‘A six-foot sculpture of a lizard and a stereo were all I had in the flat’
A familiar face on television, minimalist Penny bought her own place in London at the age of 30 and furnished it with not much more than a giant reptilian work of art
WHEN author, presenter and newsreader Penny Smith bought her first flat she liked to keep things simple. The living room of the Camden property had hardly any furniture – the only things Penny bought in the first year were a stereo and a giant lizard sculpture – and she loved it.
Penny, 65, has always loved travelling as much as being at home and she is now an ambassador for Travelsphere, the experts in guided touring holidays.
You are working with Travelsphere. Are you a homebird or are you happiest when travelling?
Am I allowed to say both? I love being at home but I enjoy doing things – I don’t like lying there, unless it’s a rainy, disgusting day – then I’ll read a book.
I like to be busy. I am handy and like to mend things at home, which keeps me busy. I’m the same when I go travelling – there are so many things to see, and you can leave the plastering and DIY at home and expand your knowledge.
Travelling is where I get all my history from. There is something wonderful about standing in front of old buildings and listening to a guide and imaging how people’s lives were.
If you are handy with DIY was the first place you bought a doer-upper?
The first flat I bought on my own I was working on Thames News and it was me on my ownsome.
I had come from doing up another house with someone else and I’d come from chaotic building works and I wanted a rest from it, so I just did the lightest of touches when it came to doing up the flat I bought in Camden.
I did love putting on my my rubber gloves and giving it a good clean.
How old were you? I was 30.
For someone who loves travelling did you feel tied down by a mortgage?
I had already bought a house with someone else in my early 20s so I had already experienced committing to a mortgage, but the flat in London was the first on my own. It was so much easier to buy in those days because the houses only cost three times your salary – I don’t know how anyone does it now.
The only thing with buying is that it makes you less mobile because you have to sell it or rent it out if you want to go anywhere, and that can be a hassle.
What was your Camden flat like?
It was described as a two-bed but the second bedroom, you’d barely fit a mattress in there. It was really a one-bed and an office space.
I loved it, it had plain white walls. I love colours so I brought in a bright yellow sofa and a bright yellow painting.
In the first year I had no furniture though and rather ridiculously I went to an art collective and bought a six-foot sculpture of a lizard. And that was all I had in the flat apart from a top-of-therange stereo.
I would just put my cushions on the floor if I needed an extra place to sit down. I didn’t want to clutter the flat with cupboards so I had a galley kitchen with cupboards full of shoes and jumpers.
What did you do with it in the end. Did you sell it or keep it?
I was there happily for ten years and sold it on. I sold it for virtually the same amount of money. In between buying and selling it prices went up a lot and by the time I decided to move they had gone down again.
I didn’t make any money on it and I got gazumped on the next place so ended up renting after that for the first time in my life, for a year, then bought in west London. I have been there for 20 odd years. I don’t move about much, I love it.
How did buying a place on your own change your life? The weird thing is that once you’ve got into the buying and selling thing the scariest part is worrying that you won’t be able to keep up repayments. I always think I should have gone for something cheaper. There are always issues, but overall it’s great. That said, it is nice to rent and have a landlord and say this has gone wrong, can you fix it?
What is the best memory of that place? It had a little garden that was north facing but I didn’t get much sunshine in that flat. However that meant that on really hot summers I was blissfully cool. I would lie on my bright yellow sofa listening to music and it was a very happy place.
Where is your next travel destination? My next trip is with Travelsphere and I’m going to Malta. As an ambassador we chat about where to go and then when they suggested Malta I thought that has got my name on it. I didn’t know all that much about Malta before and it has so much amazing medieval history. I love meandering around and with Travelsphere there are always brilliant guides for the group tours with fantastic local knowledge – it’s perfect.