Pippa Middleton WINS planning row with neighbours over 72-acre 'petting zoo' farm park

She is spared the spotlight of continuous attention which accompanies every move of her elder sister, the Princess of Wales.

But never suppose that, just because she’s out of the public eye, Pippa Middleton lolls around taking it easy.

I can disclose that Pippa, 39, and her financier husband, James Matthews, 47, are celebrating a triumphant outcome to a year-long battle at 72-acre Bucklebury Farm Park, in Berkshire.

The park’s ‘petting zoo’ was a favourite of a very young Prince George, who was regularly taken there by his mother when she visited her parents’ house, Bucklebury Manor, a mile or two away.

I can disclose that Pippa, 39, and her financier husband, James Matthews, 47, are celebrating a triumphant outcome to a year-long battle at 72-acre Bucklebury Farm Park, in Berkshire

When Farm Park was put on the market last year for £1.5 million, Pippa and James snapped it up

When Farm Park was put on the market last year for £1.5 million, Pippa and James snapped it up.

Displaying characteristic ambition, they wasted no time in building a covered seating area — so little time it would appear that they must have overlooked the need to apply for planning permission. This was brought to the attention of the local authorities.

A neighbour then objected to their stated intention to divert a public footpath, pointing out that the proposed new route was ‘prone to flooding’, which regularly reduced the relevant stretch of land to ‘a quagmire’.

Concern was voiced owing to their being no provision for delineating the footpath so as ‘to prevent potential conflict’ between walkers and those visiting the park by car.

The park’s ‘petting zoo’ was a favourite of a very young Prince George, who was regularly taken there by his mother when she visited her parents’ house, Bucklebury Manor, a mile or two away

Concern was voiced owing to their being no provision for delineating the footpath so as ‘to prevent potential conflict’ between walkers and those visiting the park by car

But Pippa and James held their nerve — and have been rewarded by being granted retrospective permission for the covered seating area. 

And, as if to prove it’s Christmas, they’ve also been given the green light to refurbish and extend an existing ‘visitor barn’ and to erect a ‘play barn’ and a huge new storage building — plus new loos and a 100-vehicle car park.

The couple, whose third child, Rose, was born this year, don’t live ‘above the shop’. As I revealed, this summer they shelled out £15 million for a Georgian mansion — under 20 minutes away.