TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp opened her house in Devon to the public to host a yard sale in aid of charity.

Allsopp invited members of the public to buy her old items, with all proceeds going to Stand Up To Cancer.

Talking to the Press Association, she said: “We have cancer in our family: my mum died of cancer, my sister had a preventative double mastectomy, my father-in-law died of cancer – you know, one in two people will have cancer at some point in their life currently.”

Kirstie Allsopp at a yard sale she hosted in the back garden of her Devon home on Saturday (1st August) in aid of Cancer Research UK and Channel 4’s Stand Up To Cancer campaign.  (Stand Up To Cancer/Simon Way)
Kirstie Allsopp at a yard sale she hosted in the back garden of her Devon home on Saturday (1st August) in aid of Cancer Research UK and Channel 4’s Stand Up To Cancer campaign. (Stand Up To Cancer/Simon Way)

The Location, Location, Location presenter spent the last few weeks doing a major clear-out of her household items, the first she’s done in about 10 years.

“There’s so much stuff we’ve accumulated and I went through it and said if I haven’t used it or made it into a cushion, or hung it up into a window in the past year or so, then it’s going in the sale.”

Among the items on sale were homemade cushions, her children’s toys and scarves owned and worn by Kirstie’s mother.

The sale forms part of a joint national fundraising campaign from Cancer Research UK and Channel 4.

And it’s not the last project in the pipeline, as she revealed there’s a “top secret” TV show in the works.

“We have a special show we’re working on with Channel 4, which at the moment is top secret, but I’m really excited,” she said, “It will definitely involve Phil Spencer and some other people from Channel 4 which will be really exciting.”

She said she goes for regular check-ups herself and is vigilant when it comes to leading a healthy lifestyle.

“I have regular mammograms and ultra sounds, and I’m very careful to check for these things,” she explained, “I’m also very aware of the lifestyle elements, making sure you keep your alcohol consumption really low, obviously I don’t smoke, I eat very healthily, I exercise – all of these things are important.”

Allsopp says she hopes the sale will inspire other people to raise money for charity, with her sale raising more than £2,400.

Kirstie was raising money for a good cause (Stand Up To Cancer/Simon Way)
Kirstie was raising money for a good cause (Stand Up To Cancer/Simon Way)

“I wanted people to come and be inspired and do something similar themselves,” she said, “To create the sense that anybody can do this, you really can, get together with your street, your school, your colleagues – anywhere, this is possible.”

Claire Rowney, director of Stand Up To Cancer, said: “Kirstie’s yard sale was a fantastic event and a perfect example of how fundraising can bring people together to have fun. We’re so grateful to Kirstie for her immense support, all the money raised will go towards the really vital area of research that Stand Up To Cancer funds, bringing new and kinder treatments to patients sooner.”