A great-grandmother who once worked as a housemaid at the ‘real’ Downton Abbey has praised the doctor who gave her back her life following pioneering gynaecological treatment.

Shirley Green, 72, of Buckley, was one of the first women in Wales – and the North West – to undergo the revolutionary ‘Juliet’ procedure to treat a stress incontinence problem.

This is when urine unintentionally leaks out at times when the bladder is under pressure such as from coughing or sneezing.

Just 12 months ago, Shirley organised her life around the availability of public toilets while a family holiday was completely out of the question.

But following a simple laser treatment - undertaken by Wrexham’s Spire Yale Hospitla’s consultant urogynaecologist Mofid Ibraheim - the grandmother-of-seven says her life is finally back on track.

She’s even been able to make a nostalgic return visit to Highclere Castle where she worked during the 1960s.

Shirley, who has a grown up son and daughter and also three great grandchildren, said: “I’ve always led an active life.

“Fifty years ago, I used to work as a housemaid at Highclere Castle in Hampshire – where the television drama Downton Abbey was filmed – making beds, running baths for guests, cleaning fire grates and polishing the stairs.

“I was always running around and it was awful to have to cope with this problem as I got older.

“I stopped doing all the things I loved like going for long walks with the grandchildren, just in case there wasn’t a toilet around. Going on an aeroplane was never a possibility.”

Spire Yale Hospital is the first in Wales to offer the innovative Juliet treatment, which is currently unavailable on the NHS.

The treatment is offered as an alternative to more invasive surgical procedures.

Shirley, who encountered numerous VIPs including Prince Charles while working at Highclere Castle, began to suffer incontinence problems three years ago.

Doctors said weakened muscles had caused her bladder to prolapse which commonly occurs with advancing age or following childbirth.

Shirley, who used to live in a cottage in the grounds of Highclere Castle and married her husband Danny, 75, a retired mechanic, in the estate’s church in 1967 after receiving special permission from her employers, was initially prescribed medication to help ease the incontinence, but this left her with severe migraines.

A retired retail manager who was born on the tropical island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean before moving to Newbury in 1965 and later Buckley, was especially keen to return to full health this year in time for her 50th wedding anniversary.

Her family arranged for her and her husband to pay a nostalgic visit to Highclere Castle.

The stately home, set within 5,000 acres, is the country seat of the Earl of Carnarvon and was the main filming location for the award-winning period drama Downton Abbey.

“It was a really special visit and brought back lots of happy memories. It wasn’t a glamourous job by any means but I loved it and I got to meet so many nice people and lords and ladies,” she said.

“We had our wedding reception in the servants’ quarters and the cook at the time prepared all the food.

“Both my children were born while I was living in the grounds of the castle and so it was really very special to go back.

“The treatment has given me a new lease of life and I’m just so pleased to be able to do these things now without worrying.”