On the market in Melton Mowbray is a 1960s house that offers a genuine slice of footballing history.
This home is not the birthplace of the Charlton brothers or Bobby Moore’s marital home. Yet it nonetheless occupies a unique and unforgettable place in the history of English football.
Cloughmore House is being sold by England and Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, the talisman of the side that defied the highly-paid superstars of English football to claim the Premier League title in 2o16. Claudio Ranieri’s men somehow swept aside the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City – and this is the house where Leicester’s unlikely lads became champions.
It was a quite extraordinary sporting achievement which had the world riveted, and Vardy’s goals – he scored 24 that season – were a key element of the success of Ranieri’s men. All the more extraordinary was the fact that Vardy had been a non-league player just four years previously.
The night that their league success was to be confirmed, Vardy invited all his team-mates to his house – or rather, this house – to watch the Monday night match last May between Chelsea and Tottenham.
The game ended in a draw, meaning that Spurs were then too far behind to catch the Foxes; and Leicester were crowned the most unlikely champions in English football history.
The 5,900sq ft house, originally built in 1968, is beautifully finished with a lot of work done recently and is on the market via Savills at £1.25 million.
“Cloughmore House holds many special memories for us, so it was a big decision to move on,” says Vardy.
“We had some great times while living there; we planned our wedding from our kitchen, it’s where the team came together on the night Leicester City history was made, Sofia learned to walk there and it was Finley’s first home.
“It’s a big part of history for us but it’s the right time to move to a home with more space for our family and where we can enjoy a sense of privacy.”
There are eight bedrooms, a pool room, and a smart control system allowing you to control all the lighting and heating centrally – and, of course, a cinema room large enough to gather an entire football team together. (As proven in style on May 2, 2016.)
Outside there is a large garden with a children’s play area – and, of course, a large lawn perfect for impromptu games of football. Though we’d fully expect that Mr Vardy takes the goal with him when he moves on elsewhere…
