Take a peek inside Camilla’s private country bolthole where she can get away from Charles

With acres of gardens, stables, an outdoor swimming pool and an elegant terrace framed by huge windows, Ray Mill House is undeniably a residence fit for a queen.

And indeed, the beautiful stone country house in Wiltshire is one of them. Because while the name may not be as familiar to many as her more high-profile royal residences, it is Queen Camilla’s private residence.

Here she retired after the state funeral and mourning period following the death of Queen Elizabeth last September, spending as much time as she can when she is not required at Highgrove House in Gloucestershire and Clarence House in London, the official homes she shares with King Charles.

Simply put, it’s where she’s reportedly most at home.

The house is set in several hectares and has a swimming pool and stables

Ray Mill House would be the place where Camilla feels most at home. Pictured: A Ray Mill portrait taken by Kate, the Princess of Wales, on the occasion of Camilla’s 75th birthday

Bought for £850,000 in 1994, the Queen Consort bought the Wiltshire property in the months leading up to her divorce from her first husband, Andrew Parker Bowles. She lived there until 2005 and kept it as her country residence after her marriage to the then Prince Charles.

But according to those who know her best, it’s much more than that: part refuge, part guilty pleasure. “sit down with a big G&T, kick off her shoes and look at Coronation Street, which Charles hates.”

Indeed, while Ray Mill is just a fifteen minute drive from Highgrove, the two are two poles apart in feel, the former a relaxed country house, the latter an altogether more formal affair.

“Camilla doesn’t have to worry about how the place looks either,” the source adds from her private home. “Charles is so picky about cleanliness, leaving her things everywhere.”

Camilla purchased 17 acres of Ray Mill from art historian Worthy Gilson and his wife

Although the grandeur is unmistakable, the decor is calm and family

According to friends, Ray Mill House is where Camilla “can sit down with a big gin and tonic, kick off her shoes and watch Coronation Street, which Charles hates”

Photos taken at Ray Mill in recent years certainly show it reflects Camilla’s laid-back country roots.

While the grandeur of the dimensions of many of the rooms is undeniable, the décor is understated and familiar, with yellow-hued walls and floral curtains.

Resolutely unmodernised, the kitchen – with a black aga – has yellow walls with red tiles and blue tiled floors, while the bedrooms are also plain, with simple white bedding.

The house undeniably plays a special role for all the family: Camilla’s daughter Laura chose to hold her wedding reception in the property when she married her Chartered Accountant fiancée Harry Lopes in 2006 at St Cyriac’s church in the Wiltshire village of Lacock.

Camilla’s daughter Laura chose to host her wedding reception at Ray Mill in 2006

With acres of gardens, stables, an outdoor swimming pool (pictured) and an elegant terrace framed by huge windows, Ray Mill House is undeniably a residence fit for a queen

Ray Mill is only a fifteen minute drive from Highgrove, but in terms of feel the two are two poles apart. Camilla’s house is more relaxed than Highgrove. Pictured: A fountain at Ray Mill House

The stairs at Ray Mill before Camilla moved in. She bought the house in 1994

More recently, it’s Ray Mill who chose Queen Camilla as the backdrop for her 75th birthday portraits, taken last summer by her daughter-in-law, the Duchess of Cambridge.

Photographed sitting on a bench with a tub full of pelargoniums ready to be planted, the smiling duchess wears a blue and white floral dress and vest.

In another photo, Camilla walks through forget-me-nots in the beautiful gardens of her home.

Her beaming smile says it all: the new Queen may have a myriad of royal residences to choose from, but it’s Ray Mill, the home she chose for herself long before she became a royal bride, that remains special.