RICHARD EDEN: Liz Hurley to build her own £3million dreamland ‘palace’ from scratch in rural Gloucestershire

She juggles roles like no other, as an ambassador for Estee Lauder, for whom she leads a global breast cancer campaign, while simultaneously treating her 2.8 million admirers on social media to generous sightings of her ageless figure in outfits from her own swimwear brand – and yet somehow she still finds time to make her own jam.

And if that wasn’t enough, the inimitable Elizabeth Hurley is ready for a new challenge. I can tell, she plans to join the likes of Jeremy Clarkson and real estate mogul Jamie Ritblat by creating her own dream mansion from scratch.

The project is not a daydream. “Elizabeth has bought 100 acres in Gloucestershire,” a friend says, adding that the actress, who played Queen Helena in the no-holds-barred American parody series The Royals, bought the land from fashion mogul Julian Dunkerton, founder of Superdry. “She paid over £2 million for it,” the friend adds, explaining that planning permission for a new building has already been granted.

Elizabeth’s budget shows that she intends to create something authentically palatial. “She is willing to spend three million euros,” I am told.

Some might be surprised that the 58-year-old could ever drag herself out of the lavish £6million Georgian home in Herefordshire that she bought in 2012 with her then fiancé, the late and legendary Australian cricketer Shane Warne. When she and Warne decided not to marry the following year, Elizabeth kept the property.

Some might be surprised that the 58-year-old could ever drag herself out of the lavish £6million Georgian home in Herefordshire that she bought in 2012.

Her move to Gloucestershire reconnects her with old friends. ‘She is good friends with Mollie Dent-Brocklehurst at Sudeley [Castle]’, says a Gloucestershire resident to Richard Eden

Set on 183 hectares, it has its own lake, 13 bedrooms and five bathrooms. It is the place where Elizabeth loved to hold open houses, especially for Damian – her son by the late Steve Bing, an American film producer who inherited $600 million on his 18th birthday. Damian’s friends were always welcome there, not to mention his godfathers, including her most famous ex, Hugh Grant, and Sir Elton John.

But perhaps it’s a bit too substantial even for the effervescent Hurley, now that Damian is 21.

Her move to Gloucestershire reconnects her with old friends. ‘She is good friends with Mollie Dent-Brocklehurst at Sudeley [Castle]says a Gloucestershire grandee, noting that Elizabeth’s new home will be just down the road.

There will also be the chance to make new friends: Julian Dunkerton himself, who lives in splendor in Dowdeswell Court, eight miles away, with his radiant second wife, designer Jade Holland Cooper, and Jamie Ritblat, who is even closer.

His new stately home near Winchcombe has eleven bedrooms, a cinema, a cellar, a swimming pool, stables, a tennis court and of course a staff quarters.

It certainly doesn’t take long before Liz invites them all over to enjoy her jam.