She expects to spend about the same on a three-bedroom flat in Notting Hill, west London. “If I could transport the house, I would — but it’s silly to be in a place this size,” she says. The decision to leave after a quarter of a century has not, however, been an easy one. “I don’t like moving,” she says. “Every time I’ve felt like making a change, I have done something to the house.”

She has certainly done plenty to it over the years. She and her ex-husband began by repainting it and doing other cosmetic work. Eventually, Doukas extended upwards and outwards, spending about £200,000 on building a conservatory and adding two bedrooms in the loft.

Getting permission for such works has become more difficult in recent years — the streets around Battersea Park were declared a conservation area in 2001. “Everyone around is jealous that we were able to do so much to the house” says Doukas, who sees its relatively large size as a good selling point. Nevertheless, she has continued making improvements to the interior: her latest addition is a walk-in wardrobe for the master bedroom. “I’m always tinkering,” she says.

There are four other bedrooms in the house, reached by a narrow carpeted staircase. These have been used over the years not only by her three daughters and their nanny, but by other models as well as Jolie. Her most recent lodger was Behati Prinsloo, the Namibian Victoria’s Secret model, who lived in the house for a few months when she first came to Britain two years ago.

“She became one of my children,” Doukas says. It is a maternal approach that has stuck with her from the start of her career — she admits that she sees Moss as a fourth daughter, although she won’t talk about her most treasured client in any detail.

Doukas’s favourite part of the house is the kitchen, where she has a state-of-the-art Gaggenau oven. She enjoys cooking dinners for small groups of friends there, although she says that most of the entertaining is done at her 16-acre country estate in the New Forest, Hampshire.

Apart from the odd glamorous photo on the walls, the rooms are small, cosy and unremarkable. Perhaps it is the normality of the setting that has helped Doukas to remain so seemingly grounded and down-to-earth throughout her career. At any rate, she admits it will be a struggle to leave. “I’m in the walls of this house,” she says. “I watched everything — my children, my work — grow here.”

So, what’s next? Doukas is developing Storm by expanding the agency’s celebrity division, which has now signed Lily Allen, Kimberley Stewart and Emma Watson as models — Watson, who plays Hermione in the Harry Potter films, has just been given a reported six-figure deal to become the new face of Burberry. Judging by Doukas’s claim that she gets restless taking a morning off from work to give an interview, it won’t be long before she embarks on a new project.

The house is on sale for £1.25m with John D Wood; 020 7228 0174, johndwood.co.uk

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