Looking at Paul and Pauline Allen’s well polished fireplace, you would never imagine everything down to the coal holder was salvaged from skips or donated by neighbours.

Studying at art school in Brighton during the 1960s, the couple developed their childhood love for jumble sales by visiting second-hand shops for vintage clothes.

Since then they have collected anything that catches their eye, finding everything from champagne flutes to iron claw foot baths in the skips and front gardens in streets near their home.

Illustrator Paul, 57, of Cleveland Road, Brighton, says his ability to find attractive items where others only see rubbish comes from an appreciation of beautiful things.

He said: “You can’t avoid feeling sadness about seeing something of an aesthetic appeal that has been thrown away.”

Pauline added: “It’s because we notice things as we walk. If you walk down any street you’ll find something of use.”

After moving to their Victorian terrace they decided to replace the 1960’s fireplace with the original marble fire surround.

One day while walking down their road they saw builders preparing to dump a fireplace.

Pauline, 58, who is also an illustrator, said: “We saw to our horror workmen come out of a house and throw a marble surround into a skip as we ran to stop them.”

The surround broke so the couple carried what they could home, returning moments later to find someone else had taken the mantel.

A matching mantel piece was found in a nearby road and the metal insert offered from a woman’s back garden when she noticed Pauline looking at something left out on her path.

Pauline’s favourite find is a Victorian kitchen range the family spotted on top of a skip when walking into town.

Pauline could not resist the range despite it being heavy to carry. She said: “It was a bit naughty, we already had one with pieces missing.”

The range has now been restored.

Pauline said: “We have noticed recently with the way things have been that lots of wood is disappearing from skips.”

A skip on Harrington Road, Brighton, yielded framed Victorian photographs and a suitcase full of wartime dress patterns and 1930s children’s smocks.

Pauline said: “I was in my heaven, I couldn’t carry it all home. When friends see a strange object tucked in their gardens they know it’s me unable to carry it home.”

A cocktail dress found in a skip is now worn by their daughter to parties at Cambridge University and plants found in Devon grow in their garden.

Some finds have not been so successful.

A cast iron bath was too heavy to carry upstairs and remained in the living room for years until being put in the front garden and sold to a passer-by for £75.

With a rag and bone man as a grandfather, Pauline wonders if her habit runs in the family.

She said: “I do wonder if it’s in the blood. It can’t be helped. Freegans are a political statement but with us we just can’t help it.”

Have you ever found a bargain in a skip? Tell us about your finds below.