Joan to honeymoon in a B&B

Joan Collins boasts a personal fortune, homes in Belgravia, Los Angeles and the south of France, and a wardrobe packed with designer labels. But after she marries her young lover in London this week, she plans to spend her honeymoon in a bed and breakfast in a quiet New Zealand suburb.

Miss Collins, 68, and theatre company manager Percy Gibson, 36, have chosen to begin their married life in Stafford Villa, a colonial-style white wooden villa on Auckland's North Shore.

The website for the £68-a-night B&B boasts: "Whether it is a romantic first honeymoon or a secluded second honeymoon, Stafford Villa is perfect."

Whether it is also ideal for a fifth honeymoon remains to be seen, but the four-times married and divorced Miss Collins, who has stayed there before, obviously thinks so.

She and Mr Gibson, divorced only once, are expected to take advantage of the £82 (NZ$295) --anight Stafford Villa bridal package, which includes "handmade chocolates, champagne supper, and an aperitif in the library".

Staying in the China Blue room, which has views over the garden to Willow Bay, the newly-weds can enjoy a mahogany four-poster bed, a spa bath and a "pampering pack" of aromatherapy oils. In the morning, they can tuck into one of the villa's "legendary" New Zealand breakfasts, cooked by landlady Chris Windram, in their room or on the patio.

Mrs Windram, who runs the B&B with husband Mark, said: "Joan Collins, who I met some years ago through her publicist Stella Wilson, stayed here last year and loved it". She also signed the visitors' book, writing: "Your house is enchanting, so warm and lovely - just like you both!"

Mrs Windram said: "Inside the house each room is its own enclave, and if you have a look at it from the outside it is quite isolated. People come here because nobody will know they are here - it's just a house in a suburban street.

"We are Auckland's best-kept secret." Surrounded by trees and rose-covered trellises, the three-storey villa is barely visible from the street, with just a discreet sign on the porch advertising Stafford Villa's "historic, elegant accommodation".

Needle's Eye, a private swimming beach, lies a five-minute walk away down Awanui Street, and downtown Auckland, complete with Maritime Museum, shops and restaurants, is ten minutes away.

Other activities available to guests include swimming with dolphins, taking a picnic to watch the boats on the waterfront, or sailing around Auckland Harbour.

The low-key honeymoon will follow the actress's ultra-glamorous wedding, to be held at a smart London hotel later this week.

A celebrity magazine has bought the exclusive rights to the ceremony for a reported £375,000, and so tight are security arrangements to keep other journalists out, the 175 guests, who include Sir Michael Caine and Roger Moore, have yet to be told the venue.

The wedding comes 50 years after Miss Collins's first marriage, to matinee idol Maxwell Reed.

Despite reported opposition from friends and her two elder children to the union with half-Scottish, half-Peruvian Mr Gibson, Miss Collins says: "Quite frankly, I really like being married. I know there are no guarantees in life but Percy and I both feel so strongly about each other that we are making this ultimate commitment."

Bride-to-be Elle keeps cool