Andrew FFrench offers Bill Clinton some advice as the President reportedly looks for a home in Oxfordshire . . .

President Bill Clinton will find himself spoilt for choice as he househunts in Oxfordshire for a UK base. The US leader is reported to be on the lookout for a pied-a-terre to use if he takes up a post as visiting professor at Oxford University when he quits the White House in seven months time.

Special Branch officers are preparing feasibility reports on a number of properties which would be a safe haven for Mr Clinton.

As a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford in the 1960s, he lived in digs at Leckford Road, north Oxford a far cry from any potential new address he may choose now.

It is understood that the President had concentrated his efforts in the village of Glymton, near Woodstock, where the Saudi Ambassador to Washington, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, bought an estate of 21 properties covering 2,000 acres in 1992. Estate manager Peter Browne suggested that unless President Clinton was living in Glympton Park, which is currently occupied by the Prince, no property on the estate would be big enough.

He said: "There is nowhere on the estate suitable other than Glympton Park itself, and that is not for sale or for lease."

Estate agents across Oxfordshire were queuing up yesterday to promote properties which might be suitable for the President.

First on the list was the 1,200-acre Thame Park estate at Thame, which includes a Grade I listed mansion in spectacular parkland. The tree-lined approach to the Georgian stately home would help the President recall his grand surroundings at the White House. Currently being offered for sale with a guide price of 8m, Thame Park, which has been used as the setting for a number of films, including The Madness of King George, might be surplus to Mr Clinton's requirements. It has 12 bedrooms and nine bathrooms.

Richard Gaynor, director of the Country House department at Savills, suggested that The Manor House, at Clifton Hampden, would make a pleasant country retreat for the President.

On the market at 2.5m, the manor house on the banks of the Thames is just eight miles from Oxford.

Mr Gaynor said: "The house is 160 years old, so I think President Clinton would be impressed by its history.

"It also has an excellent lodge cottage which the security men could keep their machine guns in. "If they keep Prince William secure at Eton, they can keep the President secure at Clifton Hampden."

The Barn House, at Church Hanborough, on the market at 900,000, might suit President Clinton even better.

Just west of Woodstock, the President would be attracted by the privacy because the property is surrounded by a high wall.

Giles Lawton, of agents John D. Wood, said: "The house was once owned by the writer J B Priestley, so the President would enjoy putting pen to paper in the loft where Priestley once wrote.

Knight Frank and John D Wood are handling Rycote Park, near Thame, which is on the market at 4.2m. The estate includes the Grade II listed house, dating from the 16th century.