'I don't know how I do it!' says presenter, mother and now FHM pin-up Kirstie Allsopp

She juggles two sons, two stepchildren and a TV career. Now she's an unlikely lads' mag pin-up. But unashamedly old-fashioned Kirstie Allsopp says she'll always put her husband first.

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TV presenter and property guru Kirstie Allsopp is unashamedly old-fashioned

Let's face it, there's probably never a bad time to be voted onto the list of FHM magazine's 100 sexiest women. But to find yourself on the list when you are six months pregnant, the size of a house and have been bed-ridden with acute morning sickness is pretty surreal.

Kirstie Allsopp emits a high-pitched shriek as she recalls hearing she had made the coveted list. 'I didn't see it myself, but, my God, I got abuse from my friends! I got a series of emails and texts, and so did my partner, Ben.

' I kept getting calls from friends saying, "My mum heard on the radio that you'd made this list. Surely some mistake?'

'My hairdresser couldn't get over it. He kept saying, "But they missed out Kate Moss and included you!" And he wasn't trying to be flattering either.

'It was very flattering. I mean, you never see yourself like that. I don't believe anyone stands in front of the mirror and says, "Wow, I'm sexy". Of course, it gives you a pep.

'It's nice to think that someone of my age, who just prances around on telly doing their job, can come off well on a poll like that, because it's not like you see me going to premieres in a low-cut dress.'

It was also a hurrah moment for all the women who aren't size 6 and blonde. Kirstie, 37, who is a self-confessed 12 on top and 14 down below, says, 'If other women take heart from me being voted 91, then that's the most positive aspect of it.

'There was an article a while back where they looked at the 100 most successful executives or something, and the majority of them were married to dark-haired women. I thought that was very cheering!'

What's particularly endearing about Kirstie is that there is an honesty to her self-deprecation. She points out that she does sometimes pull out all the stops in terms of presentation. It's just that she doesn't see herself as a natural red carpet glamour girl.

'I do make a big effort sometimes. I did last year when I was presenting an award at the Baftas. I wore a beautiful Bruce Oldfield dress and I had a make-up artist. But, while I care about my clothes, I'm like many women juggling lots of different things.

'I will put together an outfit of jewellery and shoes and all that, and discover that my tights have a hole in them, or that my son, Bay, has deposited a dirty mark half way up my leg.

I sometimes look at those ladies in head-to-toe cream cashmere and think, "Wow, wouldn't that be nice". But I know that, in reality, I'd never make it out of the house.'

Now, avid viewers of her property shows might be forgiven for thinking that Kirstie has dozens of children. So often is Location, Location, Location, and its offshoot Relocation, Relocation repeated that she seems permanently pregnant on screen.

In fact, she has only two. Two-year-old Bay - who made headlines for weighing in at an incredible 11lb 11oz - was joined last year by baby Oscar Hercules.

'Bay was an absolute whopper - the biggest baby the hospital had ever seen. He was late; he just didn't want to come out. Nothing I did could budge him, and believe me I tried everything: acupuncture, aromatherapy, going on a quad bike, jumping in and out of a swimming pool. Eventually, a Caesarian was the only option. When he arrived, he didn't fit into the baby clothes I'd bought.'

Kirstie admits that she puts husband Ben first: 'Because you and he are the core and strength of the family,' she says

Happily, little Oscar weighed in at a much less eye-watering 9lb 3oz. Today, still breastfeeding - albeit while tapping on her BlackBerry - she chats away about the never-ending battle to balance work and family life, admitting at one point that 'I don't know how I do it all', but pointing out, sagely, that having a nanny and a housekeeper undoubtedly helps.

It's refreshing to hear such honesty. Many female celebrities go on and on about how they juggle the parsnip purée with board meetings, failing to mention that they have a team of helpers. Still, she seems to have surprised herself at how easily she has taken to family life. Just five years ago she was the archetypical career girl about town.

But things took a drastic turn when she met her partner, Ben Anderson, in 2004, as she not only inherited his two sons from his previous marriage, but became pregnant a year later with Bay. As she puts it, 'five years ago, I was single and childless. Now I'm a stepmother of two and parent of two, and we have four children in the house 50 per cent of the time.'

With hindsight, she thinks that becoming a stepmother before having her own children smoothed the path to motherhood.

'I was very lucky that having children wasn't as big a shock as it is for most people. Four years ago, I got two stepchildren, who were just two and five and spent lots of time with their father and me. So, by the time Bay came along, I was pretty acclimatised. I was already working around other people's needs and trying to factor in different age groups and responsibilities. People were saying, "This is the last time you'll go to the cinema", but I'd not been for ages anyway!'

She gets cross at press suggestions that she was in any way responsible for the break up of Ben's first marriage, and insists that the current situation, where his sons, Hal, now eight, and Orion, five, spend half the week with them, works.

The situation is complicated by the fact that she and Ben split their time between their homes in west London and Devon, but somehow, all the frantic juggling works out in the end. 'Inevitably you worry about the difference between your feelings for your own children and your stepchildren,' she explains. 'But I think, funnily enough, the love Ben's boys have for their stepbrothers is such a remarkable thing that it just draws me even closer to them.

'Ben loves children and is a brilliant hands-on dad, so I feel very blessed. Like all things in life, you have to work at it. The more you put in to something, the more you get out it. I've always found that with my work and my friends, and it's exactly the same with kids and partners.'

She has what many would describe as an old-fashioned attitude to family life; insisting that she puts her husband first. 'You have to prioritise. I had a great conversation the other day with Nick Ashley, Laura Ashley's son, who is a great friend of Ben's.

I asked him how she had a family and ran a business, because Laura was a remarkable woman, and he said, "My father came first, we came second, and the business came third".

Kirstie remains the closest of friends with Location, Location, Location co-presenter Phil Spencer

'I think that has to be the way of it. With me, Ben comes first, the kids second and the business third. Your partner is going to be with you for the rest of time and has to be number one, because you and he are the core and strength of the family. Without that I'd be completely lost. Putting him first, in fact, puts the kids first.'

Her latest project is Kirstie's Homemade Homes for Channel 4, which encourages people to add value to their homes, so getting a healthy work-life balance requires some serious time management. She clearly thrives on the buzz.

'I think that's why I like breast-feeding Oscar so much, because it's a great excuse to sit down and watch telly while doing something else. I find it difficult to sit down otherwise!

'I work hard, but then I try to be home when the kids are home, so it is a juggle. You keep a lot of balls in the air and every now and then you drop one and you just have to think, "That's a dropped ball, pick it up and get back on with it."'

Her own family background is one of immense privilege. She grew up in the Hampshire countryside, the eldest of four children. Her father is Lord Hindlip, the former chairman of Christie's auction house and her mother, Fiona, is a formidable interior designer, who has battled breast cancer twice, and now has secondary bone cancer.

With her family background, perhaps it was inevitable that Kirstie would enter the property business - setting up her own company to house hunt for the cash-rich but time-poor - though no one could have predicted that she would become a TV guru.

She met her Location, Location, Location co-presenter Phil Spencer, who ran a rival property search company, when they both went for a screen test for the show. Now, nearly ten years later, they remain the closest of friends.

'Phil and I were like an old married couple within a year,' she laughs. 'I've still spent more time with him than I have with Ben. One of the worst moments for me was when Phil's dog, who he absolutely loved, was run over a few years ago. I was in floods of tears when he told me.

'Phil's a genuinely nice person. There's no side to him. He's a good businessman, a tough negotiator and knows his stuff. Our relationship has created the longevity of the shows we do together.'

Does she ever get bored doing the show? 'No, you can't,' she says, wide-eyed. 'Different people, different houses, different places every week, how can you get bored with that?'

She may exude self-confidence, but there is a side of Kirstie that is still a little unsure of all the attention she commands because of her TV role. She admits that she hates going shopping on her own because she finds it 'intimidating' when she gets recognised.

'If I'm in Oxford Street by myself and someone notices me, I don't know whether to smile or look in the other direction. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about that side of things, but from the shopping perspective it is more awkward if you're on your own. I prefer to go with a friend, so I can chat away to her and pretend I haven't noticed people looking at me.

Most of my friends are oblivious to it anyway, because they don't watch the show and aren't interested in that aspect of my life. If there was ever a sign of me getting too big for my boots, they would knock me down.'

And it is her close friends who helped her develop that distinctive TV 'look' - all skirts and heels, and strictly no trousers, with a certain 1950s vibe - that the readers of FHM seem to appreciate so much. She admits that others might see her style as 'a bit Stepford Wives', but is immensely proud that she hasn't been swayed by pressure to look more conventional.

'I've never had a stylist, but I do have a secret friend who works for a fashion magazine. When I went back to work after Bay, I was focused on my family and not my clothes. She came round to help, so every now and again I ring her up and she's been brilliant. It was she who found my Bruce Oldfield dress.

The thing she does that's completely essential for me is that she totally respects the way I dress and isn't trying to change me. She puts on her "Kirstie hat" when she goes shopping and comes back with things she knows I'll like. I love the fact that she doesn't try to get me into things that are just not me - like jumpsuits. They may be the height of fashion, but you will never, ever, get me in one of those. It ain't going to happen.' And for that, we should all be extremely grateful.

Relocation, Relocation is on Channel 4 at 8pm on Wednesday. Kirstie's Homemade Home will start on Channel 4 next month. [IMAGE & Article cREDIT]