Interior designer Linda Barker shot to fame as a presenter on the hit Channel 4 home improvement show Changing Rooms in the late 1990s.
The now 64-year-old then appeared on reality shows such as I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here (coming third), Come Dine With Me and Splash!
Linda, who has a daughter, Jessica, 33, and a grandson, Basile, lives in East Yorkshire with her TV executive husband Chris and their lurcher, Stanley.
What did your parents teach you about money?
I was one of five children – the middle child – and grew up on a 30-acre farm in the West Riding of Yorkshire.
My late dad, Bob, ran a wholesale butchery business, and mum, Dorothy, was a nurse before having a family – both had a strong work ethic. As a kid I had to help round up cattle on the farm.
At 16 I got a job as a Saturday girl at a Bradford bakery. I’ve kept the first outfit I bought with the money from that job – a simple black dress from Miss Selfridge costing around £25. I still wear it from time to time.
Moving up the property ladder: Linda has always been good at buying a wreck of a flat or house, doing it up and selling it for a profit
Have you ever struggled to make ends meet?
Thankfully not. Luckily, I’ve never had indulgent tastes, but at the same time I’ve never really had to go without.
I’ve never had a credit card either, so I’ve avoided falling into the trap of spending money I didn’t have.
I’ve always been quite entrepreneurial too. As a girl I made soft toys, such as little lambs, to sell to classmates. Mind you, I only charged 50p a toy so I was never going to get rich making them!
Raising a glass: Linda celebrates at the end of I’m A Celebrity… in 2003
Have you ever been paid silly money?
Appearing on I’m A Celebrity… in 2003 was a nice earner and netted me a five-figure sum.
Growing up on a farm and being outdoorsy, the spiders, rats and cockroaches didn’t really faze me – the only thing that scared me was fishing out the eels from the water tank.
The TV reality shows I’ve appeared on have all paid quite well – certainly a lot better than the lads’ mag photoshoots I did.
Mind you, I did at least get to keep the bikinis I posed in!
What was the best year of your financial life?
Working with the sofa company DFS’s design team in the Noughties was pretty lucrative and a wonderful period in my life, though I’m sworn to secrecy as regards my fee.
I also got to travel in the company chairman Lord Graham Kirkham’s private jet and helicopter.
The years I spent with Changing Rooms were fantastic in furthering my TV career, but weren’t a particularly good earner.
I didn’t even have an agent when I joined the show, so they got me on the cheap.
The most expensive thing you bought for fun?
A used Mercedes SLK convertible sports car which cost me £20,000 in 2010.
It’s under wraps for the winter but is a super summer runaround. Yes, it’s thirsty, but it has given me so much pleasure.
Incidentally, I was once asked to appear on a TV show called Britain’s Worst Drivers, but I declined. What cheek! I’m a good driver.
What was your biggest money mistake?
Investing about £30,000 in a couple of new property developments – in Cyprus and Portugal – 15 years ago or so.
I was told I’d get a good return on my investments by my then financial adviser.
But the management companies of both developments lasted about three years and then disappeared, and I lost all my money. I’ve learnt my lesson.
Nice little earner: Linda in one of her DFS adverts, where she worked with the sofa company’s design team in the Noughties
Best money decision you have made?
I’ve always been good at buying a wreck of a flat or house, doing it up and selling it for a profit, allowing me to move up the property ladder.
My husband and I bought our first flat, in Battersea, south-west London, for £85,000 in the late 1980s.
We sold that for £120,000, allowing us to buy a run-down house in south-east London’s Forest Hill.
And after doing that up we bought a property in nearby East Dulwich that was in a terrible state, before doing the same thing again.
I’ve always made money on property – though I think doing so now, given the state of the market, is much trickier.
Will you pass down your money or spend it all?
I’m hoping to eke it out slowly and efficiently before, in due course, leaving uncomplicated assets to my family.
Do you have a pension?
Yes, I pay into a private pension. But I’m hoping that when my husband and I do eventually downsize property-wise, we’ll be left with enough capital to see us through our retirement.
Not that I plan to retire for a long time – I’m not good at sitting still.
Do you own any property?
Yes, a six-bedroom Georgian mansion, set in two acres of gardens, in Yorkshire’s East Riding.
We bought it during lockdown for £750,000 – it would have cost £2 million plus in London. I’m a cold-water swimmer so I plan to create a natural swimming pond in the grounds.
If you were Chancellor what would you do?
I’d make it easier for young people to buy a flat or house, because it’s so much harder to get on the property ladder these days.
Owning a property gives one a real sense of security.
I’d also widen the apprenticeship scheme for young people – so many of them are struggling to find jobs.
What is your number one financial priority?
To keep on working in the interior and design industry for as long as possible, and to ensure that I’m financially comfortable in retirement.
- Linda has launched a new interiors collection with home furnishings specialists Terrys, called The Spice Trail Collection (terrysfabrics.co.uk).