Kirstie Allsopp and her long-time TV co-presenter Phil Spencer recently celebrated 25 years of their hit Channel 4 series, Location, Location, Location.
The homes expert has two properties in the UK: her six-bedroom Devon cottage, known as Meadowgate, and her second home in London.
Kirstie and her partner Ben Anderson first bought the house in Notting Hill, which was built in the 1950s, back in September 2006, shortly after the birth of their son Bay, 18. She now shares the home, which was originally two flats, with her two sons, Oscar and Bay, and stepchildren Orion and Hal.
However, in an interview with The Guardian back in 2013, she made a surprising confession about the house, saying: “My house is ugly. It was built in the 1950s and is the worst house on the street. The architect was frankly a vandal, but the location [in Notting Hill] is great.”
During the same conversation, she also suggested that there’s very little chance of her wanting to start again in London, adding: “I am not a mover. I buy a house and stay put. And I am certainly not the sort of person who wants everything new.”
Given her expertise when it comes to using upcycled and inherited items to spruce up your home, it’s no surprise she doesn’t like to get things when they’re brand new!
Kirstie Allsopp’s Notting Hill house
In a 2020 interview with The Guardian, the 53-year-old confirmed that the house in Devon, which Ben owned when they met, was the family’s primary home, and that their London property was a second home – but it’s pretty fabulous for a second residence.
© Catherine Bradley PhotographyKirstie leads by example when it comes to her principles of reusing and reusing items, a trait that truly shines in her Notting Hill home.
When she allowed The Daily Mail into her house in 2015, she shared: “I can’t think of anything that hasn’t got some sort of story behind it.”
The Love It or List It UK presenter continued: “Someone asked me if I designed all this, but it’s not like that. It comes together over time. You get things all the time, and you are adding and taking things away.”
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