What We Know About Kate Middleton’s Gorgeous Childhood Home

Approaching Princess Catherine’s childhood home from a distance, your initial impression would be of a spacious, though far from palatial, three-story brick farmhouse. Up close, however, you’ll notice something odd: a tall hedge that slices through the front yard, blocking about a third of the house from view. Awkward as this looks, it is intentional: A previous owner subdivided the house into two separate homes long before the Middletons bought it.

This was clearly not a deal-breaker for the Middletons, although Dudley Singleton, the realtor who later helped them sell the house conceded to the Daily Mail that “it looks a bit lopsided, doesn’t it?” He continued, “Ages ago, someone sold off the right-hand bit of the house and hid it behind a hedge. But at first a lot of people still think it’s one house — so that’s a bonus as far as selling it goes.”

Despite this quirk, the Middletons resided quite happily there with their three kids for almost 15 years, staying years after they could have easily afforded a larger space. “They’re not pretentious people — they lived here long after they were very successful with their business, still running their business out of the shed,” Singleton told CNN.