16,620 pigs... and she is not telling porkies

Her enthusiasm for collecting pigs began four decades ago, when her then-boyfriend bought her a pot pig as a present.

Since then she has carried on collecting ornamental pigs in all shapes and sizes and now has 16,620 crammed into her home in Somercotes, near Chesterfield.

Mrs Langton, 58, said: “Once I got my first pig I was hooked. Then every time we went out for the day or away I got a pig with the place name on it.

“It just started like that and boomeranged. I started going to car boot sales and the collection just grew and grew. They come in all shapes and sizes.

“I dread to think how much I have spent over the years – I’ve not stopped to count. If I see a pig I haven’t got I just have to have him.

“They are overrunning the house – my pigs are on display on shelves and are in all my rooms.”

Mrs Langton’s smallest pig is just an inch high, while the biggest is 7ft tall.

She added: “My husband can’t say anything about them filling the house, because he was the boyfriend who set me off in the first place.”