Britain's 'tackiest house' sells after six years The extravagant Updown Court, set in 58 acres in Windlesham in Surrey, is Britain's biggest repossession, larger than both Buckingham Palace and Hampton Court. The 27-bedroom mansion, billed as "a touch of California in the rolling fields of Surrey," boasts a heated marble driveway, a master bedroom with its own pool, a banqueting hall, a panic room with its own ancillary air conditioning and a bowling alley. The new owner, an unnamed Middle Eastern businessman who paid £36 million, will inhabit a space thirty times larger than the average family home embellished with five acres of marble and 24-carat gold mosaics. It was sold by CBRE, acting as receiver for the Irish Government after it acquired the property as part of the bail out of Irish Nationwide. The home's original owner had failed to sell it at their target price of £70 million and could no longer service their debt to Irish Nationwide. Stamp duty is avoided on many sales of this type, but it seems that in this case £1.8 million was yielded up to the Exchequer. Other big property assets being sold by the Irish Government include Claridges and The Connaught. The price was repeatedly slashed, first to £53 million this summer and then to £40 million in the autumn before finally finding a buyer. To help meet the annual maintenance costs, thought to stand at around £1 million per year, the house has featured in a number of films, including Green Zone starring Matt Damon and an episode of Spooks.