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Bargain Hunt star Caroline Hawley's life - football star husband and lavish home

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Caroline is an antiques expert on Bargain Hunt (Image: BBC Studios)
Caroline is an antiques expert on Bargain Hunt (Image: BBC Studios)

Antiques expert Caroline Hawley has been happily married to a former footballer for over 15 years.

The television star has been on our screens for three decades, presenting the likes of Flog It!, Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is and Bargain Hunt. She joined the BBC show back in 2013 and knows all the tricks of the trade when it comes to selling and buying treasured heirlooms.

As well as sharing her valuable expertise on screen, Caroline runs a successful antiques business away from the cameras with her husband, former footballer John Hawley. The couple, who tied the knot in 2008, own Hawleys Auctioneers, an auction shop in East Yorkshire.

Bargain Hunt star Caroline Hawley's life - football star husband and lavish home eiqreidekiqruprwCaroline is married to former footballer John Hawley (Bob Thomas Sports Photography via Getty Images)
Bargain Hunt star Caroline Hawley's life - football star husband and lavish homeThe couple share a chocolate Labrador and live in Yorkshire (@caroline_e_hawley /Instagram)

Before taking her expertise in antiques on TV, Caroline had her sights set on becoming an actress and studied drama in London. But it wasn't meant to be and she opened her first antiques shop, Penny Farthing Antiques, in South Cave, Yorkshire.

Opening up about her love of vintage treasures, Caroline told The Yorkshire she started going to bring-and-buy sales in her village hall. She said: "I soon began selling little things of my own - but always for local charities. There was also a tip that we discovered, as kids, where people from decades back had just chucked things away - broken bits and pieces, old glass bottles for pop, things like that. To me, it was fascinating because everything told a story."

Bargain Hunt's Christina Trevanion wow's fans in glam selfie after "grim days"Bargain Hunt's Christina Trevanion wow's fans in glam selfie after "grim days"

Caroline then became a mum to two sons, James and Charles, with her ex-husband Phil. She previously revealed that she was bidding in an auction when she went into labour with her youngest - but refused to stop working until she gave birth. "I managed to buy it before I was carted off to the maternity unit," she said.

Bargain Hunt star Caroline Hawley's life - football star husband and lavish homeCaroline spends her free time going on coastal walks with her dog (@caroline_e_hawley /Instagram)
Bargain Hunt star Caroline Hawley's life - football star husband and lavish homeHer love of antiques came from bring-and-buy sales as a teen (@caroline_e_hawley /Instagram)

The mum-of-two decided to study a degree in French later in life and graduated from the University of Hull while raising her family and running her shop. In 2008, she tied the knot with John and they bonded over their shared love of antiques. John used to work in his father's antique shop in the '60s before he had a successful career in football.

The star played for Arsenal, Hull City, Scunthorpe United and Bradford City during the peak of his career, and famously saved someone's life during a stadium fire in 1985. Now, the happy couple organises big auctions at Beverley Racecourse, values treasured items and advises wealthy collectors.

When Caroline isn't working, she spends her free time "browsing around vide-greniers and brocantes in rural Normandy or at home in Yorkshire", where she lives in a lavish property with her other half and their chocolate Labrador. She told the BBC that she loves going on coastal walks and her guilty pleasure is finishing them with a "large mint chocolate chip ice cream".

Nia Dalton

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