'Lothian hideaway' for Lady Gaga report

Published on Thursday 18 November 2010 15:00

RESIDENTS of an East Lothian village were stunned yesterday by claims that US pop sensation Lady Gaga is poised to buy a 60-room, 17th-century mansion on a nearby estate.

• The interior of Yester House, which could soon have a new A-list owner

The United States real estate website The Real Estalker, with a reputation for relaying insider tip-offs on celebrity purchases, said the 24-year-old singer had exchanged contracts on the property near Gifford.

Estate agents Knight Frank said Yester House, set in 200 acres - which went on the market for 15 million two years ago - was "not under offer at this time" and it was unaware of any interest from Lady Gaga. But the story was seized on by celebrity columnists worldwide after reports earlier this year that Lady Gaga, who has sold more than 15 million albums and 50 million single tracks worldwide, was seeking to buy a Scottish castle. "It would be good for business," Grant Bissett, of the Tweeddale Arms Hotel, told a UK tabloid.

The US website told its readers it was tipped off by one of its "international spies", an American who was told by a worker at Yester that a "contract has been signed for a sale to Lady Gaga". It warned: "Real-estate rumours are exactly that."

Yester House has musical connections. Built between 1699 and 1728, it was owned from the 1970s by Italian-American composer Gian Carlo Menotti, who died in 2007.

It has six principal bedrooms, a 1,300sq ft ballroom and three kitchens.