As Charles Dickens fans around the world prepare for the 200th anniversary of the author’s birth on 7th February this year, a property on the Isle of Wight where he wrote large tracts of his most famous novel, David Copperfield, is up for sale.

Winterbourne Country House in Bonchurch, an upmarket suburb of the island’s major seaside resort, Ventnor, is currently on the market for £1.495 million and was rented by Dickens during the summer of 1849 and treasured by him for its views over the English Channel.

It is while staying here that he wrote six chapters of David Copperfield, although his stay was social as well as to write; he invited many of his literary friends over to stay including William Thackeray (author of Vanity Fair), satirist Thomas Carlyle, poet Alfred Tennyson and Mark Lemon, then editor of Punch magazine.

While staying at Winterbourne Dickens wrote to his wife Catherine – who was in London – to say: “I think it is the prettiest place I ever saw in my life, at home or abroad”. And in recent times many people have been able to enjoy its pleasures too – the property has been run as a guest house in recent years and holds five-star ratings from both Visit Briain and the AA.

The property is being sold as two lots, the first being the main house with seven bedrooms, large gardens and swimming pool (for £1.495m). A second lot, which is a four bedroom property called Hadfield Cottage, is for sale separately at £325,000. Agent Christopher Scott says this could either be let out or bought as guest or staff accommodation for the main house.

But Winterbourne has also been a TV star on several occasions including, recently, an appearance on Channel 4’s Three In A Bed show, during which it competed with two other Isle of Wight B&Bs.

Dragon’s Den star Hilary Devey is selling up her Staffordshire home for £2.2 million, saying filming commitments for the hit BBC2 series prevent her spending much time at the property.

Devey, who is a publican’s daughter from Bolton, is the ninth dragon to join the programme and made her fortune in the world of freight distribution with a company she founded in 1996. Her personal style and tastes, though, are a world away from fork lift trucks and rumbling HGVs, particularly when choosing places to live.

The twice-divorced 52-year-old has been spending less and less time at at her home at Rangemore Hall, a large early-19^th century pile to the west of Burton-on-Trent in Staffordshire in opulent surroundings that reportedly include a chandelier in the kitchen. She also owns an apartment in London as well as villas in Morocco and Spain.

Rangemore Hall, of which Devey occupies the largest wing, was built in the 1850s by the Bass brewing family to replace an earlier but smaller structure. An additional and Italianate wing was added during the late 1890s to accommodate King Edward VII, who paid a visit in 1902 and it’s this that Devey owns. She bought the property 2007 and has described it as being “over the top, like me”.

If this sounds up your tree lined drive and you fancy discussing the latest Dragon’s Den episode with your neighbour then Rangemore Hall’s Ewing Wing is up for sale at £895,000 and offers the sort of glamorous interior style (pictured, above) and views of the surrounding countryside as Devey’s home.

Do you watch Kevin McCloud on Channel 4′s Grand Designs TV show and think ‘that could be me building my own home?

Then from 7th-9th October Birmingham is where you should be for inspiration. The live version of the TV series is at the NEC exhibition centre this year, which will be hosting the all-painting, bricklaying and roof tiling Grand Designs Live starring the ever-eloquent Mr McCloud.

Kevin McCloud speaking at last year's Birmingham Grand Designs event

Hundreds of suppliers and experts will be joining McCloud at the show so if you want advice and information about building your own home including interiors, technology, bathrooms, kitchens and much more, then PrimeLocation.com the show’s official property partner, has a 2 for 1 offer on tickets to the event. To find out how to take advantage of this deal and for terms and conditions go to the PrimeLocation.com website.

Do you remember, not so long ago, how Phil Spencer’s home finding company Garrington got into trouble – or so we thought? We’ve just had a quick latte with the person who has replaced Phil at the helm – Jonathan Hopper – who, although possessing a passing resemblance to Mr Spencer, isn’t planning on a TV career at the moment.

Instead he’s been busy over the past two years building the business back up and he’s keen to point out that Garrington didn’t disappaer entirely. He says that although the London part of the business failed in 2009 the rest of the company outside London was unaffected and, eventually, bought out what was left of the London operation and began all over again under Mr Hopper’s direction.

He says that in the beginning, during the boom years, having Phil Spencer so closely associated with the business had both upsides and downsides. “Phil’s name generated a lot of business for Garrington but some of the enquiries weren’t always ideal customers as many were fans wanting signed photos, which wasn’t so good,” says Hopper. “But I don’t think Garrington would be so well known today without the Phil Spencer connection who helped raise people’s awareness of property finders, so that’s a plus.”

If you have ever watched the TV show Location, Location, Location and wondered what sort of homes the duo who present it own, then we can reveal all – including both of them having a taste for a double life.

Kirstie Allsopp – the bubbly foil to the more considered and softley-spoken Phil Spencer – has been talking to a local newspaper in her adopted county of Devon about her property portfolio, as many people like to call multiple home ownership now.

The Honourable Kirstie Allsopp (she is daughter of the sixth Baron Hindlip) has three homes which she’s amassed with the help of millionaire property developer partner Ben Anderson.

Her first and best known is a six-bedroom holiday cottage in Welcombe, North Devon, bought for £300,000 in 2008 with her partner and his business partner William Montagu Wentworth-Stanley.

It’s a holiday home-cum investment property and is available to rent for £2,000 a week plus it’s also featured in her recent TV show Kirstie’s Homemade Home during which she did up the dilapidated cottage for £23,000 and learned 15 crafts along the way, including iron mongery. The property is also used by Ben’s former wife Theresa for holidays too.

But the couple’s main home is in a highly desirable slice of London between Notting Hill and Holland Park. It’s a two-storey apartment within a modern block and is where the couple are based most of the time. Their two children, Bay Atlas and Oscar Hercules, go to school in the area.

But their largest property is Broadhembury House in the picture-perfect, thatch and whitewash village of Broadhembury near Honiton in Devon.

It, like Kirstie, has titled connections and was built by Julius Drewe in the early 19th century – a man who believed he was descended from aristocratic Norman blood.

And so to Phil. He is only one house behind Kirstie, we can reveal. His main family home is a Victorian semi in Wandsworth, London to be found in a group of roads known as the ‘toast rack’ for the shape they make on the London A-Z. He also has a holiday home in Kent which, in the past, he has said he struggles to afford but loves as it’s only an hour and 45 minutes from the ‘hamster wheel’ of London.

PrimeLocation has admired Wayne Hemingway from afar for some time. His career has been extraordinarily diverse starting with a ‘vintage’ clothing stall at Camden Market, London during the 1980s which he developed into fasion giant Red or Dead, and which he and wife Gerardine sold in 1999 reportedly for multi millions.

He then set up a general design practice offering urban (i.e. housing) design, landscaping, garden sheds (sold in B&Q) and much more.

Wayne is also a keen cyclist and is patron of the Sustrans National Cycle Network which he helped win a £50m National Lottery grant a few years back, and has designed an affordable folding bike. Also, he ensures that any of the housing developments he designs (13 so far all over the UK) have full-on cycling facilities.

So given this interesting track record and his almost cult status as a quirky spokesperson for design, we chased him down for an interview. Wayne is not an easy man to catch, nevertheless.

His schedule is manic to say the least plus he’s not prone to smiling in front of cameras, we’ve noticed – no exception in our video – although a member of the team here says a snap they took at an exhibition recently disproves this rule.

Nevertheless Wayne gave us an hour of his time down at his gorgeous, self-built house in near Chichester in West Sussex – and we’ve turned it into a six-minute or so video.

I’ll admit to having Wimbledon fever. It happens every year. I get giddy for two weeks.

So if you ask me to leave my prime viewing position on the sofa, you had better make sure the match has finished. Otherwise I’m going to be very late indeed (those five set matches are always an issue).

This time of year, everyone will be swarming the area to watch Andy Murray as he battles to win the title. But Wimbledon is actually a very lovely place to live all year round.

It’s in the quieter part of London and, frankly, is all the better for it.  Plus, you’re close to Richmond, and that, in my eyes, can only be a good thing.

Let’s have a look at some homes in the area.

Ace – £7,750,000

I love this property. There’s something so old-fashioned about it. It’s an Edwardian building and I can imagine there being wonderful Brideshead Revisited style parties here.

There would be nothing but fun in this home. Garden parties, champagne cocktails before dinner and all sorts of entertainment (yes, I think it would be fun to live in aristocratic England. Is that weird?)

But what do you get for your millions? Well aside from the stunning gardens, you’ll get nine bedrooms and seven bathrooms (and those bathrooms are amazing).

You’ll also get five reception rooms for all of your swanky soirees. I’ll expect my invite in the post.

Advantage – £1,150,000

If you’re looking for somewhere right by the All England Tennis Club, this home will be perfect.

Very handy after playing a couple of sets before dinner. You get the benefit of an indoor pool and some lovely looking gardens as well.

There’s a games room and five bedrooms too. Not bad for just over a million. If you happen to have that lying around, of course.

Maybe Andy Murray could buy this with his potential winnings?

Deuce – £309,950

This flat has many things going for it, not least off-street parking, which is pretty important in London.

The flat has one bedroom with en-suite and really spacious rooms. You get a balcony as well.

It’s a great option for a professional couple looking for a home to settle in, but still within easy reach of central London.

Love-Fifteen – £145,000

If you’re looking for a small flat in the area, you could do a lot worse than this property. It’s near both mainline stations and the underground, and it has everything you need.

Best of all, there’s no stamp duty. This is an expensive area of London so it’s nice to know that you can still find somewhere that’s good value, but has all the perks of living in this much sought after area.

I’m shocked that people are reacting somewhat negatively to Kirstie’s Homemade Home. Yes, she’s very twee. And incredibly Sloaney. But my goodness the women talks sense. She’s got a great sense of style and she knows what she’s doing. So why don’t people like her?

Well, my thoughts are that we’re stuck in an Ikea generation. We like things that come in flatpacks. Stuff we know is sturdy! We play it safe when it comes to our homes. Buying something from an antique shop is risky. But on the other hand… it’s new, and it’s exciting! It’s fun! I’m making a career out of looking for unusual home stuff so I’m smitten with the woman and her new show.

But for some reason, some people aren’t buying Kirstie’s Homemade Home. She’s getting quite negative comments around the interwebs, so I thought I’d find out what you lot think. I wanted to wait a week until the show had settled in, but I really enjoyed last night’s episode, and I wasn’t expecting to be hugely inspired by bathrooms. What did you think? Love her or hate her? Tell us in the poll.

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I won’t lie, I was dizzy at the mere mention of the new Kirstie Allsopp show on Channel 4, Kirstie’s Homemade Home. And she didn’t disappoint! She’s one savvy girl. Selling houses right now isn’t going to make her a fortune, so she’s turned her property skills on their head and decided to invest in making a house a home. It’s clever.

The house she’s doing up – Meadowgate – is stunning. In fact, it’s my dream house. Each week she’s going to take a room and show you how to make it look beautiful. She’s pulled out some great tricks too. There’s something so fabulous about watching someone make pottery. Maybe it’s the Patrick Swayze thing? The glass blowing seemed a little out of most people’s leagues, but everything else she did was pretty much accessible to everyone watching. If the reaction on Twitter is anything to go by, people lapped it up like interior design loving puppies.

One of the highlights was her talking to Cath Kidston, and she explained why her chintzy designs worked so well. She might have a lot of busy prints going on, but they all work with the same colours. That’s pretty clever. It means that as long as you keep stuff the same colour, you can mix and match with prints and textures. That’s much more fun than having everything the same pattern, don’t you think? Keeping a theme in your rooms holds everything together, and as long as your main idea stays the same, everything will work.

The house was out of most people’s budget, but everything Ms. Allsopp featured could have been transferred to another house. I have an interiors website and I can’t wait to get started with simple things like picking up old furniture and doing it up. It just doesn’t look that difficult anymore. Some people might not like Kirstie’s posh Sloaney ways, but I find her quite charming (although she looked shattered for some reason). There’s something about the way she presents that makes everything she does look easy. And she’s tough too. The way she haggles and lugs great big bits of furniture about is fun. She comes across as very girlie but she’s strong too and I like that. She also mentioned the art of not buying every single pretty thing you see otherwise your house will look like a junk shop. I could learn a thing or two from that. (What’s wrong with your house looking like a junk shop?!?)

Channel 4 got this show just right. It’s just the right amount of showiness and fancy stuff to make it interesting, but it’s also got an appealing side to it as well. I imagine a lot of people are going to be making cushion covers after this. Next week she’s doing up the bathroom, and while that’s generally the dullest room in the house for me, I’ll tune in. Kirstie was the perfect choice and frankly I could agree more with Jess’ call to make her Prime Minister. She’s not all frills and pretty things y’know.

The big day is almost upon us – after months of preparation, we’re all rubbing our hands with glee in the 4Homes office as we gear up for episode one of Kirstie’s Homemade Home. The show will see Primelocation.com’s own favourite property presenter, Kirstie Allsopp, getting crafty as she restores from scratch a run-down rural retreat in North Devon.

Along the way Kirstie explores the marginalised trades and skills that used to be so prevalent in Britain, from glass blowing and blacksmithing to knitting and willow-working. She also teaches us all about her forte – bagging a bargain! Each week a different room at Meadowgate, Kirstie’s home-from-home, is transformed using the crafts and thrifty tips Kirstie has learned during the programme. It’s an Allsopp-inspired lesson in shabby chic.

As ever at 4Homes, we’ve pulled out all the stops to provide loads of content we hope will be of interest to viewers. We’ve got over 20 step-by-step craft guides you can try at home, covering everything from making curtains to potting plants. On top of that there’s essential info on how to find a craft course near you, and shopping information for all the items you’ll need to transform your house into a homemade home.

If all that Allsopp is a bit overwhelming, Kevin McCloud will be revisiting memorable Grand Designs projects for the next three Wednesdays, and moving into May you can expect an all-new series of George Clarke’s The Home Show.

Kirstie’s Homemade Home starts this Thursday at 8pm on Channel 4.

Rich Payne is Deputy Editor of Channel 4′s property website, 4Homes.