Sue Radford opens up about disaster which almost ended her marriage

Sue Radford has revealed that she thought-about leaving her husband Noel after going through difficulties with their enterprise within the 2000s.

The couple – who’re dad and mom to the UK’s ‘greatest household’ with 22 youngsters – had then invested in a location on the excessive avenue in bustling Kendal, in Cumbria, to increase their pie store enterprise.

But an outbreak of foot-and-mouth illness – thought to have price the UK financial system £8 billion general – hit the nation and left the pair devastated.

Speaking to the Mirror, Sue, 48, admitted that she struggled to see how their ‘marriage would survive’.

‘There have been days when I’d assume: “that’s it, I’m leaving the business and Noel, I just can’t do it anymore”,’ she revealed.

‘But our marriage has at all times been sturdy – and having the children saved us proper. We caught collectively and obtained by it. It was sink or swim and we selected to swim.’

The couple has additionally opened up in regards to the troublesome time on a earlier episode of twenty-two Kids & Counting, on Channel 5, in March final yr.

The dad and mom defined that on the time, they have been ‘so proud’ to have their very own enterprise in Heysham, Lancashire and ‘wished to increase’. 

They took out a ‘enormous’ mortgage to spend money on their thriving dream – solely to be slammed with nationwide catastrophe. 

‘To begin with it did very well,’ Noel defined. ‘It was doing good – after which not lengthy right here – foot-and-mouth hits the nation and to be sincere I feel Cumbria was one of many worst affected areas.’

Cumbria, with some 893 instances, was severely affected by the outbreak, leaving the realm devastated.

‘It simply killed the tourism,’ Noel added, because the household was plunged into despair.

‘I cant even describe it, it simply precipitated a lot stress,’ Sue revealed. ‘You used to go to mattress desirous about the debt, you’d get up desirous about the debt, you’d get up in the course of the evening desirous about the debt…

‘If something was going to have precipitated us to break up, it was this.’

Earlier this yr, Sue and Noel revealed that they’ve relocated to the countryside with their youngest youngsters whereas the older youngsters have remained in the home they grew up in. 

The dad and mom of Britain’s greatest household had lived in a Victorian home in Morecambe, Lancashire with a number of of their youngsters for 11 years. 

They tried promote it three years in the past, however have been unable to get the value they wished, and financial strains pressured them to remain put. 

After a sluggish begin with their househunting, Noel and Sue finally discovered of a home within the countryside which they mentioned is ‘excellent’.

‘We’ve discovered our dream house,’ Sue mentioned throughout an episode which aired final month, as she regarded across the five-bedroom, 2,690sqft nation home, which was listed for £850,000.

The subsequent day Noel determined to make a suggestion and was delighted when it was accepted.

But rapidly most of the youngsters realise that even with two to a room, there is not sufficient house for all them.

This left James, 20, Daniel, 24, Luke, 23, Jack, 26, and Katie, 21, with out a roof over their heads.

Daniel mentioned he will transfer to Australia, whereas Luke – who lately got here out as bisexual – added he hoped to maneuver someplace gay-friendly and explored Manchester’s homosexual village.

Katie determined to discover a ‘love nest’ together with her boyfriend, however was dismayed on the value of hire in Morecambe.

The eldest three, in addition to Millie – herself a mum-of-three – are already dwelling on their very own. The remaining 13 will transfer to the brand new home, sharing rooms.

‘One little one leaving house is emotional sufficient, however I’ve 5 youngsters leaving,’ she mentioned by tears. ‘I arrived at this home with 9 youngsters, now we’ve got 22.’

In one other latest episode of twenty-two Kids and Counting, Noel and Sue clashed on their parenting method – after Noel allowed their youngest youngsters to remain up late and eat sweets, leading to them being late for varsity.

The disagreement began when Sue found three of her teenage youngsters awake at 2am gaming, which Noel mentioned he ‘does not thoughts’. 

‘Our parenting kinds are positively good cop, dangerous cop, I’m the dangerous cop,’ Sue revealed, whereas a number of of the youngsters agreed she is extra strict.

Worried the youngsters do not get outdoors sufficient, Sue booked a caravan park in Northumberland to encourage extra outside play.

‘I’m largely Looking ahead to seeing Max [their 14-year-old] as a result of it is actually vital for me to have the ability to get him off his Xbox and get him outdoors with a little bit of recent air and away devices,’ Sue mentioned to digicam.

But when Noel arrived, Sue realised he is let Max keep at house, inflicting a livid argument.

Max had informed Noel that Sue had let him keep house, however Sue had mentioned no such factor.

‘This is the primary time Sue has let Max keep at house while we go away. So hopefully he does not burn the home down or something drastic like that,’ clueless Noel mentioned.