Amazing pad for Gately

Hollywood actress Ashley Judd is looking for a four-bedroom house to rent on a short let in Notting Hill, Bayswater or Kensington. Her budget? Up to £1,500 a week. "Ashley wants to be near Holland or Hyde Parks as she's devoted to her dog," says Chard Lettings. The Kentucky-born star of Double Jeopardy and A Time To Kill usually divides her time between a ranch in Franklin, Tennessee and a home in the wilds of Scotland. After romances with actor Matthew McConaughey and singer Michael Bolton she recently married Scots racing driver Dario Franchitti.

Long-suffering neighbours of Sir Evelyn de Rothschild are praying that the building works at his Victorian house off Chelsea Embankment will soon be finished. The septuagenarian banker bought the five-storey house, where Victorian painter John Singer Sargent had his studio, for an estimated £6 million. "Sir Evelyn and his new American wife Lynn are completely gutting the place," complains a neighbour. "Their builders have been banging away for a year now and at this rate are likely to continue for another year."

Much drinking, gambling and political chicanery would have taken place at 46 Clarges Street, Mayfair, the former home of rakish Whig politician Charles James Fox. Three young businessmen have just bought this Georgian blue-plaque property for an estimated £1.5 million. They plan to revamp the existing members-only Fox Club, which has nine bedrooms and a busy cocktail bar. "We've been members for some years now and feel that it needs an injection of exciting new blood," says Edward Baillie. "We also have plans to expand the club."

TV presenter Suzi Perry has bought the pristine two-bedroom west London house that she has rented for the past year. She shares it with her boyfriend, TV presenter Nick Knowles. But canny Suzi, star of BBC 1's daytime show Housecall and BBC2's Treasure Hunt, wants to keep her independence. "The house belongs just to her," explains a friend. Her four-year marriage to male model Steve Bullock recently ended in divorce.

Singer and former Boyzone star Stephen Gately has rented a two-bedroom penthouse with a roof terrace close to his favourite bars, clubs and restaurants in Soho's gay village for £800 a week through Champion. "Stephen has taken it for three months while he is appearing in the West End musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat," explains Champion. "But he may renew the tenancy if the run is extended."