It may fall some way short of the world’s largest collection of Barbies, which stands at more than 17,000, but Shirley Williamson’s house is still absolutely chock-full of dolls.

The 75-year-old has been collecting them for most of her life and has totted up about 300 of them, turning her home in London Road, Gravesend, into quite the exhibit.

Not only that, but the grandmother also has a fondness for vintage prams and has more than 70 of those, one of which dates back hundreds of years.

“My grandchildren have banned me from buying prams and dolls, but every time I go out I seem to come back with them,” she admitted.

“At 15 years old I went straight into nursing and I couldn’t collect anything then, but after that I started, and I’ve got prams from before I was a child in the 1940s.

“Now there are 75 prams and about 300 dolls, and I won’t part with any of them. More than five years ago now, I had it all valued at £27,000, but since then I’ve bought quite a few more prams and dolls.

“I’ve still got the first doll I ever had. There are three dolls that my mum gave me when I was a child and I won’t part with them for anyone.”

Mrs Williamson’s bedroom alone has 12 prams in it, each one holding two to four dolls, and there are prams and dolls everywhere in the house apart from the sitting room and the kitchen.

The grandmother, who works part-time as a volunteer at the RSPCA charity shop in Windmill Street, has grown incredibly attached to all of them following the death of her husband and two daughters.

“I do talk to them, they are my family in a way,” she said.

“Honestly, if I see a doll or pram that I fall in love with then I buy it. This year I have tried to be good but I did buy the most beautiful Victorian pram at the Detling Antiques Fair, which was £240.”

So far that is the most she has spent on a single doll or pram, but you would not want to bet against her breaking that record.