Uri Geller has been a household figure since the 1970s as a spoon-bender, psychic celebrity, mystifier, and confidant to A-listers like as Elvis, John Lennon, Salvador Dali, and Elton John.
At 76, he claims his Thames-side mini-estate in the posh Berkshire town of Sonning, which he has owned since the mid-1980s and is currently selling for £7,950,000, has been a significant source of his energy throughout the years.
‘Sonning Court is an incredibly special place, with its waterside setting on the bend of a river,’ says Uri, who has welcomed Prince Michael of Kent, Michael Jackson, and illusionist David Blaine at the property, and whose neighbours include George and Amal Clooney, Jimmy Page, and Theresa May.
‘As soon as I came up the driveway in my Cadillac, I knew it was the house I was looking for. Its positive energy just exploded in my mind – the feng shui was exactly right.’
Uri fell even deeper for the property once he was inside, and claims he ‘telepathically psyched out’ another interested person to guarantee he and his wife, Hannah, made the larger bid.
‘The symmetry and power of the house were magnificent,’ he says, ‘with all nine bedrooms overlooking the river.’
Uri continues: ‘In the grounds there is a yew tree grown from a seed from the tree under which the Magna Carta was signed. I knew immediately what I wanted to do with the house.’
The Gellers have enlarged and rebuilt the 1970s-built property, which comes with a mind-boggling 250-metre River Thames tow path and 1,500-square-metre mooring for up to 18 boats.
There is a large glass atrium, two dining rooms, and a large kitchen among the 1,477 square metres of internal space (plenty of drawers for spoons, then – Uri claims to have psychically bent more than one million of them over his career).
A bar, custom-designed movie room, gym, and panic room are located on the bottom floor.
The grounds are even more magical, with Japanese water gardens that include a crimson bridge, three interconnected ponds, and a six-foot waterfall.
A glass meditation pyramid, heated covered pool, and helipad await beyond.
The house was briefly on the market in 2015 for twice the asking price before the Gellers decided to rent it out and relocate to Tel Aviv’s Old Jaffa neighbourhood, where Uri runs a museum dedicated to his life’s work and features celebrity exhibits such as Harry Houdini’s handcuffs and Pablo Picasso’s easel.
Can Uri guess who will purchase Sonning Court? He replies that if they are truly great people, he will consider putting some of the outstanding fixtures in the sale price.
Visitors may be interested to discover that hidden beneath the pyramid is a ball of rock crystal that formerly belonged to Albert Einstein.
In addition, a fireplace recovered from the old Rockefeller estate in New York may be found in one of the living rooms.
Uri also owns an uninhabited island in Scotland’s Firth of Forth, which he has designated a micronation, offering citizenship for a dollar and donating the earnings to the Israeli organisation Save a Child’s Heart.
For now, he lives in a modest flat furnished from Ikea, selected for its views of the Old Jaffa’s old structures.
‘I don’t need great luxuries any more,’ he says. ‘But a part of me will always be in Sonning. I know that whoever buys it will have great good fortune.’
Find more information on Sonning Court at Savills.
Credit: Source