Watch to find out more of her story below.
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Video credit: Rumble
Going all out on collectibles is not really unheard of but the object of one woman’s fancy is sure to raise eyebrows as she’s practically obsessed with phone boxes.
Seamstress Esther Houghton, 50, is just mad about them and her home in Biddulph, Staffs, has become a veritable shrine to the phone box with almost every corner of the house featuring phone box memorabilia. Esther estimates she must have spent more than $3,600 (£3,000) on her hobby.
The mother-of-two even posed in one of the iconic boxes wearing only her underwear, saying it was something she always wanted to do.
The only piece missing in Esther’s home is an actual red phone box in her living room. She’s now saving up for this centerpiece of her collection.
She said: “I just love phone boxes. My house is bonkers.
“The only thing its short of is the real thing and I really want one but they are so expensive now because they are so rare.
“If I see anything phone box related, I have to have it.
“That’s my character, sometimes I think it’s too much but my friends say it’s just who I am.”
Of the raunchy phone box shoot, Esther had invited a fellow phone box lover she met online to snap the photos.
She said: “When I was taking the photos, it was around 4 pm in the afternoon, we drove to somewhere we thought would be quiet but there were cyclists, hikers and men were shouting out of cars at me, it was so embarrassing but why not?
“It’s something I’d always wanted to do plus it’s a little bit naughty. My friends know what I’m like and my sons know I’m no angel.
“It was just a laugh, you couldn’t have made it up. I showed everyone down the pub and just said I’m wearing no less than someone on a beach.
“I would definitely do it again, I’d probably have a couple of drinks first though.”
Esther’s phone box obsession is well-known enough in social media that she even receives phone box-themed gifts from total strangers.
Esther said: “People know I have my phone box fetish. I get sent gifts through the post from people I’ve been talking to on Facebook, I’ve got everything now though, people send me things I already have.”
A five-foot-high CD rack in the shape of a phone box that she spotted in a second-hand shop 17 years ago inadvertently triggered her obsession with phone boxes.
While sons Scott, 24, and Ben, 19, don’t live with their mom, they are supportive.
She said: “I fell in love with it and whenever I see anything, I have to have it from handbags to food trays.
“I just love the nostalgia of them, they are a true British icon.
“My sons know I’m mad but it’s just who I am.
“They buy me gifts, the favorite photo I have is one of Ben in London which has Big Ben, my little Ben and a phone box in it.
“They encourage me to buy anything I see that I like.”
Ask Esther where every phone box in her area is and she can answer. She even stops at each one when coming home from out of town travel.
She said: “When I see a phone box is gone, I think it’s so wrong.
“Some phone boxes have been there years and people have never noticed them.
“I can’t remember the last time I used a phone box, lots of them don’t actually work anymore.
“Some of them have defibrillators in them and I’d rather see that than see them getting removed.
“There are less and less now, it’s so sad. I find it really upsetting when I see them disappear.”
A 1,000-piece jigsaw which is a montage of all the phone boxes in her village occupies pride of place in Esther’s home. Esther went around the village last year and took photos of all the phone boxes and had them made into the jigsaw.
She said: “There isn’t enough space on my walls for anymore.
“It is rubbing off on people, everyone embraces my madness.
“I’ve got curtains, teapots, frames, key holders, ashtrays, murals, my Christmas decorations, an aerial for my car, pens, and books.
“There’s nothing else I can buy apart from the real thing, there’s only so much you can make.
“My friends think I’m nuts, guests walk in and say ‘you like your phone boxes don’t you’.
“They start to realize that there is a phone box everywhere they turn.”