Owner Edward Short saw his marriage end and spiralled into £7m of debt thanks to the house
Howard Lloyd Regional content editor
08:24, 20 Aug 2025
Edward Short at the home in 2019
A lighthouse-inspired home that featured on the ‘saddest ever’ Grand Designs episode has now sold after 12 years of renovations. Chesil Cliff House became infamous after the home’s construction left its owner Edward Short, 57, in £7m of debt.
The construction of the home took 12 years and went several million pounds over budget – hit back by the recession and ultimately costing him his marriage to wife Hazel. It featured on Channel 4’s Grand Designs and was described as the “saddest episode ever” by many who watched it after airing in October 2019.
The episode followed Edward and his family as misfortune beset the project leaving the house in Croyde, Devon, unfinished and with the family plunged into millions of pounds worth of debt. The five-bedroom home went back up for sale in 2024 for £5.25m and has now been sold.
Speaking on August 19, 2025, Edward said he is ‘relieved’ that the property has sold and joked he will still be buying a lottery ticket with the dream of buying it back. Edward said: “It is definitely the closure of a long chapter of my life – there is no doubt about that. I mentally moved on from the property a while ago as the writing was on the wall.
Chesil Cliff House in Croyde, Devon
“I am relieved it is sold; it gives me closure. I put everything I could as a person to make it work, but it didn’t. It is not the end of the world, but it was a financial failure. I will still be buying a lottery ticket and dreaming that I can buy it back.”
The property was first listed for sale in February 2023, but did not sell. Then in late 2024, the five-bedroom home was back on the market again, listed by Savills on behalf of joint receivers at a knockdown price of £5.25m. It was rumoured that the likes of Harry Styles and Michael Jackson’s former bodyguard Matt Fiddes were interested in the property – but no deal ever emerged.
Speaking in November 2024, Matt said: “It is in a very valuable part of Croyde. It is a great corner but absolutely knocking it down and building something more modest would make much better financial sense. It would make the locals happy and give a safer access. That is definitely an option and is what the locals want.
“If my bid is successful, I will listen to the community and hear them out. All I hear at the moment though, is that it is getting vandalised and the locals just want rid of it.”
It has been described as one of the saddest episodes in Grand Designs’ history
Edward said that he still looks at his time building the property with fond memories. He said the time he spent building the house were some of the best times of his life.
Edward said: “I do look back at lots of elements of building that house that I enjoyed. There were moments that were amazing. All the time I spent building the house was amazing – that never leaves you.”
Costs spiralled out of control for owner Edward when he tried to transform the house into an art deco lighthouse. It was originally listed on Knight Frank’s website for £10 million and boasts an infinity pool with three acres of land.
It was close to being purchased before a mystery buyer pulled out and was later put back on the market and been split into two with the main house being offered for £7.5 million while the second adjacent beach development called ‘The Eye’ was available for £2.5 million.
Edward said he had incredible memories of building the house
The show also revealed that the process had taken a strain on Edward’s personal life, resulting in his separating from his wife Hazel. Despite all the problems, Edward remained adamant he would finish.
Speaking previously, Edward said: “I’ll always be proud to have finished this. I owe it to my family to have a real end result, but the time has come to move on.
“I will have achieved what I set out to do, never deviating from the plans, and for that I’ll always be proud.”
The house has been anchored into the bedrock of the cliff. Edward, a dad-of-two, previously said he had no option but to sell it to cover the large amount of money he had to borrow and said the total costs were set to reach £6m.