THE beauty of coming down to earth after a spell on cloud nine is that there are no rogue air traffic control computers to spoil your descent.

The thought occurs to me (having been forced to kick my heels for an extra two and a half hours at Naples airport last Friday) as I am talking to Debs Bascombe who, after winning our paper's exclusive competition, has found herself in the aforementioned exalted position.

And unlike those thousands of us who fumed and fretted across Europe last weekend she has been exquisitely pampered, allowed to shop at some very special stores, and treated to a night at a Torquay hotel (and, whisper it softly, had her belly button pierced). But that doesn't even touch the icing on the cake.

The high point of her prize was entertaining two very special young gentlemen to a champagne picnic – at her home in Woodleigh Park, Shaldon.

The men in question? Daniel MacPherson, who has now flown the Ramsay Street coop where he was once a very good neighbour and his Godspell co-star Jonathan Wilkes.

'I wasn't sure about it at first,' Mrs Bascombe cheerfully admits. 'But it was magical. They were really nice, friendly, down to earth and charming.

'I couldn't have imagined how good and special it was going to be. They could have had adoring teenage fans and they ended up with my friend and me along with eight children,' she laughed.

At one point Daniel picked up her chocolate covered young son and settled him on his lap without turning a hair – and then couldn't resist having a go on the children's skateboards.

Both rising young stars who swap roles as Jesus and Judas in the show earned the highest praise from Mrs Bascombe. 'They were brilliant,' she said.

But they couldn't share the champagne she had bought with her £100 Marks and Spencer's vouchers (all part of the prize) because they were soon to go on stage at the Princess Theatre.

'We managed to drink it though,' chuckled Mrs Bascombe, sounding as bubbly as the drink itself. 'And they wolfed down the food. Daniel said he had never had pork pie before – but he loved it.'

She confesses to being a fan of the Ramsay Street brigade but said she stopped watching it after 'they dropped the lunchtime episode.' A quick check of the the listings shows that it is still going strong, and when I point this out she laughed.

'Perhaps I just got too busy with the babies then.'

After an all too short hour the stars were gone – but the night was just beginning for Mrs B and her good friend Jillian Wilce, who like our winner also has four children.

There was a stretch limo ride to the hotel and back which the children all wanted, and then another chance to see Godspell which she said was 'even better the second time.'

Then came the Derwent Hotel where all the staff were very friendly and at last a chance to look back on the day which included a hair cut and style for her and daughters Emma and Sally (at Toni and Guy), a chance to spend £50 at both Hoopers and Topshop, lunch at Yates, and a manicure and a facial at Cain and Co, where she exchanged her facial for that small navel operation having decided, slightly to her surprise, to trust the man who was doing the piercing.

Her husband Andrew's reaction? 'He went "whaaat?" – but now he can actually look at it he quite likes it,' she said, with the confidence of a woman who has been married for 11 happy years.

Entering competitions isn't something she does very often – and she has certainly never won one before – but she admits she came up trumps on this occasion.

'It was just magic,' she said. 'I've been on cloud nine and I've only just touched down. I feel like I've been on holiday for three weeks.'