Claudia Schiffer Shares Inside Her (Very Possibly Haunted) English Tudor Mansion: 'All the Ghosts in the House Are Lovely'

"No one needs to be scared," Schiffer assures

09.17-COVER;19_View
Photo: Architectural Digest

Claudia Schiffer’s Tudor mansion in England might be haunted, but don’t worry — the spirits are friendly.

“We had a medium go around, and she told us that actually all the ghosts in the house are lovely,” the model, 46, tells Architectural Digestin their September issue. “No one needs to be scared.”

Arriving uninvited seems to be a trend in the 530-acre Coldham Hall’s history, as Schiffer and her husband, film director Matthew Vaughn, also appeared unannounced to ask the previous owners if they’d consider selling.

“We basically knocked on the door and said, ‘We love this place,’” she says. “They had no idea who we were or what we were doing there.”

0917-AD-SCHI03-01
Architectural Digest
0917-AD-SCHI12-01
Architectural Digest

The bold buying method paid off: The couple were married there soon after, and now call the British retreat their full-time residence with children Caspar, 14, Clementine, 12, and Cosima, 7, and their array of pets including dogs, cats, sheep, pigs and a tortoise.

After their clock tower burned down a few years back, though, the model discovered what she would actually save in the case of a fire. Sadly, the hard-shelled reptile wasn’t at the top of the list, but lenticular photos of each child by Ashkan Sahihi and an Adam Fuss photogram of Cosima when she was a baby were.

0917-AD-SCHI07-02
Architectural Digest

WATCH THIS: You Need to See the Prized Possession Tahj Mowry Wears While Dancing Around the House

Elaborate art aside, Schiffer still wants the estate to feel family friendly, outfitting furniture in fabrics like moleskin — “Shooting fabrics are made of moleskin, which means it lasts forever,” she explains — and corduroy. “Great homes sometimes lack that personal detail,” says Schiffer. “I wanted to have things in the house that are important to use because they have great memories.”

“We are not very formal,” the supermodel adds. “The whole idea of the house is that everyone can roam. I wanted it to be rustic so you felt like you could have muddy dogs running around and kids with jam on their hands.”

For the full details of Schiffer’s palatial pad, visit Architectural Digest.

Related Articles