File: //home/roofmagazine.org.uk/public_html/features/best_of_homes_worst_of_homes_nov_2007.html
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"/>
<title>ROOF Magazine - Features</title>
<link rel="canonical" href="https://roofmagazine.org.uk/features/best_of_homes_worst_of_homes_nov_2007" />
<link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/roof/favicon.ico"/>
<meta name="Title" content="ROOF Magazine - Best of homes, worst of homes Nov 2007"/>
<meta name="Description" content="From northern Nigeria to south Gloucester, via some ‘nasty’ little girls at an English boarding school. Fiona Fullerton recalls her housing history "/>
<meta name="Subject" content="Best of homes, worst of homes Nov 2007"/>
<meta name="Publisher" content="ROOF Magazine, Shelter, 88 Old Street, London EC1V 9HU United Kingdom; roof@shelter.org.uk."/>
<meta name="Date" content="01 November 2023"/>
<meta name="Keywords" content="design"/>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../roof_styles/reset.css"/>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../roof_styles/roofstyles.css"/>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../roof_styles/thickbox.css"/>
<script type="text/javascript" src="../scripts/jquery.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="../roof_scripts/thickbox.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="../roof_scripts/basicscripts.js"></script>
<!--[if lt IE 7]>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://www.roofmagazine.org.uk/roof_styles/ie_less_seven.css" />
<![endif]-->
</head>
<body>
<script type="text/javascript">
try {
} catch(err) {}</script>
<!--div id="baseline"></div-->
<!--div id="columns"><div id="columns_bg"></div></div-->
<div id="container" class="clearfix">
<a name="topofpage"></a>
<div class="line" id="adbar60">
<div id="toplh_ad">
<a href="/" target="_blank"><img src="../openx/www/images/homelessness_conf_2010.homelessanim.gif" width="468" height="60" alt="Lime Legal" title="Lime Legal" border="0"/></a><div id="beacon_6fd57111ca" style="position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; visibility: hidden;"></div>
</div>
<div id="toprh_ad">
<a href="/" target="_blank"><img src="../openx/www/images/localgovbanner.gif" width="468" height="60" alt="LocalGov" title="LocalGov" border="0"/></a><div id="beacon_cd0b0b961d" style="position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; visibility: hidden;"></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="line">
<div class="item" id="header">
<div class="sap-content">
<a href="/"><img src="../images/roof/roof_logo_final.png" alt="ROOF - For better housing" id="roof_logo"/></a>
<ul id="main_navigation">
<li><a href="../roofblog">Blog</a></li>
<li><a href="../features">Features</a></li>
<li><a href="../opinion">Opinion</a></li>
<li><a href="../jobs">Jobs</a></li>
<li><a href="../diary">Diary</a></li>
<li class="final_item"><a href="../about">About ROOF</a></li>
</ul>
<form method="post" action="/">
<div class="hiddenFields">
<input type="hidden" name="ACT" value="19"/>
<input type="hidden" name="XID" value="1e490819150bc5fc230702e8dad54ac8"/>
<input type="hidden" name="RP" value="search&#47;results"/>
<input type="hidden" name="NRP" value=""/>
<input type="hidden" name="RES" value="10"/>
<input type="hidden" name="status" value=""/>
<input type="hidden" name="weblog" value="features|diary|roofblog|opinion|about"/>
<input type="hidden" name="search_in" value="everywhere"/>
<input type="hidden" name="where" value="all"/>
<input type="hidden" name="site_id" value="1"/>
</div>
<div id="searchbox">
<input type="text" name="keywords" id="main_searchfield" value="Search this site"/>
<button id="main_search_button" type="submit"></button>
</div>
</form>
<div id="subscription_promo">
<p id="promo_text">Online access is now Free. If you have an existing subscription <a href="../subscriptions">click here</a> for more information</p>
<!--p id="password_reminder"><a href="https://roofmagazine.org.uk/subscriptions/reset_password.php">Forgot your password?</a></p-->
</div>
<!--div id="login_instruction">Login for your online access: </div--><!--div class="item" id="login_box"><form method="post" action="http://www.roofmagazine.org.uk/" >
<div class='hiddenFields'>
<input type="hidden" name="XID" value="69ec62158cc85ca776315fa42bc2fba1" />
<input type="hidden" name="ACT" value="9" />
<input type="hidden" name="RET" value="//features/best_of_homes_worst_of_homes_nov_2007/" />
<input type="hidden" name="site_id" value="1" />
</div>
<input type="text" id="login_user_name" value="ROOF reference" name="username" />
<input type="password" id="login_password" value="Password" name="password" />
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Login" id="login_button" />
</form>
</div-->
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="line clearfix">
<div class="item" id="navigation_column">
<ul id="topics_navigation" class="nav_categories">
<li><a href="../features/category/analysis">Analysis</a></li>
<li><a href="../features/category/columns">Columns</a></li>
<li><a href="../features/category/finance">Finance</a></li>
<li><a href="../features/category/guest_writers">Guest writers</a></li>
<li><a href="../features/category/interviews">Interviews</a></li>
<li><a href="../features/category/politics">Politics</a></li>
<li><a href="../features/category/renting">Renting</a></li>
</ul>
<div style="display: none;">
<table class="calendarBG" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="My Calendar">
<tr class="calendarHeader">
<th><div class="calendarMonthLinks"><a href="../features/2011/10"><img src="../images/roof/l_arrow_rev.gif" alt=""/></a></div></th>
<th colspan="5">November 2011</th>
<th><div class="calendarMonthLinks"><a class="calendarMonthLinks" href="../features/2011/12"><img src="../images/roof/r_arrow_rev.gif" alt=""/></a></div></th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="calendarDayHeading">S</td>
<td class="calendarDayHeading">M</td>
<td class="calendarDayHeading">T</td>
<td class="calendarDayHeading">W</td>
<td class="calendarDayHeading">T</td>
<td class="calendarDayHeading">F</td>
<td class="calendarDayHeading">S</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="calendarBlank">30</td>
<td class="calendarBlank">31</td>
<td class="calendarCell" align="center">1</td>
<td class="calendarCell" align="center">2</td>
<td class="calendarCell" align="center">3</td>
<td class="calendarCell" align="center">4</td>
<td class="calendarCell" align="center">5</td>
</tr><tr>
<td class="calendarCell" align="center">6</td>
<td class="calendarCell" align="center">7</td>
<td class="calendarCell" align="center">8</td>
<td class="calendarCell" align="center">9</td>
<td class="calendarCell" align="center">10</td>
<td class="calendarCell" align="center">11</td>
<td class="calendarCell" align="center">12</td>
</tr><tr>
<td class="calendarCell" align="center">13</td>
<td class="calendarCell" align="center">14</td>
<td class="calendarCell" align="center">15</td>
<td class="calendarCell" align="center">16</td>
<td class="calendarCell" align="center">17</td>
<td class="calendarCell" align="center">18</td>
<td class="calendarCell" align="center">19</td>
</tr><tr>
<td class="calendarCell" align="center">20</td>
<td class="calendarCell" align="center">21</td>
<td class="calendarCell" align="center">22</td>
<td class="calendarCell" align="center">23</td>
<td class="calendarCell" align="center">24</td>
<td class="calendarCell" align="center">25</td>
<td class="calendarCell" align="center">26</td>
</tr><tr>
<td class="calendarToday" align="center">27</td>
<td class="calendarCell" align="center">28</td>
<td class="calendarCell" align="center">29</td>
<td class="calendarCell" align="center">30</td>
<td class="calendarBlank">1</td>
<td class="calendarBlank">2</td>
<td class="calendarBlank">3</td></tr>
</table>
</div>
</div>
<div class="item" id="content_column">
<ul id="features_breadcrumb_trail">
<li><a href="/">ROOF</a></li>
<li><a href="../features">Features</a></li><li><a href="../features/category/columns">Columns</a></li><li>Best of homes, worst of homes Nov 2017</li>
</ul>
<div id="body_column">
<div class="feature_item clearfix">
<h1 id="features_header">Best of homes, worst of homes Nov 2017</h1>
<p id="article_info"><span>Published 01 November 2023</span></p>
<div id="leadin">
<p>From northern Nigeria to south Gloucester, via some ‘nasty’ little girls at an English boarding school. Fiona Fullerton recalls her housing history </p>
</div>
<div id="copy_area">
<div class="feature_body">
<p><span class="dropcap">I</span> <span class="firstwords">was born in Nigeria and brought up in a nomadic way,</span> travelling around the world. My dad was in the army so we moved every two or three years. Living abroad gave me a sense of independence, but also of rootlessness. I felt that as soon I made friends, I was whisked away to another country. I’ve felt this sense of rootlessness throughout my adult life and I think it’s a hangover from my childhood.</p>
<p>After Africa, we moved to Singapore where I discovered a love of dancing. At the age of nine, I went to a boarding school in England – Elmhurst School of Dance – where I stayed until I was 16. It wasn’t a good experience and I was bullied quite dramatically. I’d started making movies when I was 11 and because of this I was given a rough ride – not physically, but by exclusion which was even worse. Little girls can be very nasty to each other. </p>
</div>
<div class="feature_extended">
<p>My parents were living in Atlanta by then so home was a distant place. I remember long periods of being hugely lonely at school. Then, when I flew out to join them for the holidays, it was to another strange existence. I’d be delighted to be home but I didn’t have any siblings or any local friends. It was a solitary time and as a result I’m still very private. I’m not good in large crowds and always found it bizarre that, through the 1990s, I was described as this party creature. I’ve always hated that kind of socialising.</p>
<p>I bought my first proper home when I was 19, and discovered I was good at buying a property and turning it into something marketable. I often think that if I hadn’t got into acting I would have gone to design college. I started converting properties from bland boxes into comfy homes. In a way it was a reaction to living in all those identikit army houses. I had a rather magnolia existence so when I left home it was lovely to introduce some colour into my life.</p>
<p>Between 1976 and 1994 I had six homes, the happiest of which was a small place in Chelsea. However, where I’m living now is certainly the happiest home I’ve ever had. It’s an old vicarage in south Gloucester, and I feel that at last I’ve found somewhere I can call home and put down roots. We’ve been here for eight years, the longest I’ve ever lived anywhere, and my youngest child has grown up here. I was desperate to provide a solid base for her – somewhere she’ll always know as home and will want come back to when she’s grown up. Initially, it was like living in a colander there were so many leaks. But my husband loved it immediately and he was right. I feel as if I’ve come home at last.</p>
<p><em>Fiona Fullerton is a writer and actress.</em></p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="feature_tags">
<div id="sharethis">
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php" onclick="return addthis_open(this, 'email', '[URL]', '[TITLE]');" border="0" class="at_email">Email this</a>
<a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&pub=xa-4a48c802796d85f1" onmouseover="return addthis_open(this, '', '[URL]', '[TITLE]')" onmouseout="addthis_close()" onclick="return addthis_sendto()" class="at_share">Share this</a>
<script type="text/javascript" src="../js/250/addthis_widget-pub-xa-4a48c802796d85f1.js"></script>
</div>
<p><strong>Tags: </strong><a href="/" title="design">design</a><>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="item" id="advertising_column">
<script type="text/javascript"><!--//<![CDATA[
var m3_u = (location.protocol=='https:'?'https://roofmagazine.org.uk/openx/www/delivery/ajs.php':'/');
var m3_r = Math.floor(Math.random()*99999999999);
if (!document.MAX_used) document.MAX_used = ',';
document.write ("<scr"+"ipt type='text/javascript' src='"+m3_u);
document.write ("?zoneid=1");
document.write ('&cb=' + m3_r);
if (document.MAX_used != ',') document.write ("&exclude=" + document.MAX_used);
document.write (document.charset ? '&charset='+document.charset : (document.characterSet ? '&charset='+document.characterSet : ''));
document.write ("&loc=" + escape(window.location));
if (document.referrer) document.write ("&referer=" + escape(document.referrer));
if (document.context) document.write ("&context=" + escape(document.context));
if (document.mmm_fo) document.write ("&mmm_fo=1");
document.write ("'><\/scr"+"ipt>");
//]]>--></script><noscript><a href="/" target="_blank"><img src="../openx/www/delivery/avw_php-zoneid-1-cb-INSERT_RANDOM_NUMBER_HERE-n-aa9d368a.jpg" border="0" alt=""/></a></noscript>
</div>
</div>
<div class="line">
<div class="item" id="btt">
<p><a href="#topofpage">Back to top of page</a></p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="line">
<div class="item" id="footer">
<div id="footer_menu">
<h3><a href="../about">About this site</a></h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://england.shelter.org.uk/shop/subscriptions/roof_magazine">Subscriptions information</a></li>
<li><a href="../about/copyright">Disclaimer and copyright</a></li>
<li><a href="../about/privacy">Privacy policy</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<p id="roof_contact">© 2015-2024 ROOF Magazine | ROOF 88 Old Street, London EC1V 9HU</p>
<script type="text/javascript">
try {
} catch(err) {}</script>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>