Inside Castle Clooney: Fully grown trees trucked in. A private cinema … whatever Amal wants for her English home, Amal gets!

There was much anticipation among the residents of Sonning when George and Amal Clooney finally moved into their 17th century mansion earlier this year after an intensive, 18-month long refurbishment.

The wives of this enchanting village were especially hopeful for an invitation from the new chateleine to a housewarming at Aberlash House — or even just a cup of tea.

But it soon became clear that only a select number of villagers from Sonning — which lies on the Thames just two miles outside Reading, Berkshire but feels like a fairyland at the end of the world — were to be welcomed into the Clooneys' orbit, reports the Daily Mail. 

The Clooneys, one of the most high-profile couples on the world stage, have been virtually invisible in their home village, screened by a veil of lush foliage that reveals only a hint of rooftop and a glimmer of a boathouse next to the water's edge.

So the disappointed villagers decided that, if they were not to be permitted a glimpse of the Hollywood star and his barrister wife, they would have to create a George and Amal Clooney of their own.

They decided to create effigies of the pair which were displayed in the village during the recent Sonning Festival in May. The effigies reveal a splendid likeness, although they are, perhaps, more flattering to 55-year-old George than to his 38-year-old wife.

George is cool in one of those pale blue suits he favours and flip-flops on his feet. His wife, known for her extravagant dress sense, is in a red ruffled number adorned with gold stars, pointy black shoes and big black sunglasses. Cardboard boxes, symbolising the recent move, are scattered about them.

 

The Clooneys did not attend the Sonning Festival, just as they haven't yet attended any other village event. It is not clear whether they are aware of the models of them created by their neighbours.

But if they wish, they can check out the pictures of the effigies on the Sonning Scarecrow Trail Facebook page, captioned: “At home with the Clooneys.”

And what a home it is. As planning documents submitted to South Oxfordshire District Council, and publicly available on their website, reveal, the building work commissioned by the couple has turned an illustrious property into a sumptuous home.

 

The Clooneys paid an undisclosed sum for the Grade II-listed property, which was put on the market for £7.5 million, in September 2014, a couple of weeks after their three-day wedding extravaganza in Venice.

Remodelled during the Georgian era, the house stands on a five-and-a-half acre island on one of the most idyllic stretches of the Thames, at Sonning Eye, which marks the boundary with Oxfordshire.

 

The village is a higgledy-piggledy mix of half-timbered houses, some dating from the 13th century, and more austere Georgian properties. There is a slightly unreal feel to the place, as though it's part of a film set.

George is said to have told the builders at the start of the project: “What Amal wants, Amal gets.”

It was evidently not a throwaway remark. Budget? There wasn't one.

The brief was to create the perfect family home — whatever the cost. Not long afterwards, intensive renovation work began, with a 20-strong workforce tasked to create a dream family home.

For many months, the villagers endured a cacophony of building work. The skyline, for a time, was dominated by a 200ft crane, the streets filled by a constant stream of HGVs and goods vans going to and from the property.

 

It was reported that neighbours had expressed their annoyance.

There were also complaints about the height of the poles on which CCTV cameras were to be placed, and concerns about the position of the wooden fence erected around the island perimeter to repel intruders attempting to land on the island from the water. Now the building work has finished however, difficulties have been resolved and tranquillity restored.

The finished product has been declared a Grand Design on a truly monumental scale.

It is for the couple, who are believed to have moved into the property in April, their very own Xanadu.