TAUNTON-based NHS therapist Tess Grabham took time out to star on BBC TV's antiques challenge Bargain Hunt.

Featuring alongside her dad Kevin, Tess had to brush up on her antiques knowledge beforehand, but had great fun during the filming.

She said: "I thought it can’t be that hard. I quite like a bit of shopping, and definitely enjoy spending people's money.

"With £300 to buy three items, it would surely be easy peasy."

Following a phone call with a casting producer, the duo attended a recording date in Hele, Devon, in mid-March followed by the auction in April.

“We were given our £300 to buy three items in a strict one hour timeslot," said Tess. "One item had to be over £75.

“We couldn’t spend the whole £300 as we needed to leave some money for the expert to buy an item too, which we could choose whether or not to accept.

“We were like rabbits caught in headlights and didn’t actually buy anything for over 40 minutes – it was much harder than it looks.

"In truth we started to panic a bit, thinking we might be the only contestants in Bargain Hunt history never to buy anything!."

Tess added: "We saw things and kept saying no and that we’d come back, but it got to the point that we had to start making decisions.

“The first thing we bought was our ‘over £75’ item – a big old French wheelbarrow - to me it looked a bit like firewood, but dad was really interested in it. It was priced at over £200 but we haggled it down to £149. I thought it would be an absolute disaster and we’d get laughed out of the auction house.

“The second item was our challenge item, which we had seen previously on our wander around the antiques centre – a Victorian spirit level, which was £20, but we got it down to just £8.

“The third item was something we had also already seen, so we went back and bought it with just seven minutes remaining on the clock. It was a sterling silver green compact mirror, priced at £89, but we got it for £63, leaving £80 for our expert Steph to buy an item."

At the auction in Chippenham two weeks later, Tess and Kevin sold all three items plus their expert Steph's pair of vases, earning the duo a golden gavel brooch.

“When all the figures were totted up, presenter Natasha Raskin Sharp revealed that we had won," said Tess.

“Looking back, it has been such a great experience and so nice for my dad and I to take part together. We had such a fun time."

WATCH: Tess and Kevin on Bargain Hunt.