Leighann glimpses the glitz at Cannes Film Festival

Shropshire travel consultant Leighann Kirby today reflected on the trip of a lifetime after rubbing shoulders with some of the world's biggest showbiz stars at the Cannes Film Festival.

Leighann, from Shrewsbury, spent a week attending celebrity receptions and screenings at the famous film festival on the French Riviera, as well as paying a VIP visit to the Monaco Grand Prix in Monte Carlo.

The mother of two had been invited by clients of her travel business franchise, Travel Counsellors.

Today, back at her Sutton Farm home, Leighann lifted the lid on the world of glitz, glamour, multi-million pound yachts, private jets and champagne parties.

"It was like another world, glamorous people, actors and models everywhere, people making deals all the time," she said.

"We went into one place and there was a guy making a £125 million movie deal. At first it was overwhelming but, once we found our feet, we realised they were ordinary down-to-earth people. Some models could be snooty, but the actors and the producers were lovely."

Leighann, 37, who was joined on her trip by friend Zoe Mills, from Sutton Bridge, got the chance to see a string of A-list stars including Twilight's

Robert Pattinson, Matthew McConaughey, Chris Tucker, Zac Efron, Michael Jackson's father, and former boxing world champion Chris Eubank.

The pair were also invited to the film documentary premiere about the life of Whitney Houston, Voice of Love, by the New York film maker Gary

Keys and producer Emily Morse. She added: "Afterwards Gary and Emily took us all out for dinner and then to a house with a party on the roof terrace. There were magazine people, actors and models. The next day they invited us for lunch, picking us up outside the Majestic Hotel where Brad Pitt was staying."

Leighann also revealed she had been invited back to Cannes next year to stay in a luxury apartment owned by one of the American producers she met.

She added: "I had an amazing week that I'll never forget, but it's been so good to come home because I've missed my sons. They're 14 and nine."