MILLIONAIRE composer Andrew Lloyd Webber's wife is understood to be buying a luxury home near the world famous Snape Maltings.

Josh Warwick

THE wife of millionaire composer Andrew Lloyd Webber is buying a luxury house near the Suffolk coast - but the celebrity couple do not plan to live there.

Madeleine Lloyd Webber, who grew up in Suffolk, and her sister Miranda Barclay are said to be buying a property which is only a short journey from the concert hall at Snape, home of the renowned Aldeburgh Festival.

Lady Lloyd Webber has close links with the county. Her parents, the Gurdons, live at Burgh, near Grundisburgh, while her sister and her family live nearby at Blaxhall.

A spokesman for Andrew Lloyd Webber said that the musical lord “was not involved in the purchase of this property, and Andrew and Madeleine have no plans to live in Suffolk.''

Lord Lloyd Webber achieved global fame having composed 13 musicals, several of which have run for more than a decade in both the West End and on Broadway.

The 61-year-old, knighted in 1992, has more recently appeared on hit BBC One reality television shows How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria, Any Dream Will Do, and I'd Do Anything, which all featured the search for a new West End star.

Lady Lloyd Webber's niece Iona Barclay was in the news three years ago when she was critically injured in a car crash near the Croatian capital, Zagreb.

The skilful horsewoman and former Woodbridge School pupil spent six weeks in a coma after the accident in September 2006.

Her brother, 2nd Lieutenant Alexander Barclay, was awarded the Military Cross earlier this year after rescuing three of his soldiers in Afghanistan while under intense Taliban fire and despite having been shot in the leg.

A number of famous faces live along the Suffolk coast including comedian Griff Rhys Jones, film director Paul Greengrass and film-writer Richard Curtis.