Fashion Kirstie Allsopp.

All reveled to fashion house as fashion property guru Kirstie Allsopp a right-thinking woman in the country with an epic girl-crush on Kirstie – partner of property developer Ben Andersen, mother to their two sons, aged four and two (heroically named Bay Atlas and Oscar Hercules), stepmother to two more, friend of the Camerons, and vocal ambassador for Keep Britain Tidy – who, whenever she sees a driver throw rubbish out of his car, pops it back in again with the succinct advice: ‘Don’t be a tosser.’ Kirstie with the two men in her life: Co-presenter Phil Spencer (left) and partner Ben Andersen But, Kirstie being Kirstie, such things require extensive research. (She and her sweetly  biddable sidekick Phil Spencer, in his posh-boy Crombie coat, didn’t reach the status of the UK’s property pornographers-in-chief without showing some attention to detail.) ‘I need to check how much each charity spends on admin costs before I hand anything over.’ She says this with her trademark mix of bossy prefect primness and level-headed practicality, and I make a mental note to copy her slavishly. Like every other  Kirstie’s physical charms are undeniable – just so you know, she’s a trim 12 to 14, rather than the size 16 she might appear on television – but our national pash has less to do with her creamy English rose complexion, full mouth and unabashedly curvaceous figure than the fact that she has common sense written through her like  a stick of rock. At a time when our screens are populated with pliant, pretty dolly birds (Christine Bleakley, Alex Jones, Tess Daly), Kirstie is the epitome of fiercely intelligent femininity. 

Yes, she may be about to embark on her second series of Kirstie’s Homemade Home, and she can talk knowledgeably for hours about thread counts, but she’s also slayed ’em on Question Time and is advising the government on housing strategy. ‘Without wishing to sound smug, I have the most lovely life,’ she says, back in soft-focus mode. In this terminally discontented day and age that’s a brave admission, but then her appeal lies in her refreshing, discomfiting forthrightness. ‘I knew Nick Ashley, son of the designer Laura, when I was growing up, and I remember asking his mother the secret of domestic bliss – she replied it was putting her husband first, her children second and the business third. That’s what I’ve done and, while I might be in charge when I’m at work, at home my husband is the boss.’ Cue a collective intake  of breath, even from the most dedicated Allsopp acolytes. Um isn’t that a bit, you know, UN-PC ‘No It genuinely believe it’s a recipe for success.’ 

She continues blithely, ‘I love my partner. He’s a wonderful father and a wonderful man and the one person who will tell me to get off my high horse, which everyone needs, especially me. I constantly foster the idea among his sons that he’s brilliant and strong and infallible, which I think is hugely important. I would never disagree or argue with Ben in front of the children, and I cringe when I see women belittling their husbands in public; it’s demeaning and does the children no good. What sort of message are these mothers sending out? It’s the same in Peppa Pig when they refer  to “silly Daddy”. It really puts my teeth on edge.’ Kirstie in the kitchen of her West London home. 'Houses are for living in and being yourself in,' she says If Kirstie Allsopp were running the country – hold on, isn’t that a lovely thought? So lovely, in fact, I think we should all hear it again – if Kirstie Allsopp were running the country, wives would defer to their husbands, nobody would throw litter and we’d all lovingly gild our own table decorations at Christmas. We’d proudly display our wedding photos no matter how dated our hair looks, conveyancing nightmares would be a thing of the past, and keeping our cupboards tidy would be written into the constitution.  If you think all this sounds like an episode of Mad Men, you’re not too far from the truth. 

The gloriously plummy presenter of Location, Location, Location is a die-hard fan of the cult 1960s show, and a doughty champion of traditional values. ‘I was watching Betty Draper the other day and she was wearing a housecoat,’ reflects Kirstie, 39, dreamily. ‘It occurred to me that we don’t have those any more and I think they’re overdue a comeback. I don’t possess any lounging-about clothes, and a pretty housecoat might be just the thing – perhaps I should design one.’  To demonstrate, she throws open her wardrobe door to reveal a rail of Stepford Wives dresses in one closet and a spookily regimented row of jackets and cardies in the other. There is nothing in-between: no skirts, no trousers, no jeans, and most definitely nothing that could be mistaken for lounge wear, unless it’s the sort of lounge that serves whisky sours until 2am. ‘Dresses are easy and require no thought or time-wasting, and I want to maximise time with my children – so I had a clear-out and ruthlessly culled everything else. There are ten rails of clothes bagged and ready for the charity shop.’ Of course, I immediately demand to know which charity shop. And the postcode. And full Ordnance Survey coordinates.

She continued to say that she cringe when women belittle their husbands in front of their children' Yikes. Ben may wear the trousers both actually and metaphorically, but Kirstie bats aside the suggestion that she’s a ‘surrendered wife’. ‘All I’ve ever wanted was to get married and have children and make a home, so I’m certainly not going to screw it up if I can help it.’ Although not married, she sports a preposterously large sapphire on her finger that, like the Great Wall of China, can probably be seen from outer space. She is quietly confident that wedding bells will chime at some point but, in the meantime, her bid for world domination – one reclaimed fireplace at a time – continue. There’s her book Kirstie’s Homemade Home, full of design inspiration and step-by-step how-to guides, and a second Channel 4 Homemade series in which, this time, she tackles other people’s dowdy homes. Then there’s Kirstie and Phil’s Perfect Christmas, which will see Phil try out gadgets while Kirstie fiddles with pine cones, a new series of Relocation, Relocation, and a new travel show from Kirstie and Phil’s production company Raise the  Roof. Also on the radar is Homes for Heroes, a heartwarming “makeover-cum-property show” featuring servicemen and women. 'I have to be really careful talking about my stepchildren because they have their mother but, at the same time, I do think it's important to say, "I'm a stepmother", because so many people are step-parents today.

In the past the image of a stepmother has been universally wicked. Kirstie may have had great fun working on her new show, Homemade Christmas, preparing gift ideas, and gathering decorating and entertaining tips, but there are 'hardships' over the festive season, as her stepsons will be staying with their mother. We have them every other Christmas,' she says. 'The one who doesn't get Christmas gets ten days at New Year. When I first met Ben it was hard for him, but we've got New Year to look forward to. Also, now that Bay is so into Father Christmas, it's a sort of distraction. I suspect Oscar won't understand Santa at all, but he'll certainly understand the concept of presents because he definitely got trick or treating at Halloween. He was this tiny little glow-in-the-dark skeleton; he can barely walk, but he was up the steps and Kirstie's off again, talking the hind legs off a whole field of donkeys, until she realises the time.Crikey' - she's got to pick Bay up from nursery, give him lunch, put him down for his nap, pack and then she's off to Manchester to record Kirstie's Homemade Christmas.I need to have my nails redone constantly because of doing arts and crafts, but I haven't had the time,' she apologises, as she pulls her boot back on over the pink sock. I tell her I hadn't noticed because of her lovely ring. 'Do you want to walk up the hill with me?' she asks. 'Actually, I'm going to have to run up the hill as the lady is off, running up hill as fast as she can.