was not sorry to see the Hollywood actress go.

He added that he was not interested in who bought the property, as long as it isn't used as an entertainment venue.

"She can do what she likes, I'm not bothered who's bought it," he said.

"If it's been bought by someone as a home, they will find we're very welcoming neighbours.

"But if somebody has bought it with a view to opening a commercial property, then they will find we object very strongly."

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Miss Seymour, who appeared in the 1973 Bond film Live and Let Die and more recently took the title role in TV's Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, bought the mansion for £350,000 in 1984 after she fell in love with it while filming there.

She and her producer husband James Keach, 59, lavished millions on it.

She described it as her 'favourite place on earth'.

The couple live in Malibu and let out the mansion for £28,000 a week to guests.

In May, locals began a campaign against her 24-hour alcohol and entertainment licence for operating the home as a luxury party venue.

They brought a case to court to challenge the legality of the estate's entertainment licence.

Last month, Miss Seymour finally won her battle when an application against granting her the licence was dismissed by Bath magistrates.

A spokesman for the von Essen hotel chain yesterday denied any link to the sale.