When Sarah Cockings, at 21, became a lottery millionairess, she found celebrity soon followed - not least because she stumped up the cash to buy her sisters each a boob job.

Now, two years on from her big win, what kind of difference has it made and has the money turned her head? Women's Editor Sarah Foster finds out.

APPROACHING Sarah Cockings' house there is mounting sense of privilege. The leafy village she calls home is close to Morpeth, in Northumberland, and as you wend your way around it, it smacks of undiluted wealth. Hers is the sort of new estate where every house is custom built - no matchbox homes of the same mould, but each a separate work of art. It seems the ideal place to live if you're a lottery millionairess.

The day that Sarah won the Lotto was almost exactly two years ago. Then only 21 years old, she hit the headlines straight away - as well as being very young, she also happened to be pretty. With flagging interest in the game, she was adopted as its champion, her perfect smile and long blonde hair being used to make it seem more sexy. She's in the limelight even now, with documentaries still being made and other media opportunities. So just how did this North-East girl end up becoming a celebrity?

It all began that fateful day when just by chance she bought her ticket.

"I wasn't like a religious player," begins Sarah, now 23. "It was a quiet day in the post office so I thought I might as well fill out a playing form. My boyfriend, Roy, pushed me when I filled it out so I had to do a new one, but it was just really, really good luck that I kept the same numbers."

It just so happened that a relative - her sister Alex, who's now 20 - was on a shift behind the counter when she gave her ticket in. When Alex had processed Sarah's numbers, her little flutter was forgotten, and it was only late that night that Roy reminded her about it.

"I was in bed and Roy texted saying 'remember to check your lottery ticket online', which I'd never done," she says. "So I went on and I was like 'oh my gosh, I've got a tenner', then I was like 'oh my God. No way. It can't be the right game, it must be the wrong date'. I remember sitting there for ages - I felt so numb."

Yet even faced with all the evidence, she didn't know she'd won the jackpot. In the confusion that ensued, this was confirmed by Sarah's dad. When she found out how much she'd won - a massive £3m - she found it hard to comprehend just what her new-found wealth could buy. "I remember saying to my dad 'is £3m a lot of money?'," she recalls. "He said 'it is, but you've got to be really careful', and I think that's still in my mind."

So what of splashing out on boob jobs? She smiles to think about it now, but says it didn't seem outlandish. "Emma (her older sister, now 25) and Alex had already had consultations to get boob jobs," explains Sarah. "They had talked about them for about six months prior to the win but Alex had a bit of an obstacle with hers because she was a student. Emma definitely would have got hers but it would have been on finance. When I said I'd won the lottery they grabbed their boobs and said 'oh my God, we can get our boob jobs'. That was the first thing I spent major money on."

But far from splurging on herself, Sarah kept her spending fairly modest. When she came into her money, she was an average cash-strapped student (she studied social work at Northumbria) and says the one thing she then wanted was a car. "The day I won I'd been looking for a really old, cheap car to get me to university," she says. "I obviously didn't have a lot of money and my mum and dad were going to give me £2,000 and I was going to pay them back, so I'd been up at the car place but I didn't see anything. It was the first time that I'd ever really wanted something that I couldn't afford, but it was then that I struck lucky."

So Sarah bought her favourite car, a Mini Cooper S convertible, and now she drives a Range Rover Sport. It would be easy to assume that she's become a pampered princess, but she is adamant she hasn't. In fact she's sweet and down-to-earth - today she's casual in jeans, her jacket by Ted Baker - and though her house is pretty vast, she really bought it for her parents. She says her family ties are strong and that this helps to keep her grounded.

"I just wasn't ready to move out," says Sarah simply, explaining why she's still at home. "Alex lives here as well and I have a place with Emma in Whitley Bay (where the Cockings are from), and she lives there with her son Thomas. My best friends are my sisters."

While Sarah counts herself as lucky, there was a glitch in her good fortune when after first becoming engaged, she parted company with Roy. She's philosophical about the split and doesn't blame her lottery win but says it would have happened anyway. "I think people think 'did she think she was better than him?' but it was as much him as me," she says. "We were like brother and sister and then we both decided to split and we've been happier since. It was just a case of 'are you happy? Yeah, but we're just not in love'."

Now she is seeing someone else and while it may be early days, she's clearly smitten. She must be painfully aware of her prime candidacy for gold diggers. "I think people always like to point that out but I don't want to get into that way of thinking where I'm like 'he's only with me for my money'," says Sarah. "I've been seeing this guy for three months and I'm really happy. He's just a regular guy and he makes me feel nice and normal and grounded."

One thing that Sarah can rely on is her family's protection - it would take someone rather foolish to try to take on the Cockings. It is this loving home environment that has helped shape her personality. "I think the thing with me is from being little, I never was one of those girls who wanted the big career," says Sarah frankly. "I just wanted a nice house and to be married with a baby, and I think at some point I would like that still. I've ended up taking two years out of university but I'm hoping to go back this October. I've really, really loved all the media stuff but I think I'm wanting to work for something again."

For now, however, she's just enjoying being young - and also having much more cash than she could ever have imagined. She has indulged herself a little: her poodle Portia - "she's my baby" - joins six more dogs and four large cats which fill the Cockings' sprawling home, but she has also shown maturity, investing cash in stocks and shares. The main thing is, she hasn't changed as a result of being wealthy.

"I think people think if you win money you're going to change but if it's not in you, you don't," reasons Sarah. "It's just money, and I know I can say that because I've got it but it's not the be-all and end-all - it's not going to make you any happier. I suppose I am happier but I had all the factors in place to be happy, so having money is just a bonus."