One Chester family paid their respects to Baroness Thatcher by lowering the Union flag...outside their semi-detached home in a suburban street.

Conservative voters John and Juliet Evans, of Upton, got the flag pole after they arrived at the art deco property in 2004 because it seemed to match the building.

"I thought 'Is it going a bit too far putting this flag at half mast?'," said Juliet, a biologist, who sells computer software. "I thought 'No, it's not actually', so I thought, 'I'll do it!'."

The couple, who have sons Sam, nine, and William, five, have previously flown the flag on the Last Night of the Proms and during the Golden Jubilee. They have no shame about their love of the royals and their country.

But Juliet, 45, who grew up in the Labour stronghold of Bradford in West Yorkshire, is concerned about being misunderstood.

"I sometimes worry people will think we are BNP, which we are not," said Juliet, whose admiration for Maggie stems from her belief she rescued Britain during the turbulent 1970s when strikes were commonplace.

"The thing I remember from my childhood is when she got into power – when she got elected as prime minister – and thinking thank God somebody's taken control of the situation, because it was horrible.

"There were power cuts and your life was really affected by what was happening. I think she gave the nation hope. I know a lot of people suffered as a result of her policies but long term I think we have come out a lot better off because of it."

And Juliet, whose first ever vote was cast for Maggie, says above all it was the bravery of the 'Iron Lady' that marked her out as special.

John, a former chef turned postman, is also a rare species being a Tory from the Labour heartland of Stockton-on-Tees in the North East.

He accepts people may think they are an eccentric couple having a flagpole in their front garden, but he doesn't mind. And he adds that they have friends of all political persuasions.

John, 50, said: “We have quite a few groups of friends that are completely the opposite and a lot of them we can have debates with and it doesn’t change anything in our friendship. But some of them, you know when they're round, to just avoid it!”