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.

Inspired by a comment from Rich (of the 4Homes blog) on our Kirstie rant, we’ve taken our Allsopp love to a whole new level.

Kirstie for PM. Obviously! How has nobody thought of this before?

Kirstie would make a brilliant Prime Minister. She’s savvy AND sassy (two things surely quite high up on the PM job spec?), and would never embarrass us at important world politics events. Plus, I reckon she could fix the economy. For reals and in heels. Probably while simultaneously pregnant, berating Phil Spencer and restoring a Georgian townhouse.

Any thoughts on how we can make this happen? And would you vote for her?

I am a strong enough person to make the following confession.

I’ve set myself up a Google alert for Kirstie Allsopp. That’s right. I get a daily inbox injection of Allsopp news, gossip and general goodness. It’s all Allsopp, all the time.

This isn’t even something new that I’ll get sick of and unsubscribe from after a week or so. I’ve been getting them for months now. Probably almost a year. Yes, to be fair, it’s part of my job to keep abreast of what’s happening in the world of property – and Kirstie Allsopp is as much a part of the current property world as anguished estate agents and unrealistic asking prices. But if I’m being honest, I’d keep my Kirstie information hotline open even if I didn’t write about this stuff for a living.

Kirstie Allsopp Google alerts are, in fact, how I’ve come to know that Kirstie is about to kick off a new television show called Kirstie’s Homemade Home, due to air early this year on Channel 4. The show will follow Kirstie’s transformation of a dilapidated Devon country cottage into the ‘ultimate homemade home’. She’ll visit auction houses, hunt down homemade crafty things, restore old furniture, and learn how to make soap, candles and pillowcases. No doubt while wearing some very nice shoes.

Because some people seem to have lost faith in this insanely fantastic woman (ever since she, apparently, held us all up at gunpoint and forced us to buy properties against our will while we wept and begged for mercy), I have compiled a short list of reasons why you should in fact LOVE her and watch her new show faithfully.

Ahem.

• She’s a great role model for women in business. “People say to me: ‘How do you know (you earn the same as Phil), because men get paid more than women in lots of different industries?’ I just laugh because everybody who works with me knows I wouldn’t let it happen!”
• She calls it like she sees it. “I assumed I would be seen as a plump, dark Sloane, which is pretty much what I am. It’s fine because I know I’m good at what I do.”
• Even though she named her second child Oscar (along with ‘Jack’, must surely be the most over-bestowed boy’s name in the world right now), her first is called Bay Atlas. So original! And wonderfully geographical!
• She gives sound advice, the kind you should write on a post-it note and permanently attach to your credit card (and when I say ‘you’ I’m obviously talking about myself). “Every time you make a purchase of any kind you think, I am spending this pound: how long will it take me to earn that pound?”
• She’s cool with her (perceived) uncoolness. “I suppose the whole thing is that I was born middle-aged.”
• According to The Telegraph, she once bought a Donna Karan coat but forgot to check the price until she was at the counter. “’How much?’ she screamed. ‘Because it’s cashmere? I don’t care if it’s made of kittens, give me my card back.’”