A peek inside the home of Antiques Roadshow's Marc Allum and Lisa Lloyd

CRADLING an intricately carved Japanese wooden skull in his hand, Marc Allum launches excitedly into the story of how it came to grace his self-described 'cabinet de curiosities'. A friend gifted him the precious ornament on the proviso he never part from it or auction it off. Perusing the mantel cluttered with a pell-mell of ancient collectables, and more skulls (" We are really interested in mortality," he says by the by), his eyes falls on a 4th century BC Greek Attic vase.

"It's an illness really," quips the Antiques Roadshow miscellaneous specialist and avid collector gesturing to the rows upon rows of eclectic museum pieces covering every visible surface of his home - a 15th century Vicarage at the heart of Chippenham. "We buy all sorts of bits and bobs," he continues. Although his selection of 'bits and bobs' is far more remarkable and carefully curated than most. "We use this room as a dumping ground. It's full of South American stuff, Mayan, Aztec, Tang Dynasty."

The living room is equally arresting, with its distinct Georgian features, French Empire sofa, and imposing 19th century Austrian armoire; which doubles up as a cunningly disguised TV unit - his and wife Lisa Lloyd's, a dealer and Antiques Roadshow expert in her own right, only obvious concession to modernity.

"I like picking up auction mistakes," he confides. "Sometimes auctioneers don't make a good job of attributing things. They can be in a shoddy state and pass them by. Sometimes it's about outwitting the auctioneers. But the problem with doing that is that you're riddled with guilt," he adds with a sheepish smile.

Even knee-high to a grasshopper Marc was a keen collector, though his finds were less pre-dynastic Egyptian and more rag and bone.

"I collected anything free and cheap," he recalls, tickled. "Postcards, bottles, cameras. Once the neighbours latched on to the idea that I collected, people offloaded things on me. When I was a kid we lived in a very 60s house, my parents didn't own anything old. They didn't want old things. There was not that mentality then that you had to realise cash out of everything."

Despite his early predilection, the broadcaster and columnist trained as sound engineer, working for label company PolyGram in London, where he met Lisa, a striking receptionist with a string of music video appearances under her belt and a penchant for combing Camden and Portobello markets for one-of-a-kind curios. Eventually the pair left the label for auction house Roseberys. Meanwhile Marc was recommended to lend his expertise on the BBC's flagship series The Antiques Roadshow where he has unearthed gems and exposed fakes for nearly 20 years. Lisa joined the programme five years ago. "We're the Richard and Judy of the Antiques world," jokes Marc.

After 17 years as auctioneers they up and left the capital for France where they bought a chateau and set out to restore the stately home to its former glory. They lived in the Pyrenees for eight years, where they ran art and antiques course. They sold up and returned to the UK in 2012.

They had their sight on settling in Bath or Brighton but eventually put an offer on Chippenham's idle former Vicarage, which for many years had housed The Institute of Architects and Surveyors, which "obliterated many of its features."

So Marc and Lisa proceeded to "pull out" its Georgian features. They decided not to emphasise their home's medieval origins with the decor, as it was not in keeping with their taste.

From a Victorian stage costume lurking in a corner of the dining room cum office to post-war touches, the house is a blissful miscellany of periods and styles.

The decor is 'transitory' and many objects on show go on to be sold through Lisa's antiques and interiors online store Hand of Glory - a shop she launches to declutter their home.

"Marc will put as many things as possible," says Lisa. "I do try to take a little bit out. If there's too much, you can't see."

But while some pieces come and go, others like a painting by Jewish German artist Hans Feibusch - a man with a colourful past who emigrated to Britain after the Nazi party came to power - is the linchpin of the family collection, and here to stay.

Like magpies drawn to shiny trinkets, the experts are not immune to impulse buys purely based on look and attractiveness, but what usually piques Lisa and Marc's interest are heirlooms and their owners' fascinating stories.

"We were out filming in Yorkshire once and I handled a Polar Medal from a a man who rescued Scott from his first expedition to Antarctica. We like items imbued with that sense of history."

Marc admits he has been shaken to his core by some finds' illustrious keepers on the Antiques Roadshow.

"When you're handling something that was owned by someone of stature or fame, you don't feel very deserving. I put on John Lennon's jacket on the Roadshow and I put my hand in the pocket and found a packet of tobacco. It felt almost sacrilegious to me to wear this jacket. Then again I have one from Ringo Star that I wear."

And when it comes to digging up the histories of objects and buildings, the couple aren't afraid to bring out heavy machinery - literally.

When they caught wind their neck of the woods stood right on the fabled ditch of King Alfred, they brought in the experts and have recently clocked up their third archaeological dig - so far to no avail.

Aside from their busy lives, Marc's book-writing and their columns in interior design and antiques magazines, the pair are in the middle of tackling their new pet project: the restoration of a "16th century wreck" in Devizes. Meanwhile they continue to scour auction sites for collectibles - always out to stumble on hidden troves and swoop it from under the very noses of unsuspecting auctioneers.

"When you go out to buy, you don't know what you're looking for. You only know when it hits you," concludes Marc. "It could be something incredibly unusual or just attractive and worth £50. That's the joy of it. It's not monetary. We buy things haphazardly, nothing arrives as complete collection. It grows and evolves."