Ozzy linked with return to the Midlands

Apr 6 2007 By Anna Jeys, Birmingham Mail

ASTON-born rock legend Ozzy Osbourne could be coming home amid rumours that he is interested in buying a £3 million manor house in Solihull.

Residents claimed to have seen the former Black Sabbath frontman and wife Sharon looking around Hampton Manor in the upmarket village of Hampton-in-Arden last Friday.

Locals said they saw the couple, who have homes in Los Angeles and Buckinghamshire, arrive at the mansion in a chauffeur driven Rolls Royce.

The estate agent for the impressive property, John Shepherd, said the Osbournes had not made a formal offer for the property.

But a spokeswoman conceded that Ozzy and Sharon, who is a celebrity in her own right as a judge on the popular X Factor show, could have gone to look at the house unaccompanied.

The Grade II listed building is on the market for £3 million and was built in 1855 for Sir Frederick Peel MP, younger son of the Conservative Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel.

It was a private residence until 1952 when it was turned into a care home for women with disabilities. It closed earlier this year.

Built of stone in a Tudor Gothic style, the mansion stands in 40 acres of grounds and features a clock town which is Grade II* listed.

It has 40 rooms, many with oak panelling and intricately decorated high ceilings.

Rozanne Chapman, of John Shepherd, said: "We have had a lot of interest in the manor and have shown a number of viewers from London and elsewhere around it, but Ozzy Osbourne was not among them.

"Mind you, the property might suit him because it's so Gothic."