COULD one of the world's most famous couples be heading to the Cotswolds?

National tabloids have been speculating that the former England captain and global icon David Beckham, and his former pop star and fashion designer wife Victoria, are on the hunt for a new £6 million country estate in the picturesque area.

In its story The Sun quotes a friend of the couple and their four children Brooklyn, Romeo, Cruz and Harper, who says Victoria, 42, is "desperate to find a new place in the county" and has been looking at mansions "in or around" the Cotswolds.

The source adds the former Spice Girl singer is looking for a Downton Abbey-style mansion featuring stables, tennis courts, indoor and outdoor pools, a studio and a pond where her husband, 41, could fish.

The couple, who currently live at a £31.5 million house in West London and sold a mansion dubbed Beckingham Palace in 2012, were said to have first started looking at potential properties in Gloucestershire last year, but had now "stepped up the search".

Among the properties The Sun suggests 'Posh and Becks' could be looking at, and which are currently on the market, are the £5.7 million Oddington Lodge and the £7 million valued Fossewold Farm, both in Moreton-In-Marsh.

If the pair move to the Cotswolds they will become the latest in a long line of famous names already living in the area, including:

• Former Prime Minister David Cameron, whose has a home in Chipping Norton.

• Broadcaster and writer Jeremy Clarkson, best known as a former Top Gear presenter, who lives near Chipping Norton.

• Former Blur bass player Alex James, who now lives at Church Heath Farm, Kingham, Chipping Norton.

• Famous artist Damien Hurst, who owns Toddington Manor.

• Comedian, actor and artist, Graeme Garden, best known as a member of The Goodies, who lives in Chipping Norton.

• Theatre and James Bond film director Sam Mendes, who lives in Church Westcote, near Stow. Former wife, actress Kate Winslet, also lived at the property for a period.