Sophie heads for the Cottage

Singing sensation Sophie Ellis Bextor, may have grown up in west London and attended Godolphin & Latymer School in Hammersmith but she prefers to live in north London now. "I bought a flat, then a maisonette and now a house because that's the sensible thing to do," says Sophie, who has just moved from Kentish Town to Swiss Cottage."When you're in a band you get paid in lump sums. I wanted to invest it rather than have it sitting around." The star shares her new home with her longstanding boyfriend, DJ.

Strutt & Parker have lopped £1 million off a sixbedroom Grade II listed Kensington house that once belonged to the 19th century liberal philosopher John Stuart Mill. "We had no takers at £4.5 million last year and so advised our client to change the guide price," says the agent. It was at this 17th century Kensington Square house that Mill's maid famously used Thomas Carlyle's just-completed manuscript of The French Revolution to light the drawing-room fire. The Scots-born historian must have had a good memory, however, as a first edition of the work now graces the present owner's bookshelves.

Actress Jane Asher, the new leading lady of ITV soap Crossroads, has rented a one-bedroom flat in Nottingham for an estimated £750 a month. The property, in an exclusive area known as The Park, is conveniently close to the Carlton TV studios where she works five days a week. At weekends she rejoins husband, cartoonist Gerald Scarfe, at their £6 million Georgian home in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. "Jane thought the flat was the wisest course as she's going to stay in the series at least a year,î says Carlton.

Actress Zoe Lucker, who plays conniving Tanya in ITV's hit series Footballers' Wives, has bought a two-bedroom house in Stoke Newington for an estimated £300,000. Formerly married to estate agent Richard Forshaw, she previously shared a flat in Islington with another member of the cast. Huddersfieldborn Zoe was out of work for eight months before landing her starring role in Footballers' Wives.