Fashionable furnishings: Karen Millen's former home is for sale, with the designer's antique mirror and Louis XIV-style sofa included

Designer Karen Millen may have had to borrow £100 to get her fashion empire off the ground back in 1981 but look where it got her just seven years later.

From 1988 to 2000 her home was this glorious six-bedroom Georgian mansion in Wateringbury, Kent, now for sale for £1.45 million through Sotheby’s International Realty.

All her first shops were in nearby Kent towns and the mansion’s master bedroom doubled as her cutting room.

Once owned by a rear admiral, Gransden is set in the Weald countryside and is just 55 minutes from Victoria.

Millen’s huge antique mirror is still in the hall and her Louis XIV-style sofa is still to be seen in the sitting room.