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Favourite Haunt of a TV Ghost-hunter
For most people buying a new home, the main considerations
are usually the location of the property or the condition
of the kitchen and bathroom. When television presenter Yvette
Fielding and her producer husband Karl Beattie were looking
to buy a Tudor farmhouse in Cheshire, their biggest concern
was ‘does it have a ghost?'
As the host of Living TV's hugely successful Most Haunted,
now in its seventh series, there isn't a lot that Yvette
doesn't know about ghost hunting. Yvette and Karl devised
the idea for the programme four years ago from their living
room in Cheadle Hulme and despite being rejected by many
broadcasters it soon became cult viewing on Living TV.
Each week the investigative team led by Yvette, visit a
historical property to discover if it could possibly be
Britain's ‘Most Haunted', thrilling viewers with their
psychic experiments conducted at unearthly hours with night-vision
cameras. They have visited over one hundred locations to
date, which adds up to a lot of sleepless nights for Yvette.
Since launching the Most Haunted Live events, it has become
the most watched series on cable television and their last
nail-biting Halloween show notched up more viewers than
every terrestrial TV channel, which is no mean feat.
Hosting Robbie Williams' favourite programme, Yvette has
been parodied by French and Saunders, which is an indication
of how much the show has settled into the nation's consciousness.
In the new series starting next month, the dedicated team
visit the hallowed set of Coronation Street and conduct
a séance in the Rovers with cast members Simon Gregson
and Sue Cleaver which promises to have you glued to your
seat.
Even before the idea of Most Haunted had been conceived,
Yvette explains that the couple had witnessed paranormal
activity at their previous home, a converted barn in Stockport.
"We'd hear furniture being moved, the kitchen cupboards
would bang and the TV would come on and off," she recalls.
"Karl had never liked the house and he used to wake
up with headaches, feeling depressed. The final straw was
when I heard the child safety gate creak open from being
properly shut and I thought we had a burglar.
"We got a medium to come around and perform an exorcism.
We discovered that when it had been used as a farmhouse,
the man who lived here drank heavily and was violent towards
his wife. She was obviously unhappy and had died in a fire
in our bedroom.
"Thankfully after the house was cleared, all the activity
stopped and we lived there happily for another couple of
years. The interesting thing is that when we were digging
up the back garden, we found a huge well full of old gin
bottles."
It seems almost preordained that Yvette and Karl would
one day stumble across the family home that was so perfect
for them in every way.
"We were out for a drive in Cheshire when we happened
to look in an estate agent's window," says Yvette.
"We saw this beautiful house and were immediately attracted
to it. When we came to look around, our jaws just dropped
to the floor. It was like walking onto a period film set.
The house had been painstakingly renovated with all the
original features preserved. One of the things that really
struck a chord with us was the names of the first people
to live in the house – they were called William and
Mary, like our children."
Although Yvette may feel comfortable with ghostly goings-on
in the capacity of her work, she tries to keep her home
life as normal as possible. That said, it seems appropriate
that visitors arriving at her wonderfully spooky-looking
home are greeted by the macabre sight of the Grim Reaper,
Frankenstein and Dracula standing in the garage alongside
a gory-looking guillotine, props from a new television project.
With some parts of the house dating back to the 15th century,
the property is simply oozing in character from every oak
beam. However, after having almost been driven out of their
last home, Yvette was adamant that the only spirits present
here should be in the living room bar.
"When we found this house I said, if there's anything
in it, I'm not living here," she confesses. "People
who watch Most Haunted will know that I'm easily terrified.
If I wasn't in the programme, there's no way I would watch
it because my imagination would run riot. I can't even watch
a scary movie on my own. It's a great comfort that this
house is a really friendly place."
From the moment you step through the door, the house seems
to be luring you back in time. The magnificent living room
has the proportions of a Great Hall complete with minstrel's
gallery, mezzanine floor and an enormous stone fireplace
that you could camp out in.
The dining room with its stone mullioned windows is the
oldest part of the property and has been authentically dressed
up with a suit of armour and an old organ from a haunted
house that was given to Yvette.
"One of the things that we just couldn't believe was
that the previous owners were happy to sell us the house
lock, stock and barrel," says Yvette. "Most of
what you can see was already here which is why it looks
so right. Even the mirrors are moulded into the wall so
you can't take them down. The furniture in our other house
was mainly pine and wouldn't have fitted in at all so we
decided the best thing was to sell it. This house was ready
to moved into with just our clothes and our personal belongings."
Walking around Yvette and Karl's home is an adventure in
itself as the impressive oak staircase leads you under low
beams and across creaky landings into each intriguing room.
The master bedroom suite has a sense of period romance
with its sloping walls covered in rich red fabric and replica
four-poster bed with opulent drapes conjuring up visions
of Kathy sat at the window seat pining for Heathcliff.
Up another flight of stairs and there's more surprises
in store - a mummified cat in the bathroom and a priest's
hole on the landing.
"The previous owners found this 400-year-old cat when
they were doing the renovation work," says Yvette.
"In the days before the RSPCA, sealing a live cat under
the floorboards was thought to bring good luck and keep
witches away.
"At the time of the Reformation, every large house
in the area would have had a priest's hole which usually
linked to a tunnel that led outside. We were delighted to
find this restored priests hole, complete with electric
light and ladder but I have to say I've never been down
there and don't intend to!"
Moving into the sleepy Cheshire countryside has been a
complete lifestyle change for Yvette and her family. She
has swapped a detached house with modest garden in suburbia
for a 17th century farmhouse set in ten acres of farmland
complete with large millpond and a family of 35 ducks and
geese. Not to mention the allegedly haunted wood.
"A year ago, I could never have imagined myself living
this sort of life," concludes Yvette. "Every morning
I have to put my wellies on and venture out to feed the
horses and the ducks. If we don't feed the birds, they poo
all over the car. This is not just a house, it's a smallholding
and I feel like a farmer!
"Finding this house was like fulfilling our destiny.
I feel very honoured and lucky to live here. Karl and I
know that we will never ever move which is such a lovely
feeling. We've decided that when we can no longer get up
the stairs we'll convert the ground floor into a granny
flat!"
Most Haunted Live's Halloween event comes from a secret
location in the East End of London, October 28th –
31st at 9pm on Living TV
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