Kirstie Allsopp interview: ‘It was chaos. There was food everywhere. The cabin crew hated us’

Even as a child I loved being in the middle of a busy city. It was something about having people everywhere, combined with the sound of traffic and the smell of food. I have a dear friend living close to the centre of Istanbul who I generally see every year — apart from in 2020 of course. A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to take in the city by helicopter. It has a population of about 15 million, which made for a very intense view.

I’ve had some negative city experiences too of course, like the time my camera was stolen from my bag. When I was 18 I went backpacking through India with a friend. She had curly blond hair and