- Edward Short was at one point left £7m in debt over his Devon seafront home
- The Chesil Cliff House has now been put back on the market under a new plan
The luxury £10 million property which featured in the ‘saddest ever’ episode of TV’s Grand Designs is now being offered for sale as two separate homes in a desperate bid to find buyers.
After being close to a sale last month, Chesil Cliff House in Croyde, Devon, has been put back on the market with a new plan to shift the development.
The main property, a white art-deco styled lighthouse will be marketed at £7.5 million while the second adjacent beach development called ‘The Eye’ is on offer for £2.5 million.
The latest development is another setback for owner Edward Short, 52, whose agony in being unable to sell his home and end his nightmare debts has been laid bare for viewers of the Channel Four TV show.
But a source close to the sale of the property told MailOnline: ‘The sale of Cheshil Cliff House in its entirety is very much on. It has only been put back on the market, because certain deadlines for the sale have passed.
‘Ed is still confident that the original interest, which is from a foreign buyer, will see his property sold. He remains positive about it all.
‘The sale is being negotiated, but because the potential buyer hasn’t yet signed on the dotted line and an agreed date has passed, the agents have been obliged to offer it to all interested parties again.
‘The preferred sale would see it sold as a single property, but Ed is keen to see if maybe one of the developments can be sold first in a separate deal to get one off his hands.
‘He is his usual optimistic self and remains confident it won’t be that long before a deal is done and the secret bidder will eventually reach a deal with him.’
Mr Short’s desperate battle to build and then sell his Devon seafront house saw his marriage collapse and left him at one point £7 million in debt.
But he faces fresh heartache after the buyer he thought would finally take it off his hands pulled out of the sale and forced it to go back on the market.
The striking clifftop property has commanded national attention ever since it was the subject of a one-hour special show.
Father-of-two Mr Short, 52, spent a decade building the property on the rugged North Devon coast with ambitious plans to transform his family’s 1950s home.
It featured on Grand Designs in October 2019, and was described as the ‘saddest episode ever’ by many viewers after the music industry executive revealed that the arrival of the recession, building issues and the end of his marriage to wife Hazel had left him on the edge of bankruptcy and his dream in tatters.
He had hoped to finish the design and move in but with spiralling costs was forced to put the properties up for sale in the hope of a £4 million profit.
In February, the property was finally taken off the market by estate agents Knight Frank who had been marketing the property and its annex known as The Eye since last July.
As recently as late last month the owner was still telling friends that the sale was ‘still not over the line but very close’.
But agents Knight Frank have put Chesil Cliff and The Eye on the market again.
The £10 million price tag for both combined remains but in a new plan to attract buyers they offer the properties separately with Chesil Cliff on for £7.5 million and The Eye, £2.5 million.
In February, Knight Frank confirmed they had a ‘serious buyer’ who was discussing the ‘terms of sale’ and had removed the properties from the open market and its website.
According to locals in Croyde previous interested parties have been recontacted before the estate agents put them back on the open market.
One said: ‘It is so sad for Edward the sale has fallen through after everything he has had to deal with.
‘No one knows the reason for the collapse but it is the talk of Croyde.
‘The lighthouse has become so famous now we get people from all over the country driving down just to take a look at it along the coast road. It just seems jinxed.’
At one point it was rumoured that pop star Harry Styles was interested in buying the lighthouse but reports were later denied.
Multi-millionaire martial arts businessman Matt Fiddes was also reported to have put in a £7.5 million bid last September.
He had planned to convert Chesil Cliff House into 12 luxury flats but again that come to nothing.
Last year Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud revisited the property which cost £7 million to build in a special episode with many viewers branding it an ‘eyesore’ and a ‘waste of money’ as even the owner’s daughters confessed they were ‘over’ the project.
Mr Short previously revealed he has had no option but to sell the home to cover the large amount of money he had to borrow during the project.
He declined to comment today when contacted by Mail Online.
But he has said: ‘These past ten years have been a marathon slog – and I have got used to being a millionaire in debt. I’ve accepted the only way forward is to finish and sell it.
‘I had no idea it would end up costing so much but I’ve accepted now that I’m never going to be able to live in it because I have money I need to pay back.
‘It was my overconfidence and arrogance that got me here in the first place so I’m doing what I need to do.’
When it first went on the market Knight Frank said they expected ‘global interest’ in the sale.
Chesil Cliff comprises of five bedrooms and bathrooms, four reception rooms, a sauna and a cellar plus swimming pool.
The Eye a three-bedroom studio comes with a double garage.
The unique location of the house at Down End Point, Devon, boasts panoramic views across Croyde Bay to the north as well as to Saunton beach and Braunton Burrows to the south.