World War I baby is selling her home 102 years after she moved in

A First World War baby who, today (March 21), celebrates her 104th birthday is putting her terraced house on the market, more than a century after she moved in.

Nancy 'Joan' Gifford from Street in Somerset is selling the three-bedroom house that she has lived in for 102 years. During that time she lived through the Second World War, the invention of the television and the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in Egypt.

Nancy's mother Alice and their pet dog Bonzo at The Mead home in the 1930s

When the family bought the property in 1921 they paid just £200 for it, compared to today's £169,950 price tag. But declining health means widow Mrs Gifford is moving out to the nearby St Benedict's Nursing Home in Glastonbury after more than ten decades living in the same house.

When she moved in as a two-year-old with her parents, the kitchen, toilet and wash area was open to the elements, while a tin bath hung on the wall outside. That area has since been covered over and a new kitchen installed alongside an extension for the family bathroom, but much of the property remains the same, except for a lick of paint in the early 2000s.

The house as it is today

Growing up in Street, Mrs Gifford went to the Convent School in Glastonbury where nuns taught her, and met her future husband, Bert, in the mid-1930s while walking with her friends between Street and Street Glastonbury. Bert was among a group of friends on Wearyall Hill, who had whistled at Nancy and her friends passing by to attract her attention – an encounter that later blossomed into a marriage.

During their time at the end-terrace family home - a stone's throw from the village college and theatre - Nancy and her late husband married at the start of World War II in 1939 before Bert was sent to Scarborough to train as a radio operator in preparation for the Battle of Anzio in Italy. But he was never far from his family, as Nancy would spend most weekends taking the long journey from the now-closed Glastonbury Train Station to the north east coast to visit her husband.

Bert and Nancy Gifford and their daughter Mary in the garden of their The Mead home in the 1950s

During the war years, the family took in Sylvia, an evacuee from London, who grew up with Nancy, and to this day they still remain in contact.

The couple later had two children, their daughter Mary (born in 1949) and her brother John (born in 1943), who is now 79 years old and still lives in Street, on Goss Drive, with his wife Sue.

After returning from the war, Bert spent 42 years working at the Clark's Factory in Street as a heel pairer, while Nancy was a stitcher for the world-famous shoemaker. After having their two children, she took on part-time work in a nearby pub and cake shop, before later working in the closing room at Morland's Sheepskin Factory in Glastonbury.

Bert Gifford in the garden of their home at The Mead in Street in the 1950s

She was also a member of the Glastonbury Cycling Club and women's group at the nearby Baptist Church.

Remembering his childhood at the house, Mrs Gifford's son John said: "When I was a youngster, there were so many lovely families that lived along the road, and we all knew each other. The times we had as children were fantastic; going across the fields, jumping over ditches, bird nesting, and swimming in the rivers, so many things children don't do these days.

"Back in the day most children our age knew everybody, and we all had an open house, and it was fine to leave your door on the latch. We were all poor, but everyone was happy."

The inside of 1 The Mead

Mrs Gifford's home at 1 The Mead, Street in Somerset, which was built in 1882 and originally featured a communal well for the entire road, is on the market with Somerset estate agent Holland and Odam: www.hollandandodam.co.uk.

Jack Bartram, the manager of Holland and Odam in Street, said: "Buying and selling houses is the day job for us, but every so often you stumble across a wonderful story, and Mrs Gifford's is one of those.

"There aren't many who live to the great age of 104, let alone have lived in the same house for 102 years. That house must hold so many lovely memories for Mrs Gifford and her family, but now, after more than a century, it's time for another family to make some memories."