What would your outdoor space look like if you had 6- and even 7-figures to spend? Would you keep it simple with a high-quality furniture set and a good fire pit or would you pay a landscaper to design a garden worthy of Medieval royalty?
It’s a scenario that will never be realized for the vast majority of us, but it’s one that A-list actors, rock stars, models, and business billionaires are living every day. That begs the question—what have they done with their gardens?
What do the yards of the rich and the famous look like, which ones are the most grandiose and impressive, and how much did they spend?
In this guide, we’ll look at some of the biggest and best celebrity backyards to answer those questions.
Photo by CrisNet
Drake’s $8 Million Mansion
In 2012, Drake bought a California mansion for $7.7 million and began turning it into a home that most of us can only dream of.
The front of the house is surprisingly quaint—or as quaint as you can get for a house the size of a small village—but the backyard is the definition of opulence. It includes a vast swimming pool with built-in grottos (all manmade) and waterfalls.
The inviting grottos add an extra dimension to the pool and create something that few other celebrities own. In fact, the swimming pool is said to have been one of the main reasons that the Canadian rapper bought the house.
If you get bored of swimming in the pool or relaxing in the grotto, there is a professional-sized tennis court and outdoor games of ping pong and badminton, to name just a few.
The garden also boasts one of the best views in the state, as well as unique outdoor furniture handmade from stone and brick. The inside of the house is just as impressive as the outside and features thick wooden beams throughout, as well as antique wooden furniture, chandeliers, and multiple gaming tables.
It also has its own library and wine cellar, as well as a screening room big enough to host a dozen or more of Drake’s closest friends and a fully equipped gym.
Photo by David Beckham's Instagram
The Beckhams’ Home in the Cotswolds
The Beckham family spent part of the 2020 lockdown in the Cotswolds, one of the most sought-after regions in the United Kingdom. It’s quaint and filled with chocolate box cottages and villages, and rather than opting for all-out opulence, David and Victoria Beckham have stayed true to the bucolic beauty of the area.
In a video posted on social media, David Beckham was shown making his own wooden beehives while surrounded by wildflowers in their own English country garden. The Cotswold mansion is also home to a tennis court and an igloo hut that contains a sauna and steam room.
It can’t really be described as “quaint”, as we’re pretty sure that tennis courts and purpose-built Estonian igloos would preclude it from that, but it’s certainly more charming than the other gardens on this list.
Of course, this is just one of the houses that the Beckhams own, and there’s a good chance that they were a little less “rustic” when it came to designing their other outdoor spaces.
Jennifer Lopez’s Block-Sized Mansion
Jennifer Lopez went from “Jenny from the block” to “Jenny owns a block”, as her vast Los Angeles home spans a total of 8 acres and is said to have cost $28 million. The Bel Air estate is home to seven bedrooms, a screening room, a pub, and an amphitheater, as well as over a dozen parking spots for the singer’s many vehicles.
But it’s the backyard where this mansion truly shows its worth.
You enter the property through a wooden gate that has a tree naturally arching over the top, creating an aesthetic that is right out of Lord of the Rings. The patio area is filled with plush furniture, lanterns, and stone tables, and there are also enough dining tables and lounge chairs to cater for an entire film set!
Down the steps from the patio, there is a huge infinity pool and beyond that, you’ll find a woodland walk complete with beautiful flowers, foliage, and even its own bridge. Completing the look, there is a tiki bar big enough to host a dozen guests and lots of gaming areas where her kids play.
If you’ve ever wondered what nearly $30 million can get you in Bel Air, now you know!
Natalie Portman’s Modern Mansion
In 2017, Natalie Portman allegedly dropped $6.5 million on a 10-acre mansion in Montecito, on the Californian coast. The modern house spans nearly 4,000 square feet and sits on grounds of 10.4 acres.
The home itself is designed in an ultra-modern style, featuring a combination of concrete, steel, and glass, and including a modern kitchen with high-tech trappings, five bathrooms, and four bedrooms.
The house itself is built on a hill and makes great use of the natural surroundings. There is a spacious patio at the back of the house and this slopes into a pool and, further down from that, into the ocean. There is an outdoor fireplace, an outdoor kitchen, and several patios that provide a great view of the ocean.
The dining area is covered by a retractable roof to provide some cover against the sun and the rain and the open design of the house means you’re never too far away from those idyllic ocean views.
The house was designed by Barton Myers, an architect based in Santa Barbara.
Photo by Robert Stevens Photography
Celine Dion’s Waterpark
If you thought that there was no topping Jennifer Lopez’s luxury Bel Air pad, wait until you see where Celine Dion calls home!
Celine Dion’s mansion is located on Jupiter Island in Florida and spans over 5 and a half acres, as well as 400 feet of ocean frontage. The mansion was built for Dion and her family, giving them somewhere to escape the paparazzi and enjoy luxury on their own time.
The estate has all of the usual trappings of a celebrity backyard, including tennis courts, a pool house, and some gorgeous garden furniture, but it also has its very own waterpark!
The private waterpark is vast, containing half a million gallons of water. And it’s not just a glorified swimming pool either—it’s a genuine waterpark with genuine rides, including slides, lazy rivers, a footbridge, and a variety of pools.
It sounds like too much for a single family, but the mansion is equipped to host plenty of guests and so we’re sure all that space and all those great rides don’t go to waste. There is a beach house, several guest houses, a pool house, and the main house itself, so there’s more than enough room for all of her extended family and pretty much everyone else she knows!
Celine Dion’s house is easily the most impressive on this list and that’s true for both the interior and the exterior.
Photo by Architectural Digest/Francois Dischinger
Jennifer Aniston’s Pristine Patio
Jennifer Aniston made a mint from her work in Friends, and she has also featured in a number of blockbuster films and TV shows, becoming one of the most successful actors in the cast of 6. If her Bel-Air mansion is anything to go by, she’s spent that money wisely, creating one of the best-looking gardens on this list.
The mansion features a beautiful lawn lined with shrubbery and palm trees, as well as a huge pool and patio. It’s smartly designed in a modern style, with plenty of clean white stone and marble bordered by neatly trimmed edges and polished glass.
We’re not sure if she has the obligatory tennis courts and pool houses, but based on the lawn, patio, and pool, we’d say they were surplus to requirements. When you have a patio that looks this good, who cares about a pool house?
Summary: The Best Celebrity Backyards
A garden tells you a lot about a person. If there is little more than a rusted chair or two, it suggests that the owners don’t spend a lot of time outdoors. If it’s full of blooming flowers, perfectly manicured grass, and looks like it should be winning awards, they’re probably retired, have a gardener, or are incredibly devoted.
If it looks like you have just stepped into the gardens of Versailles, you’re probably in a celebrity backyard. They are the modern-day kings and queens—the uber-rich for whom there are no limitations. As the above examples show, a lot of cash and creativity can create jaw-dropping gardens.
But you don’t need a multi-million-dollar movie contract or record deal to get elegant garden furniture. At Seven Summers, we sell the finest outdoor furniture that wouldn’t look out of place in the most extravagant backyards—in fact, we’re fairly confident that you’ll find many of these pieces on A-list patios across the United States!
For more information, check out our product range here. And if you need some tips for designing your own outdoor haven, read this blog on patio furniture design ideas.