BBC presenter Philip Mould's Duck End house, Oxfordshire - Telegraph

BBC presenter Philip Mould's Duck End house, Oxfordshire - Telegraph

The art expert, picture-dealer and BBC1’s Fake or Fortune? presenter Philip Mould talks about bringing an old house back to life as if it were a portrait in need of restoration. 'You have to peel back the layers till you get to the original,’ he says. 'The same question applies to a building as to a work of art – how far do you strip it back and what kind of repairs should you embark on?’

That was the dilemma facing Mould and his wife, Catherine, when they acquired the delightfully named Duck End in Oxfordshire eight years ago. (It means the watery end of a village – the sheep wash was done here.)