IT is often said moving home can be one of life’s most stressful experiences.

Christine Mabbitt seems to have taken that to heart. She has lived at the same house, in Colchester High Street, for 62 years.

She and her late husband snapped up their six-bedroom home in 1947 for about £3,000.

At a time when new housing estates were springing up all over town older properties were out of vogue. Now, of course, the historical cachet of the property – parts of it date to the 1400s – has made it an extremely des res.

Not that property values matter to Mrs Mabbitt, 89. She has no intention of moving. She said: “I’ve got my garden and I’m right in the centre of things.

“I don’t need to move and I don’t want to.”

The retired teacher and her husband, Kenneth, were still living with her parents in Irvine Road, Colchester, when they decided to set up home for themselves.

Mr Mabbitt ran a specialist furniture business, H&K Mabbitt, and chose the High Street with the notion of opening a shop there. The shop never materialised, but the house suited them, so they stayed.

The eldest of their two daughters, Jo, was born in 1949, and recalls living there. For her, the house holds especially fond memories of her father, who died in 1989, aged 88.

She said: “He would come back from working in London at about 7pm and sit down after dinner to do his designs for the business.

“At 8.30pm or so, he would quite often send me up to the post office in Head Street to catch the last post. I was about ten at the time.

“These days, you’d never dream of sending a young girl up the High Street at that time of night, but then, it was quite normal.”

One Colchester solicitor recently told Mrs Mabbitt her six decades in the house represented the longest continuous period of ownership he had come across.

But the family’s tenure could easily have been much more short-lived. In June 1948, the property was nearly destroyed by fire. Mrs Mabbitt explained: “The house was struck by lightning. The gardener at the Minories saw the smoke and sent for the fire brigade.”

At the time, she was teaching at North Street School and came home to find a policeman on the doorstep.

She said: “There was a lot of damage and I had to replace a lot of the stuff, but fortunately, the house survived.”

Mrs Mabbitt says the face of the High Street has changed dramatically since the Forties.

But for all that, Mrs Mabbitt says her part of the street – near the Minories and the old Greyfriars College – has altered far less.

She said: “Nothing whatsoever is different about this little strip – visually, at least.

“The Minories was a doctor’s surgery and now, of course, it’s a gallery, but it looks the same.”

Her daughter, Jo, added: “Mum doesn’t seem to notice it, but I think one of the biggest changes to me is the noise.

“There’s much more traffic and the night-time economy is far bigger. Also, where the bus park is now, used to be Lewis Gardens, which were very quiet and peaceful.”

l Have you lived in your house for longer than 62 years? If so, we’d love to hear your stories. Call newsdesk on 01206 508288.