There is a fine staircase that winds up and you can look right down at the rest of the house It has a lovely atmosphere. I like preparing my talks up there.The kitchen that leads on to a Japanese-style garden with two ponds is a good size It can be deceiving from the outside. It looks like a plain, narrow house, but many of these houses hide delights Our kids say it is like a Tardis. However, we did have to hold a contents sale before we moved in.

I am somebody who could fill a warehouse with everything I have collected. When my son, who is a set builder, saw the house he said, “Ooh, this is great.” It is right on the west end of the High Street and we can get onto the A303 quite easily, which is important now that I am travelling so much for my shows.My favourite spot is the room at the top, a studio bedroom with a Strawberry Hill lace Gothic window The grandchildren love it up there. The developer did a good job converting it and all we have had to do was put our own stamp on it. He retained the four storeys and we have four bedrooms.The windows and shutters have been taken out and completely re-made. Built in the 1790s, it was a good period for pretty clothes – and houses. It was in developer’s magnolia, so we put in our own colour choices. There was a courtyard out back, but the owner held on to the old garden, which was an absolute tip After a bit of argy-bargy, we bought that as well.

In London, it wouldn’t matter looking out on to a small courtyard, but we thought it felt a bit top-heavy because it is such a tall house.It is a charming house with a lightness and sense of delicacy about it. She stumbled across this place that has turned out to be an unusual downsize for us.When I saw it, I said, “Oh, it is Dolly Hall”, because it looks like a doll’s house. We bought the house from a developer who poshed it out quite nicely. Fashion and social historian Rosemary Hawthorne, 64, called ‘The Knicker Lady’ is best known for her intimate lectures on underwear. She lives in a Grade-II listed Georgian townhouse in Honiton, Devon with her husband John.
My husband retired from the clergy 14 years ago, so we had to move.