Dame Helen Mirren's dreams of a tumbledown beachside retreat near her luxury estate in southern Italy have hit a stumbling block as police halted construction amid claims she breached building regulations.

The Academy Award-winning actress Mirren and her husband, Hollywood director Taylor Hackford, bought the crumbling 860 square feet stone shack with spectacular views of the Adriatic Sea in December last year with the dream of converting it into a seaside refuge.

But she has fallen foul of local planners for the second time, with police accusing the actress of 'disfiguring the natural beauty’ of the area surrounding the house by adding a new retaining wall.

Construction has stopped on the property located at Torre Nasparo, which is surrounded by national park in the southern region of Puglia. Prosecutors have opened an investigation.

“This has struck Dame Helen like a bolt from the blue, she never expected this,” her lawyer, Pietro Nuccio, told The Telegraph by telephone on Sunday.