Daisy Goodwin tells of struggle to get blaze-hit home rebuilt

Best-selling author Daisy Goodwin has told of her 15-month struggle to rebuild her Kensington home after it was gutted by fire.

Goodwin’s £2.5 million Victorian townhouse burnt down after the sun reflected off her daughter’s make-up mirror and set fire to curtains.

Goodwin, her TV executive husband Marcus Wilford, two daughters, Lydia and Ottilie, and three dogs were left homeless for 11 months.

“I learnt a lot that first week,” she said. “Primarily, possessions are a lot less important than you think. As long as you have clean knickers, comfortable shoes and broadband, you can function.

“The tougher lesson is that nothing about insurance is straightforward. There seems to be a mindset on the part of the insurers to make everything as difficult and as distressing as possible. It’s hard to be rational when you are homeless.

“We hire a consultant to negotiate with the insurance company — insurers talk in a language incomprehensible to the layman.” Her insurers eventually agreed to pay their claim in March and the family began making plans to have the house rebuilt.

Writing in the Sunday Times, Goodwin, 54, the author of historical novels The Fortune Hunter and My Last Duchess, added: “For some reason, maybe it’s just delayed shock, I feel unable to make even the simplest decision.

“I find myself in Peter Jones, buying wastepaper bins and weeping because I can’t decide between metal or wicker. Unbelievably, by May, we are running out of money. Yes, the insurance is paying our rent, for now, but it doesn’t cover all the endless extra expenses that moving house in a hurry entails.

“When I meet a friend who says, ‘How lucky you are, a brand-new house on the insurance,’ I think of all the money I have spent in the past three months and wince. But she’s right, at least our house is being rebuilt.”

Goodwin also revealed she was undergoing radiotherapy for a tumour found in a mammogram when their landlady decided to break their lease. She said: “I explain the situation to her, but she says she wants to let it for a higher rent. I spend the summer months going to radiotherapy and learning to be grateful for small mercies.”

The family finally moved back into their home in November, leaving Goodwin “deliriously happy”.

She added: “It has been challenging, but I feel I have gained so much more than I lost. It’s not just that my house is new and sparkling, but it’s knowing that it isn’t the stuff or the bricks and mortar that matter, it’s the people you love.”

@SophiaSleigh