Christina Cotgrove’s home has a nursery, wardrobes full of baby clothes and shelves stacked with nappies and bottles.

But these items aren’t for a newborn - they are for the 68-year-old’s £50k collection of “reborn” dolls.

But the great-grandmother is not, in her own words, “some nutty old lady”.

She insists her clan of 28 eerily lifelike “reborn” dolls - which has cost her £50,000 - is just like any other collection.

A room at her home in Kite Farm, Whitstable, has been turned into a nursery where her babies spend most of their time.

It’s full of toys, a wardrobe packed with tiny outfits and shelves of nappies, bottles and wipes and there are prams in the hallway.

Retired foster carer Chris knows people struggle with the concept but compares the passion to her husband’s wood-turning interest or to people who enjoy reenacting battles with war figurines.

Chris has some friends who come round and totally ignore the dolls, while others are keen to pick them up and push the prams.

She says: “If you are not used to them they can be scary and they freak a lot of men out - that’s really common.”

While not all her family are keen on the hobby, they benefit from the wardrobe full of clothes so whenever there’s a new arrival there’s no need for clothes shopping.

Chris has always loved dolls. She remembers her mother buying them and when she passed away in 2010, Chris decided it was only right to spend the money she was left on one. That was when she started her collection.

“They are amazing and very special - you can see why I collect them,” she says.

Chris, who retired from 20 years of fostering in April, accepts people find the obsession creepy, but says she doesn’t treat them as real babies.

She does however, take them out in prams and holds them like you would a human infant because she says that’s how they have been designed.

To pick one up by its head would ruin it.

“I’m a collector - I don’t treat them like real babies,” she said.

“They are like oil paintings - it was the craftsmanship which drew me to them originally.

“I will admire them and if I’m feeling a bit down I’ll pick one up and have a cuddle. They give you a lovely feeling.

“I would say three quarters of the reborn community are collectors but we understand the reasons behind other collections and we are sympathetic.”

"If I’m feeling a bit down I’ll pick one up and have a cuddle. They give you a lovely feeling" - Christina Cotgrove

The reasons Chris is referring to is that often the babies are bought as surrogates to real children - perhaps if someone has suffered a loss or a couple are unable to have children.

She says: “If it brings them happiness, why not?”

It brings Chris some comfort too - she is waiting to go into hospital as she has been unwell for sometime with kidney problems and also suffered a heart attack.

She doesn’t go out much so the online aspect of her hobby is hugely important.

Chris says she’s lucky as she’s never had any negative feedback, but she knows that’s not the same for a lot of enthusiasts.

“If anyone ever said to me it’s creepy and weird I’d never argue because I do understand it,” she says.

“I took one to Chessington and a lady came up to me and asked how old he was.

“I said actually he’s a doll and she got hold of her children’s hands and ran off - she thought I was crazy.

“Next time somebody came along and asked I just lied and said a couple of weeks old. She didn’t know any different – I didn’t want to scare her.”

As for what will happen to the valuable collection - Chris says she will likely leave it to her real children, whether they want it or not.

All of Chris’s dolls have names and she admits it’s sometimes easy to forget them.

She says it can be difficult to come up with names and often she lets her grandchildren choose.

Some of the dolls are sentimental and she has a favourite - Peter - named after her late father and brother who both passed away last year.

Her brood also includes three sets of twins.

While reborners can make dolls to order, for example to look like a specific infant, Chris has never done this.

“I’ve got so many grandchildren how would I pick?” she said.

“It wouldn’t mean the same because it wouldn’t be a collectors’ item.”

Chris does sell her dolls - recently she parted with Vincent and she said the joy it brought the collector who bought him was worth it.

“I have lots of photos but I really miss him,” she says.

“I’m not sure if I will replace him as I’m quite happy with the ones I’ve got at the moment.”

With a hobby of this scale, you need an understanding partner and Chris has that in husband David.

While the retired engineer, who used to run Whitstable Sea Cadets, isn’t a huge fan of the dolls, he gets involved by restoring old prams for his wife’s collection.

“They are not for me but I don’t really mind them,” he said.

“Some people get freaked out but I don’t - sometimes there are two or three on my bed but I don’t dream about them.

“It’s not something someone in every road does - but there’s one or two in every town.”

The phenomenon of reborning, the process of creating the figures, started in the 1990s following a demand for a more realistic looking doll.

A collector can pay up to £10,000 for a reborn, although Chris’s most recent, Matilda, was £2,000.