Celebs on the move

Ed van Custem

With Britain's richest landowner, the Duke of Westminster, as his future father-in-law, Ed van Cutsem must surely have a head start when it comes to house-hunting.

At present, this 6ft 4in Merrill Lynch banker lives in a flat near Sloane Square, coincidentally in the same street as his fiance society beauty Lady Tamara Grosvenor (right).

"We've just started looking," says van Cutsem, who often acts as Prince William's unofficial "minder". "I'm not ruling out any area so long as it's fairly central and not desperately expensive. But I'll be approaching a mortgage broker rather than the Duke!"

The November marriage at the Westminster family seat, Eaton Hall, Cheshire, will be the wedding of the year, with princes Charles and William attending.

Ivan Massow

Massow, Ken Livingstone's independent challenger for the London mayoralty this summer, has decided to sell his 18th century West Country manor house through a local Bath agent, Pritchards, rather than a "posh" London one, which would charge a higher commission.

He hopes the £1.5 million proceeds will not only help to fund his campaign, but refill his coffers after he gave his Mayfair home as a "divorce settlement" to his former boyfriend.

The insurance tycoon describes the six-bedroom Frome house as "straight out of The Mayor of Casterbridge. It's ideal for someone who wants a living/working environment."

Chesney Hawkes

Teen idol Chesney Hawkes has fled the fleshpots of north London for the suburban pleasures of Surrey. He has bought a house in Chertsey, near Sunningdale, where he grew up.

The bachelor son of Tremeloes guitarist Chips Hawkes was once the youngest pop star to have a No. 1 hit with a debut single. But he has never quite repeated the precocious success of that cult record, The One And Only.

Neil Simmons

Neil Simmons, best-known for his life-size marble statue of Baroness Thatcher, beheaded by a vandal soon after its 2002 unveiling at the Guildhall, has sold his fourbedroom former Huguenot silk-weaver's house in Spitalfields for £1.05 million through Hamptons.

He bought the rundown Princelet Street property in 1994 for £150,000 and spent £50,000 on restoration. "We're leaving because we decided that our two children should have a healthier outdoor life in Somerset," says Simmons, who is married to artist Emma de Bendern.