Anne Robinson is leaving behind her bucolic life in the Cotswolds and moving back to London – putting her lavish country mansion on the market for £4.25million.

The former Weakest Link and Countdown presenter, 81, has decided to return to the capital to be closer to her daughter, the broadcaster Emma Wilson, and her two grandchildren.

Robinson is the latest in a string of celebrities to call time on the Cotswolds by listing her 18th-century barn conversion in Gloucestershire.

The sprawling rural retreat, in a village close to Cirencester, was purchased for more than £2million and boasts seven bedrooms, a guest cottage and tennis court.

It also has six bathrooms, barns and sits in 4.5 acres of 'immaculate' landscaped grounds.

Estate agents Butler Sherborn describes the presenter's home as 'an exquisite Grade II-listed conversion'.

It reads: 'Originating as two conversions thought to date from the 1800s, this exceptional property was renovated to the highest standard and remodelled by the current owner into a house with impressive proportions, designed around entertaining but also suited if needed to family living.'

Robinson, who rose to fame as the formidable presenter of BBC consumer programme Watchdog, spent two years transforming the property in the affluent Coln Valley.

The sought-after area has been jokingly nicknamed 'Sili-Coln Valley' following an influx of wealthy entrepreneurs and high-profile residents.

It is understood that Robinson, who stopped driving due to worsening eyesight, has found a new home near Hyde Park in central London, close to her daughter Emma, 55.

Robinson also retains residences on Fifth Avenue in New York, and in the exclusive Hamptons.

After splitting from her husband, John Penrose, in 2007, Robinson allegedly installed a ground-floor guest wing in her Cotswolds home called the 'I Hate My Husband Suite'.

She is also said to keep all of her grandchildren's school photographs proudly displayed in the downstairs toilet.

Robinson follows a string of other high-profile figures to turn their back on the Cotswolds, including fashion designer Stella McCartney, actress Elizabeth Hurley and health guru Joe Wicks.

She first moved to the area in 1988 but told a newspaper last month how she feared growing older in a rural location away from her family.

Robinson told The Times: 'I run, do weights and Pilates, but I just can't legislate for the next five years. 

'I don't want Emma sitting at lunch saying to someone, as people say to me, "Oh my mother, you know she's in Somerset and now the carer's gone off sick – I'm having to drive for an hour and a half when there's a crisis."'

The television star first bought one of the estate's two barns in 2006 for £1.2million, later converting an outbuilding into a cottage for her housekeeper.

In 2012, she purchased the adjoining dilapidated barn for £870,000 before beginning an ambitious project to combine the two buildings into one enormous country retreat.

The sales particulars add: 'Originating as two conversions thought to date from the 1800s, this exceptional property was renovated to the highest standard and remodelled by the current owner into a house with impressive proportions, designed around entertaining but also suited if needed to family living.

'Throughout, the living space is beautifully presented with elegant interiors and a wonderful atmosphere.'

Within close proximity to the house yet retaining privacy is the cottage. The formal gardens are located at the rear of the house.

'The front of the house has been landscaped with geometric lawns and the grounds are planted with specimen trees which sweep down to a pond with two barns and with views to open countryside. A tennis court is located on the eastern boundary.'