Angela Garvin's last relationship broke up 12 years ago, and since it ended she hasn't had sex once. At first, the 42-year-old PA found it hard to move on from her ex-boyfriend; then she found it hard to meet someone new. Before she realised it, five years had passed without sex, then ten, and still it goes on.

'I feel embarrassed about it,' Angela admits. 'It makes me sound odd, but it's simply that I've never got back into the swing of things - and now I don't really know how to.'

And evidence suggests that she is not alone. A survey last week revealed that a quarter of British women over the age of 35 never have sex. Those that took part in the poll include women across the social spectrum: career-driven singletons, wives, mothers and divorcees.

The stark statistic raises wide-ranging questions about the sex lives of British women and how modern life is taking its toll on this most intimate, private part of their lives.

'It's to do with lifestyle and life stage,' says relationship psychologist Susan Quilliam. 'Thirty-five marks an age when many women are in stable relationships where the initial passion has fizzled out, or they are having children, or working hard at their careers, or just not playing the field.'

'It's more normal than we think,' adds sexual and relationship psychotherapist Paula Hall. 'Quite simply, there are periods in women's lives when they just don't have sex.'

If we were to use the lives of the nation's bed-hopping celebrities as a benchmark, it would be fair to assume that Britons are constantly jumping in and out of bed with each other. But those women who spoke to the Mail to reveal how they have found themselves in a sexless wilderness at what should be the prime of their lives tell a very different story.

Angela ended a seven-year relationship when she was 30 after her boyfriend refused to commit to her. 'We had sex every few days throughout our time together,' she says.

'Afterwards, I was bereft, even though I ended it, and any sexual urge left me as I grieved for our relationship. I felt like that for a couple of years.'

In a bid to change her life, she started a university course in London, but found that as a mature student she had little in common with those around her.

'Surrounded by nubile 21-year-old students, I felt as if was in the midst of a sex fest that I wasn't part of.' Before long, she found she had simply slipped out of the habit of dating. 'I haven't had sex now for 12 years,' says Angela. 'I'd love to be in a sexual relationship. Society and the media make me feel as though everyone else is at it like rabbits. It's a relief to know it's not like that at