Cobham was once known for its mill, now it is famous for its millionaires – the Chelsea squad, many of whom have joined the town’s 11,000 inhabitants since Roman Abramovich moved the club’s training ground in 2004 from a grim and windswept patch near Heathrow to a green and leafy corner of the Surrey stockbroker belt.

José Mourinho, the former manager, wanted his players to live within 15 minutes of the huge, state-of-the-art site – and within months this quiet, pleasant and unremarkable town was a celebrity hot spot. Not that the players automatically stood out because of their ability to afford swanky houses and posh cars.

“It’s a popular misconception that Cobham used to be a sleepy backwater and suddenly the bright lights of Hollywood arrived. It has always been a relatively wealthy area,” Robin Ball, of Boyce Thornton, a Cobham estate agency that has sold several properties to Chelsea footballers, said. “But the previous limit on the upper-level properties was £1.5 million to £2 million.

“In recent years, that has more than doubled. Certainly the Chelsea factor plays a part, as did the growth in the property market until recently. The typical footballer’s house is very high-end in terms of technology, has a very high-end kitchen and bathroom and is brand new or almost new; they’re not so worried about the garden.”

Ball believes that most residents are happy to have John Terry and friends as neighbours. “It’s put Cobham on the map,” Ball said. “It’s a jolly nice place, but a lot of people had never heard of it. There used to be a lot of independent stores, now more big chains are wanting to come here, and that is partly down to Chelsea. But the general feeling is that Cobham has benefited. People are making the town their first choice when they move.”