IS this the most expensive property in Monmouthshire?

A spectacular country retreat, rumoured to have been previously eyed up by singer Katherine Jenkins, is on the market for nearly £4m.

Shirenewton Hall was owned by two previous Sheriffs of Monmouthshire and has a hefty price tag of £3,950,000.

The 13-bedroom mansion was built in Italianate style by William Hollis around 1830, who became a Sheriff the following year.

In 1890, it was purchased by Charles Oswald Liddell who, served as Sheriff in 1918.

From the brochure, potential buyers can see the home has beyond its walls a central galleried hall, ballroom, billiard room, extensive cellars, a powder room, indoor swimming pool and library.

There is a spacious three-bedroom coach house, three-bedroom lodge and two-bedroom cottage.

Chart-topping Ms Jenkins was rumoured to have been interested in the property when it was on the market in 2008.

Set in around 29.5 acres, the grounds include a Grade II-listed Japanese garden, with a Grade II-listed tea house.

A rare and well preserved example of a type fashionable at the beginning of the 20th century, many of the garden’s plants and trees were grown from seeds brought back by Liddell from the Far East.

There has been a house on the site of Shirenewton Hall since the days of William Blethyn, Bishop of Llandaff, who was born there around 1520 and died in 1590.

It was previously listed by Country Life in the top 10 of sought after country homes for sale.

Shirenewton Hall’s present owners purchased it in 1997 when the property was in need of refurbishment, having been neglected over many years.