WHEN Chris discusses her "beliefs", neighbour Margaret smiles supportively. Both ladies live in a former medieval hall in Silver Street, Ely. But while Chris Wall claims to occasionally share her bed with a Cromwellian ghost called Adrian, Margaret Haynes has never had a psychic experience in her life.
What both women do share is a sense of privilege. Tenants of 7 and 9 Silver Street - which date back to 1380 - Chris and Margaret are opening their homes this weekend as part of Heritage Open Days, the annual scheme giving the public the chance to explore thousands of historic sites they would not normally have access to.
"Our cottages were restored in 1990," says Chris. "They used to be part of one big hall, along with No 11. Beneath layers of wallpaper and paste they found wall paintings dating back to the early 15th Century. They think a wealthy merchant or cathedral high official probably lived here with his family and my cottage - No 7 - would have been their private quarters."
The paintings, which stretch the length of Margaret's landing, are remarkable. Birds, flowers and handwritten painted mottos cover the wall. "Next to the peacock it says 'be not proud'," points out Margaret. But this tenant clearly is.
Chris's home also has original wall paintings, but would have fulfilled a very different function back in 1380, when the building was erected.
"My cottage would have been the main entertaining hall," she says. "There would have been a door from Margaret's into my living room and the family would have sat under an awning on a dais. There would have been a fire in the middle of the earthen floor around which they gathered for their evening meal."
Remnants of soot from the fire can be found displayed in the beams of the cottage roof upstairs. This means Chris has one extremely large bedroom upstairs.
"They can't put an additional ceiling upstairs because they need to show off the roof, so I have one very big bedroom in which I can fit two double beds. If I wanted to have any guests to stay we would have to be very good friends!"
Luckily, Chris is never short of company. Since she became a tenant 12 years ago, she has discovered the house has many other lodgers.
"It's a haunted building. There are lots of places where there were no walls in the past - so they merge through them (from cottage to cottage). "A man - who I presume is the original owner - appears every so often. The room goes cold and he comes and sits on the end of the settee and watches TV with me. He'll appear as solid as you are. There is also a family dressed in clothes from the Cromwell era."
Chris names her ghosts. The Cromwellian family are Sarah (the mother), Adrian (father), Thomas (son) and Rachel (daughter).
"The only ones I haven't names for are the baby and their five-year-old daughter," she says. "She's the poltergeist. She is very jealous of the new born baby and throws things. Plants and bowls have ended up in the middle of the living room. She's a spoilt little miss, so I try not to get too involved with her. I haven't been able to find out anything about this family, but I know there's nothing evil about any of them. They may have been gone for hundreds of years, but for some reason they haven't exactly left."
Margaret and Chris both moved into Silver Street about the same time. But, although blue badge guide Margaret lives and breathes local history, she has never encountered any phantoms.
"People know exactly what they see and feel here and are very convincing - so I have no reason to disbelieve them," she says.
Undeterred by her lack of personal experience, she hosts "ghost tours" around the city and, in 1996, co-authored a book called Haunted Ely.
The book reveals that both the former tenant of No 11 - Jo Odell-Rourke - and Chris, have had spookily similar experiences.
Margaret writes: "Their descriptions of Adrian matched. He was thirtyish, blond, about five foot nine and usually wore a white shirt with military trousers."
In the book, Chris also reveals how the ghostly husband likes to hop into bed with her.
"The bed sinks slightly as if someone is sitting on the bed, then lying full length next to me, and settling into position, rather like my ex-husband only lighter. It's not sexual, so I say 'goodnight' and there's a sigh." Apparently, Adrian's wife remains happily downstairs with the three children.
As tenants of the Cambridge Housing Society, Margaret and Chris are obliged to open their homes to the public and keep the interiors up to scratch.
Margaret says: "There are quite a lot of restrictions and you have to be quite careful. I can't decorate, I can't paint over the wall paintings and I can't put wall paper up. But it is a privilege to live here. While the society maintains the outside, we have a duty to keep the inside to the standard it is."
n No 7 and 9 Silver street are open this Sunday from 2-4pm. The opening is organised by Ely Society in conjunction with The Civic Trust www.civictrust.org.uk and English Heritage.
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